Ad hoc network for QLab and QLab Remote? How?

[John Nolan]

Sorry to repeat myself.

I asked this a little while ago, but at the time I don't know the correct terms, and got no response, so I thought I'd try again now that I at least know how to ask.

Can anyone tell me if I can use an ad hoc network to connect an iPhone running QLab Remote to a MacBook Pro running QLab with Mac OS Sonoma?

If it is possible, I'd really appreciate step-by-step instructions. My searches for instructions on setting up such a network give ambiguous results.

[Sam Kusnetz]

On Feb 28, 2025 at 7:35:24 AM, 'John Nolan' via QLab <ql...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Can anyone tell me if I can use an ad hoc network to connect an iPhone running QLab Remote to a MacBook Pro running QLab with Mac OS Sonoma?

If it is possible, I'd really appreciate step-by-step instructions. My searches for instructions on setting up such a network give ambiguous results.

My first piece of advice is: do not do this. Ad hoc networks have always been flaky and weird, and those are not adjectives I like to use when discussing show control.

A GL.iNet travel Wi-Fi router costs $35 and will do you better than ad hoc Wi-Fi.

That said, setting up ad hoc Wi-Fi on macOS Sonoma or newer is possible but challenging because it requires using the command line. Here are the steps:

In Terminal, enter:

sudo networksetup -createnetworkservice AdHoc lo0

• ’sudo’ means “do the following with full admin privileges.
• 'networksetup -createnetworkservice AdHoc’ means “use the networksetup program to create a network servicenamed AdHoc”
• ‘lo0’ is a virtual network device. Think of it like an invisible, imaginary ethernet cable inside your mac. What we’re saying here is that the new network service called AdHoc should use lo0.

Since we used ’sudo’ you need to enter your Mac’s password then hit enter.

Now enter:

	sudo networksetup -setmanual AdHoc 192.168.1.88 255.255.255.255

• sudo again
• 'networksetup -setmanual AdHoc’ says “ok, that service we just created, AdHoc? We’re going to set a manual IP address for it.
• 192.168.1.88 is the address to set
• 255.255.255.255 is the subnet mask which is complex to explain, but in this case it means “this network is a point to point link only, and not going to be used for anything other than direct communication with one thing on the other side.”

Now close Terminal and open System Settings > General > Sharing.

Click the (i) button next to Internet Sharing.

Next to “Share your connection from” choose “AdHoc”

Below that, under “To devices using”, switch on Wi-Fi.

At the top, switch on Internet Sharing.

Voila.

When you want your Mac to use Wi-Fi the normal way, just switch off Internet Sharing.

But, once again, I really encourage you to buy even a cheap Wi-Fi router instead of doing this!

Best

Sam

—

Sam Kusnetz (he/him) | Figure 53

s...@figure53.com

[John Nolan]

Thanks Sam.

You had me at "do not do this."  I'll look for a cheap router.

But I really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

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[Sam Kusnetz]

On Feb 28, 2025 at 9:31:42 AM, 'John Nolan' via QLab <ql...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

You had me at "do not do this."  I'll look for a cheap router.

I’m so glad to hear it!

But I really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

 

My pleasure absolutely.

[Jeremy Lee]

Sam,

 

In your IP scheme, wouldn’t the mask need to be 255.255.255.254 to allow for a second IP address of 192.168.1.89? .255 would mean there’s only one possible IP address to talk to, and the computer would be it- a loop back.

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[Sam Kusnetz]

On Feb 28, 2025 at 10:19:53 AM, Jeremy Lee <ubus...@gmail.com> wrote:

In your IP scheme, wouldn’t the mask need to be 255.255.255.254 to allow for a second IP address of 192.168.1.89? .255 would mean there’s only one possible IP address to talk to, and the computer would be it- a loop back.

I may have explained it poorly…

My understanding is that in this specific case, you want .255 because the network device is itself not talking to another device, it’s talking to the Internet Sharing mechanism which does it’s own separate IP management.

I could be wrong, but that is what I think is going on here.

sk

[Jeremy Lee]

Interesting. I haven't done it for YEARS, but it used to be you could just turn on Wifi without selecting an SSID and share with another device. Or maybe it was set a static IP on an ethernet port and share it to WiFi, creating an ad-hoc network. But then god invented the Airport Express and other tiny Wifi routers and there was no need anymore...

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