trying to connect iPad to MacBook Pro over TCP

[ted.pe...@gmail.com]

I have a couple apps that work just fine. However, I wanted to be able to demo the apps even when there is no network available. On a plane, for example.

What I tried to do is leave wi-fi on. Then I create a network, call it MyNet, on the MacBook. I see it has a self assigned ip address. I then connect the iPad to the MacBook network. It gets another IP address.

But the two machines cannot see each other. I try pinging the MacBook from the iPad but no luck. They both have subnet mask of 255.255.0.0.

Am I close to getting this working, or is it not possible?

[Christian]

<ted.pe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have a couple apps that work just fine. However, I wanted to be able to
> demo the apps even when there is no network available.

I don't understand what you want to do, but no problem...

> What I tried to do is leave wi-fi on. Then I create a network, call it
> MyNet, on the MacBook. I see it has a self assigned ip address. I then
> connect the iPad to the MacBook network. It gets another IP address.

I have no experience with "self-assigned addresses". A better idea would
be to

a) assign to your Macbook an address in the private address range
(192.168.1.10, for example, would be fine), and set the netmask to
255.255.255.0.

b) for the iPad, use 192.168.1.20 manually and the same netmask.

That way, both are in the same logical network and should be able to
communicate with each other.

With netmask 255.255.255.0, the last part of the address is variable,
all others must be identical on all machines.

My response covers only the networking part of your problem; there still
might be other issues which might need to be resolved.

Christian

--
Christian F. Buser, Hohle Gasse 6, CH-5507 Mellingen (Switzerland)
Hilfe fuer Strassenkinder in Ghana: http://www.chance-for-children.org

[David Empson]

<ted.pe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have a couple apps that work just fine. However, I wanted to be able to
> demo the apps even when there is no network available. On a plane, for
> example.
>
> What I tried to do is leave wi-fi on. Then I create a network, call it
> MyNet, on the MacBook. I see it has a self assigned ip address. I then
> connect the iPad to the MacBook network. It gets another IP address.
>
> But the two machines cannot see each other. I try pinging the MacBook from
> the iPad but no luck. They both have subnet mask of 255.255.0.0.

Did you try pinging the iPad from the Mac? (I assume so, but you didn't
say so explicitly.)

> Am I close to getting this working, or is it not possible?

That combination works for me. I created a wireless network on my
MacBook Pro with no security, joined it from my iPad, and they were able
to ping each other. I didn't bother trying any apps talking to each
other, as I've done this before without problems.

Both devices should have a self-assigned IP address which always starts
with 169.254. The last two numbers in the IP address are normally
derived from the hardware address, so are consistent for each device,
but if they happen to pick the same addresses, one of them will pick
another address at random so there is no conflict (assuming they can
talk to each other).

The obvious things to check would be:

- Any kind of firewall on the Mac which might be blocking the ping?

- The ping app you tried on the iPad might not like self-assigned
addresses for some reason. The one I used was "Network Ping Lite"
(free).

- Can the iPad and Mac ping each other if both are connected to the same
regular WiFi network (hosted by a base station)?

--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz

[Mitch Bujard]

Am not so sure you are going about it the right way. The iPad is highly
reluctant to under-the-hood fiddling.

You maybe more successful activating web sharing on the MacBook and use
iPad Safari to connect. Just enter the MacBook IP address in the
address line.

You can also ftp the MacBook, rather than the other way around :

"How to Turn Your Mac Into an FTP Server"
<http://www.macinstruct.com/node/152>

I found this about connecting through ftp with an ipad :
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1166617/using_ftp_with_an_ipad.html>

Hope this helps.

Mitch
http://FoontMenu.com