Using Ubuntu NBR to connect to Xbox Live

[indyjayess]

Hello, I'm a new poster but longtime lurker and learner.

I just picked up an Xbox 360, and don't particularly want to have to pay $100 for Microsoft's official wireless dongle. I have a Dell Mini 9, running Ubuntu Netbook Remix (NBR) release 9.04 (jaunty).

I have downloaded and tried working this out with Firestarter, but I just can't seem to get it working right.

My connection via ethernet cord to the Xbox is showing as eth0 and my wireless connection is eth1. I have an "unknown" connection pan0, but it doesn't seem to have any activity on it.

I have made this connection before with a Vista laptop, so I know it can be done, and surely if Vista can do it, then Ubuntu can handle it as well.

Thanks for any help, and I'll be glad to provide any more information you might need.

[Kieren]

This is possible using Firestarter as I have done this same thing myself. In the preferences you need to select "Firewall" -> "Network settings" and set up the settings to match your network.

Make sure both "Enable Internet connection sharing" and "Enable DHCP for the local network" are ticked

I have attached a screen shot to show how your setting should look

[indyjayess]

This is possible using Firestarter as I have done this same thing myself. In the preferences you need to select "Firewall" -> "Network settings" and set up the settings to match your network.

Make sure both "Enable Internet connection sharing" and "Enable DHCP for the local network" are ticked

I have attached a screen shot to show how your setting should look

Thanks for the photo and help.

I had already set my settings to have both of those settings ticked. The only difference between my settings and the ones you posted are the actual connections, as mine has "Internet connected network device: eth1" and "Local network connected device eth0".

I get an error when I start Firestarter I've noticed though.
It says "Failed to start the firewall. An unknown error has occured" and asks that I check my connections. I can see Firestarter after clicking OK through the error, and can see that my wireless connection is working fine with plenty of activity, and even that my ethernet connection sees SOME activity when testing my Xbox connection (0.1 to 0.2 Kbps, never any more).

Any new ideas? I don't have static IPs on the Ubuntu laptop or the Xbox, and have tried to avoid any how-to's involving using the terminal, as I feel like it's a bit over my head. I'm used to Windows, haha.

Thanks again for any help...

[Kieren]

That's fine as long as you chose the correct device for each connection type.

I would say the problem may be in that the local device doesn't have an IP address then. You can check this by using the terminal to enter the command:

ifconfig

This will output information about each of you network devices. Check the section marked eth0 to see if you can see if it has an address assigned to it. If you can't see an IP address then set one with the command:

sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.5.1

You don't have to use that IP if you don't want to. If you do change it make sure that it is a valid IP address and one that isn't in the same subnet as any of the other network devices

Check the IP address has been assigned by using the ifconfig command again. If so you can now go back to the same section in Firestarter's preferences and when you select the "Enable DHCP for the local network" option you will be able to expand the "DHCP server details" section. In there choose "Create new DHCP configuration" and enter a range of IP address not including the IP address you assigned to eth0. So if you are using the above IP address the range you may want to choose could be:

Lowest: 192.168.5.2
Highest: 192.168.5.10

Hit "Accept" and then on the main Firestarter window click "Start firewall". Hopefully now it will start up without any errors. Oh make sure you have a cable connected to eth0 before starting the firewall too

[indyjayess]

I did everything as you described it, and now I have assigned the IP you used as an example to the local network, confirmed by ifconfig.

I also returned to Firestarter and entered the range you specified.

I am still getting the same error when opening or trying to start Firestarter.

I am attaching three images. I don't know if this will preserve the order I post them in (ignore the # attached to the end of the file), but the first one is a screenshot of the ifonfig command in the terminal. The second is a screenshot of the error. The third shows the activity when testing Xbox Live. You can see there is 0.1 KB/s activity on the eth0 device, Local network. During the test, it alternates between 0.2, 0.1, and 0.0 KB/s. When the screenshot was taken, there was no activity on my wireless eth1 connection, but when browsing, it does show the activity. I'm not sure what pan0 is and never see any activity on that.

Maybe these will help you help me!

[Kieren]

Hmm...

Can you confirm that unselecting "Enable Internet connection sharing" allows you to start the firewall without error? If so then at least we know we are looking in the right place for an error

[indyjayess]

After disabling the "Enable Internet connection sharing" tick in the preferences in Firestarter, I no longer am presented with an error. This is true when starting/stopping the firewall, closing and restarting it, and after a restart.

Upon re-enabling "Enable Internet connection sharing", the error returns immediately.

[Kieren]

Okay well at least we know the problem is with DHCP. For this to work you will need to make sure you have a DHCP server installed. DHCP is the service that assigns IP addresses to hosts (in your case the XBox). I would expect it to be installed alongside Firestarter but just to make sure use the command:

sudo apt-get install dhcp3-server

You won't need to configure the DHCP server yourself as that's what setting the ranges in Firestarter should be doing. If the server is not installed then once your package manager has installed it try starting Firestarter again with "Enable Internet connection sharing" ticked

[indyjayess]

Terminal spits this out:

nick@tiny-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install dhcp3-server
[sudo] password for nick:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
dhcp3-server is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Seems I already have the latest version of the DHCP server. I attempted to restart Firestarter, and am still presented with the exact same error. I tried all the fore-mentioned advice and still no luck.

[Kieren]

Right, I'm going to go grab my laptop and give this a go to see if I can reproduce your problem