[sf-lug] OT: how to set up wireless printer on college network

[Ian Sidle]

Well, this situation is all about the details so I can't really provide
a "automatic" solution that will work reliably. 

By chance, did you happen to see what the brand is of the wireless gear?
Normally it will say on the login page in the corner, or you can see a
logo on the side of the unit near her room. 

1)How is the authentication done? 
Most "hotspot" solutions redirect you to a website.
-Some of them use standard HTTPS AUTH, which is fairly easy to automate. 
-However, other use a webform that is filled out on the webpage and you
have to write you code so it puts in the credentials in the right form.
-Some use client side javascript to prevent automation 
-some have a hard limit on how many devices are allowed to be
authenticated at one time (normally two - one smartphone and one laptop
but occasionally one, so the printer sitting there all day will consume
a slot). 

2)What is the timeout situation like? 
-/Some/ wireless will keep you logged in until you disconnect from the
wireless network, forcing you to log back in.
-Others will send a redirected "pop-up" asking you to confirm you are
still online after X minutes.
-Others will just kick you off, kill all active connections and force
you to re-login again with zero notice. 
-Some also have bandwidth limits (say 500MB/day) and you just get cut
off until the next day. If there is a hard limit and you go over it,
then you are stuck until it rolls over to the next time period. 

Even after you spend hours hard coding a solution they might change
their security settings, or switch to a different brand of wireless
units and you have to start all over again. If you ever run into an
invisible limit where you get cut off, there isn't a way to code a way
to detect that unless you have run into that screen before. 

IMHO, the simplest and most flexible solution is to just fool mother and
do it all manually. 

Get two wireless access points, and setup one that is the "client" to
the schools network and then have a second one that is the "host" your
own "private" network. 

Since the chromebook supports 5ghz (802.11a) wireless, I *heavily*
recommend getting access points that support 5ghz for
performance/reliability reasons.

Having 2.4ghz on both ends, especially on a likely overloaded dorm
internet would be very painful, as they will be constantly fighting with
each other for airtime. 

Ideally, you would want to hardwire the printer into network, since it
probably doesn't support 5ghz mode and ethernet is easier to setup then
to find a compatible wireless adapter. 

Now, you just need to go into the login screen once on the laptop and
all of your devices (that are connected to your private network) will be
working, including the printer with no raspberry pi programming
required. A bonus, since you won't have to log in using the tiny
smartphone keyboard. 

If the network requires pop-ups in order to keep the connection alive,
they will show up on her laptop like normal and the authentication will
be handled for all devices at the same time. 

I would also like to point out to make sure that the subnet for your
private network is on is *different* than the one the school uses.
For example, if they use 192.168.*.whatever, then make sure to use
10.something or 172.16.whatever. Bad things will happen in weird and
unexpected ways if you have a double nat with both ends have the same
subnet. If you are lucky, they will give you public addresses and then
you don't have to worry about it but it entirely depends on how they set
it up. 

I'm sure someone will mention that setting up a network with double NAT
is a bad, which is true but they don't have control of what is happening
upstream, so this is just making lemonade out of the situation. 

If their wireless network sucks a lot (which there is probably a fairly
good chance), you can look into getting DSL/Cable internet in their dorm
room. Most campuses allow you to get a landline phone line (which works
for DSL) or getting Cable TV (which allows Cable Internet). In the big
picture, it isn't that expensive (~$30/month) and can make life a lot
better. 

Finding the address for the dorm room can be tricky (because they don't
have conventional addresses) and it will often be *different* than what
your mailbox address is. 

I would suggest you Ask your RA/Housing staff and someone should know
(just say you are trying to get a phone line - don't confuse them with
the details). 
You can try doing "Room # Juniper Hall, City,CA" and that was what
worked for me when I was living on campus. 
Depending on the local provider, they sometimes have a separate phone
number/agent that you contact because they have the rooms tracked in a
separate system.  


Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions.

thanks,
Ian