Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: rbowman Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: Odd WiFi Issue I've Seen More Than Once - Disappearing WiFi Networks Date: 19 May 2026 04:49:41 GMT Lines: 44 Message-ID: References: <10ucn38$1omrb$4@dont-email.me> <10ud6vq$1une0$3@dont-email.me> <2crqdmx5ui.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> <10ugnk2$300cl$1@dont-email.me> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net Tdh3o1VSW+tkVkNUFRi40gzm3xT7nXm2hy6LuX3Xe0e4/+MAjt Cancel-Lock: sha1:yHl/D9pMwtWz98fChA0EUiWaPC4= sha256:3yibQE2JhR5vffYNcok3h8qf2AhfQ1haJLhhQZojQno= User-Agent: Pan/0.162 (Pokrosvk) Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:86890 On Mon, 18 May 2026 21:06:26 -0700, Lars Poulsen wrote: > On Mon, 18 May 2026 09:23:14 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote: >>> That's your internet connection. The LAN in your house can still be >>> cable. > > On 2026-05-18 09:06, rbowman wrote: >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiFi >> >> Why would I want to add a WiFi to Ethernet converter to the mix and add >> even more wires to the existing mess? I am not sure it would even work >> for more than one connection. > > I don't know if it's been fixed in the meantime, but back in the days > when I actually read the WiFi protocol specs, WiFi devices were end > nodes, and the source MAC address was that of the WiFi chip. There were > access points that could do bridging, but that was a proprietary > protocol extension, not guaranteed to work between devices from > different brands. Without digging into it that was my concern with the wifi to Ethernet adapters. If you had a device without wifi that had Ethernet you could plug it in but the adapter would only have one MAC address that would be assigned 192.168.1.xxx. A VM on a wifi only box is the same. The VM gets a virtual IP that can be pinged from the host, and the kvm/QEMU does so sort of NAT, but all you ever see is the host's MAC and assigned IP looking from the outside. In any case I have no problems with the computers, Fire TV, Kindles, picos, and so forth using wifi and see no advantage to running wire. Back in the dialup days I recall the Windows laptop had some sort of 'share my internet connection' and I could use a crossover cable to hook in another machine. I could connect from the Linux box with a modem but I would reach a point in the signon dialog where I didn't know the proper response in the Expect script. When asked the ISP said 'we don't support Linux. Use Windows. It just works.' which I took to mean 'we're clueless on how our dialup system works.'