Can (Fair Simple) Pineapple Be Used For 'normal' Hotspot Usage?

[Onedutch]

Hi all,

Can the Pineapple IV be used for nomal (private) hotspot aswell (easy selected without reflashing thepineapple)? Reading a few webpages I'm unable to determain if the PineApple is able to be used in places where I need to setup an accepoint quick and easy (share 3G internet or an (hotel ethernet wall outlet). At those moments I won't like the setting that all clients are able to connect and use the internet, only clients who know the WPA for example can.

I know that the main purpose is that everyone (and all requested WiFi SSID's) will be accepted. But in some rare cases I just want the Pineapple to be a private accesspoint for me and some friends.

Second question, less important, can I use the Pineapple (hopefully easy aswell) to be a USB WiFi dongle? Or perhaps an Ethernet WiFi dongle (bridge would be best I think), so connecting to an excisting WiFi network and bridge the info to a connected laptop on the ethernet port?

Cheers,

Onedutch

[Molotof]

I'll give you a draft for the scenarios you mentioned and you work on getting them done (it's easy) :

1- MK4 as a plain WPA hotspot :

. You would backup the wireless config file under /etc/config and change the interface for wlan0 to support WPA

. Disable karma

. ethernet from hotel connects to eth1 (wan port)

. 3G dongle as you normally use with the MK4 as a pineapple

2- MK4 as an Wifi dongle :

. connect the MK4 to your laptop via eh0 (lan port)

. Change the settings in wireless files under /etc/config/ to make wlan0 go in managed mode and connect to which ever access point you choose

. adjust the iptables to reflect the new config

Good luck.

[sickduck]

I frequently work in remote areas where my 3G dongle does not get reception inside a building. I leave the pineapple in my car (plugged into a USB cell phone charger) with the 3G dongle attached. I then connect to the Pineapple's WiFi from inside.

You can edit your /etc/config/wireless to enable encryption and change the channel.

Here is part of my /etc/config/wireless

(truncated)
config wifi-iface
option device   radio0
option network  lan
option mode	 ap
option ssid "SSID Name Here"
option encryption wep
option key 1234567890
[/CODE]

Remember to backup the file first. You will need to revert back if you want to use Karma.