USB ethernet and tethering on Android is certainly one way. Keeping the phone powered can present interesting opportunities, but it works well.<p>There's also other ways.<p>Like USB tethering. Plug the computer into the Android phone with a regular USB cable that is already kicking around. No ethernet adapter required; the phone behaves as a network adapter in and of itself. The computer keeps the phone charged. This worked at least as far back as the OG Motorola Droid, in 2009. (Drivers may be a fun thing to get working depending on the OS, but that's just a software problem.)<p>Or: Other hardware that is already laying around. That the old home network router that has been hosting generations of spiders for over a decade, in a dusty cardboard box at the back of a closet next to the favorite pair of shoes that are simply too nice to ever get worn? There's a good chance that it's hackable and able to run custom firmware. Stuff a period-correct copy of OpenWRT or DD-WRT or Tomato or [something] into it, and turn it into a wifi client bridge so your old Ethernet stuff can chat on the wifi network. (I've had the big, color HP laser printer at the shop connected this way with a hacked Linksys WRT54G for very nearly two decades so far. Part of me says I should upgrade that box one of these years, but it still works fine and I find this amusing.)<p>Or: Rube Goldberg minimalism. The Raspberry Pi Zero W that is in the drawer next to the extra key for the Ford that got sold a decade ago (and the spiders; there's always spiders): It runs Linux just fine. It talks wifi. It can talk RNDIS to a USB-connected Windows computer. It can therefore become a wifi-to-usb bridge, wherein the computer doesn't even know that it's talking to a wifi network. Drivers for this are built-ins as far back as XP and are downloadable for windows 9x. (The PC provides the power for the Zero W over the same cable that the data flows over.)<p>There's lots of ways that many/most of us computer-types can get this done without spending a dime, or ever waiting for a delivery. :)
Back in the old days we needed to make an Ethernet Crossover Cable to get this to work.<p>Modern ethernet supports Auto MDI-X, which manages that automagically for you.<p>> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_crossover_cable</a>
I have no idea why we had red cables. There is absolutely no engineering reason why, when ethernet became a thing, that MDI-X wasn't sorted out automatically with some sort of signalling protocol. It was almost certainly a cost thing and that would probably been at the penny level (fuck customers - they don't cost me at the component stage).<p>To be fair, I don't know why USB had to wait until a few years back to stop acting quantum with its C incarnation. As you know a USB interface with two possible orientations will require at least three insertion attempts.<p>I grew up with RS232 and expected better. I had to wait quite a long time. USB C is quite good.
I've had good luck with easytether (was $10 last time I used it). It always worked ootb on Linux systems, didn't require a dongle. System saw it as a USB Ethernet.
You can make a wifi bridge with a PC, even a Raspberry Pi, running IP masquerading and connecting as a wifi client. I use a Qotom mini PC with 5 NICs for this purpose and connect a whole wired network at my desk.
Had that similar T series thinkpad 20 years ago too<p>I would say since it has mpci it’s easy enough to patch the bios and run a newer WiFi chip inside so you’re not locked into this but this is a great workout for older pcs.<p>Alternatively, many usb WiFi dongles do have windows xp support but yeah with the new standards def something else. It’s a cool workaround!
Since the article assumes the presence of a WiFi network, you can just use a WiFi to Ethernet bridge, about $40
I recently repurposed a 2010 era Gateway computer with no WiFi. I got Debian installed on it and got it online through hardwire connection. It is running Debain 13 which is the latest release in server mode.<p>It replaced a 2011 MacBook pro running Ubuntu to host my website at <a href="https://www.dharwadkar.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.dharwadkar.com</a>. It is running blazing fast.<p>Curious to hear your thoughts
this is how I do invoicing, but I built an image disk useing "etchdroid", to get an the
machine running, so everything through a phone and usb
want a laptop now and will look at different
OS's