2 computer network from Wi-Fi

[THUFIR HAWAT]

On 6/15/05, Kevin J. Cummings 
...
> If you want arrakis to forward packets from eth1 to eth0, you need to
> enable IP forwarding.  Its a kernel parameter, and can be specified in
> your /etc/sysctl.conf by adding the following lines:
> 
> > # Controls IP packet forwarding
> > net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
> 
> (without the "> " parts)
> 
> Make sure to reboot your kernel after adding those lines, *or*
> 
> /sbin/sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
> 
> to make it happen immediately.  This will allow packets from caladan to
> be forwarded through arrakis to the internet.  Caution:  routers beyond
> arrakis *must* know how to route back to caladan!  If they don't
> recognize the IP address, you won't get a packets back!  If this is the
> case, you might be able to get around that by enabling masquarading
> (NAT) on arrakis.  Then caladan's packets will be sent out with arrakis'
> IP address as the return point, and arrakis will forward any return
> packets to caladan.  NAT must be enabled in arrakis' iptables
> configuration.  I used the following rules:
> 
> > # iptables -L -t nat
> > Chain PREROUTING (policy ACCEPT)
> > target     prot opt source               destination
> >
> > Chain POSTROUTING (policy ACCEPT)
> > target     prot opt source               destination
> > MASQUERADE  all  --  anywhere             anywhere
> >
> > Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
> > target     prot opt source               destination
> 
> and my computer forwards and NATs the computers on my home and USB
> networks.....
...

I did the first part, but the iptables is a bit confusing.  I took a
look at "iptables -h" and "man iptables" to get an idea.  those are
rules to add to the NAT table?

really, I think I just want the computers to be able to ping each
other, sort of a networking "hello world" idea.

thanks,

Thufir