[ltp] Ad-hoc 802.11b internet access

[Bret Comstock Waldow]

I've got a Thinkpad attached to a gateway/router attached to a cable
modem via the built-in NIC, which is eth0.  I get my net parameters via
DHCP.

I've got a 3Com AirConnect PCMCIA card, which is recognized (often, but
not always, if that's a clue about some timeout thing) as eth1, and
assigned a static IP.  I'm not sure what gateway it's supposed to be.

I've got a PDA with a wireless interface, which seems to connect to the
eth1 interface - I can ping the PDA from the Thinkpad successfully.

I want to get access to the internet from the PDA.  I've been reading
some on the net - but the sources are mixed, of mixed antiquity, and I
don't know enough to discern what to listen to, whose configuration file
surgery to attempt, etc.  I don't just want to thrash around, but
there's too much out there I don't know the relevance of to want to try
to chew through it all.  Some talk about distros and boot-up sequences I
don't have, and there are other differences I can't evaluate.

Has anyone done something like this?  It's called "Internet Connection
Sharing" on Windows.  Some sources call it NAT, some invoke ipmasq, or
masquerading.

I don't have an 802.11b gateway/router, it has to go by the pathway
listed above.

I run Debian Woody/stable, with some backports of packages like
OpenOffice.org, sane 1.0.11, etc.  Kernel is 2.4.18.  Internet access
from the Thinkpad is working fine.

Just knowing what to bother with and what to ignore would be helpful,
even if no one wants to hold my hand for this one.  What are relevant,
up to date HowTo sources?

Thanks for any help cutting through the cruft.

Cheers,
Bret

-- 
Bret Comstock Waldow <bwaldow@alum.mit.edu>