Best way to set up WiFi hotspot on antiX 19.2

[Member olsztyn]

The objective is the best way to set up a WiFi hotspot on laptop running antiX 19.2 Hannie Schaft.
To be specific: Suppose in a simple case that antiX machine is ethernet wired and has WiFi card or instead of wired connection it has a second WiFi card, with Connman managing WiFi connections.
As much as it is a piece of cake to set up such a WiFi hotspot on Win 10 (just turn it on) I would rather use antiX but it appears to me on antiX it seems not so straightforward at first glance… Googling much returns procedures for accomplishing such goal using Networkmanager, but nothing seem to pop up as procedures using Connman.
Therefore:
– How to set up WiFi hotspot using Connman
– If two WiFi cards are present, can a WiFi repeater be feasible to set up so WiFi signal can reach more remote areas of the house

Thanks in advance for any suggestions…

Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters

[Member Xecure]

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I found this for Raspberry pi, but it should also work on PC:
https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/tethering/72767/5

Here, it works with my Pi 3B as expected. I configured it via SSH access and user osmc, password osmc:
How my /etc/connman.conf looks like:

osmc@osmc-pi3:~$ cat /etc/connman.conf
[General] 
PreferredTechnologies=ethernet,wifi
SingleConnectedTechnology=false
AllowHostnameUpdates=false
TetheringTechnologies=ethernet,wifi
PersistentTetheringMode=true
NetworkInterfaceBlacklist=vmnet,vboxnet,virbr,ifb,docker,veth

Content of /var/lib/connman, only one ethernet (cable) service known and active

osmc@osmc-pi3:~$ ls /var/lib/connman
ethernet_b827ebc87f99_cable  settings

What is in /var/lib/connman/settings?

osmc@osmc-pi3:~$ sudo cat /var/lib/connman/settings
[global]
OfflineMode=false

[WiFi]
Enable=false
Tethering=false

[Wired]
Enable=true
Tethering=false

[Bluetooth]
Enable=false
Tethering=false

[P2P]
Enable=false
Tethering=false

Enter connmanctl:

osmc@osmc-pi3:~$ sudo connmanctl
connmanctl>

Enable WiFi:

connmanctl> enable wifi
Enabled WiFi

Start tethering, here with SSID NeuLummerland and password MichaelEnde

connmanctl> tether wifi on NeuLummerland MichaelEnde
Wifi SSID set
Wifi passphrase set
Enabled tethering for WiFi
connmanctl> exit

Check ip addresses and network devices, look at eth0, wlan0 and tether, just an (my) example:

osmc@osmc-pi3:~$ ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,DYNAMIC,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:27:eb:c8:7f:99 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.178.46/24 brd 192.168.178.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,DYNAMIC,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast master tether state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:27:eb:9d:2a:cc brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet6 fe80::ba27:ebff:fe9d:2acc/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: tether: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,DYNAMIC,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:27:eb:9d:2a:cc brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.0.1/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global tether
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::1428:c0ff:fed1:e308/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Is routing ok?

osmc@osmc-pi3:~$ ip route show
default via 192.168.178.1 dev eth0
192.168.0.0/24 dev tether proto kernel scope link src 192.168.0.1
192.168.178.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.178.46
192.168.178.1 dev eth0 scope link

That’s it.
Haven’t tried the GUI method but as far as I know there are no more issues with that.

Also

olsztyn wrote:

Googling much returns procedures for accomplishing such goal using Networkmanager, but nothing seem to pop up as procedures using Connman.

Don’t be afraid of NetworkManager. Just because it is not the default in antiX doesn’t mean you cannot use it or it doesn’t work. On my fluxbox-KDE antiX live system I use networkmanager for consistency (and to avoid problems of having 2 Network Managers “fighting” every time I switch session). I have disabled “password encryption” or whatever name it has, and it runs as well and fast as connman. If you ever want to try it, download/install the necessary packages before uninstalling connman, fix resolv.conf if needed, and use it.

Let us know whatever you try. I am sure more people will be interested in using your solution.

olsztyn wrote:

– If two WiFi cards are present, can a WiFi repeater be feasible to set up so WiFi signal can reach more remote areas of the house

I never got this to work on any computer, be it with windows or otherwise. I gave up and installed OpenWRT on an old router and I have it set as a repeater. This way I can place it anywhere I want.
Don’t ask me how I did this, because it has been over 5 years since I set it up. I don’t remember how I did it, and I cannot even get to the website I bookmarked (no longer exists). So many bookmarks that are forever lost…

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member olsztyn]

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Xecure wrote:

Don’t be afraid of NetworkManager. Just because it is not the default in antiX doesn’t mean you cannot use it or it doesn’t work. On my fluxbox-KDE antiX live system I use networkmanager for consistency (and to avoid problems of having 2 Network Managers “fighting” every time I switch session). I have disabled “password encryption” or whatever name it has, and it runs as well and fast as connman. If you ever want to try it, download/install the necessary packages before uninstalling connman, fix resolv.conf if needed, and use it.

Thanks indeed.
I actually installed Networkmanager and was testing for comparison with Connman. If it has enhanced functionality, I would be considering replacement of Connman. My only concern would be it is not as light and greater need for dependencies, but I am not sure it is still the case. Most assessments on the web comparing both are very old…

Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters

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