Pi as repeater or switch

[Clem73666]

I have a system with Ethernet connection. I connect a notebook computer to this system using Ethernet interface. I run web browser on the notebook and put in the URL to communicate with the system and it presents me diagrams and control options. Now I want to Use the WiFi connection on my notebook to achieve the same thing. I want to connect a Pi via Ethernet to the system over some considerable length. I want to be able to connect my notebook to the WiFi connection provided on the PI and have the same functionality as I did with direct connection to the system.

So my question: what software do I need to run on the Pi so that I can use my Notebook WiFi to communicate to the system using the WiFi on the notebook through the Pi to the system?

Do I need to write some software to do this? - If so what are some things I need to consider if I am to write this in C?

It seems to me that this must be possible and simple. I do not know what terminology to use to search for the right things. Would liker to know if there is a free ware software which can already do this.

[Oliver33]

There’s some good info in the pi documentation:

Teach, Learn, and Make with Raspberry Pi – Raspberry Pi

[Bryce]

Hi Clem,

I’m not sure whether it’s specific to this application (I don’t think with the exception of PiHole projects I’ve ever seen a Pi used as any kind of network device so I’d be impressed to see how you do it!) But I’d check out this series of links I put together for headless setup on a Raspberry Pi, should be quite useful in at least connecting to the Pi remotely for a few applications so that you can start setting this up.

Using a Pi Headless? [Tips and Tricks]

Hey everyone! Updated with more tutorials!: Are you planning on using a Pi headless? Be sure to check out the following tutorials first to make sure that your understanding of the various methods and protocols often used is up to speed. First things first you need to connect your Pi to a network that you’ll be accessing it from, note that you don’t strictly require internet access here. There’s also the potential to set up port forwarding to access your Pi from anywhere on the wider netwo…

[Liam]

Hey Clem,

Sounds like a great project!

I’m not sure if VNC would work for something like this? It allows you to remote into the Pi and use it as you would sitting right in front of it. You need internet on both ends and it is encrypted.

To make sure that you don’t lead yourself on a tangent I would break your project down into steps:

• Make sure that you can control the system on the Pi using the normal GUI OS.
  ** Here you could try VNC
• After confirming that it will work I would take a look into being able to send commands to the Pi via WiFi (if the system is of importance I would also look into encryption)
• Then finally setting up the GUI on the Notebook

Cutting out the middle man may be another option where you open an ethernet connection into WLAN via a router.

Liam.