September 24, 2005
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Geek Problem of the Month
It's that time of the year again, where school has just started and you
realize your computer is totally messed - the hard disk is full of
garbage, important software stops working, or one of your RAM slots
just got fried, etc., you name it. In my case, the Java runtime on my
laptop is the problem. About two weeks ago, the Java runtime ceased to
communicate with the Internet. I can't update Eclipse or NetBeans, and
I can't use applets in my browsers. I reinstalled the Java runtime to
no avail, so I decided it's about time I back up things and cast the
ultimate spell of recovery: reformat and reinstall Windows.Well, I figure that, while I'm at it, why don't I repartition the hard
disk and install Ubuntu Linux too? After all, I'm a geek and
dual-booting Windows+Linux would make me look more 1337. The only thing
that's bugging me now is the inability to use "PPP over WiFi" (instead
PPP of Ethernet) in Linux. I need that for my DSL Internet connection.
I have searched in many forums, asked many users of Linux and Ubuntu,
and have learned no solution. I know that usually people just configure
the router to do the authentication and to share the Internet
connection; but since my ISP is very generous and allows multiple
logins, I want to take advantage and get one public IP for each
computer on my network instead of sharing one public IP among the
computers. So here it is, the Geek Problem of the Month: how to set up
PPP over WiFi in Linux. Here's a hint: using the pppoeconfig and
rp-pppoe utilies is not good enough (otherwise I wouldn't post this
problem up here anyway, right?).- SwordAngel
