Question

I have an Ethernet device that I need to connect directly to a mobile tablet computer. (The device contains some sort of embedded Linux that supports DHCP.) Is there any way to set up some kind of "network" between the tablet and this device?

The production environment is XP (for now) eventually Win 7. I'm testing the configuration on a laptop running Vista. I know, not ideal, but it's what I've been able to pull together.

Answer 1

To get a Windows client version to hand out IPs you'll need to configure it to use internet sharing (ICS). It will then 'share' you other internet connections with the device, and should hand it an IP to use.

If you want a more technical solution, a Linux live CD would easily hand out IPs for you using a real DHCP daemon.

However, with a tool like nmap you could just use the default 169.x.x.x range where no IP is supplied, and scan the subnet for the other device, or if you can, hardcode an IP onto the device, and tell the Windows machine to use the same subnet.

Basically, you have several options, depending on what this device of yours supports.

Whichever you choose, make sure you use a cross-over cable, not a straight-through normal one.