Using Wifi Ethernet without Internet Connection

Herrminator117

Hello! I am in a very difficult situation because I am on my college campus in the dorms with university internet. Logically, on their network it wont let me just poll an IP address (aka access my duet) through an internet browser.

I have tried a multitude of different methods to try to allow me to connect to it, but with a limited background with Networking I am at some of a loss.

Is there a way to directly connect the duet through the back of the Ethernet port on a computer and access it? Or some other such solution?
In other words is there a way to use the Duet Ethernet without an internet connection, from there I could work backward and find a way to make it work in my case.

Thanks for any help!

fcwilt

Hi,

Where is this printer in relation to your computer?

For a Duet Wifi to connect to your computer you are going to have to provide a Wireless Access Point (WAP) connected to the network connector on your computer. This WAP will then create a WiFi network local to your computer that the Duet can connect to.

For a Duet Ethernet you can connect to your computer without a WAP but you may need a Network Switch or crossover cable, depending on the capabilities of the network hardware on your computer.

Frederick

Herrminator117

@fcwilt:

Hi,
For a Duet Ethernet you can connect to your computer without a WAP but you may need a Network Switch or crossover cable, depending on the capabilities of the network hardware on your computer.

Frederick

The computer is in the same room as my printer ~10ft away, and I have plenty of Ethernet cable to reach both as well as a switch laying around.
I did try to set up the Duet with the switch already, in the same fashion that I used when I was home on my own LAN.

Would you be able to explain how to use the duet Ethernet w/ a switch when neither the switch or computer are connected to a LAN?
Thanks!

dc42

You can connect a Duet Ethernet to a laptop computer with an Ethernet cable connected between their Ethernet ports. If your laptop doesn't have an auto-switching Ethernet socket, then it needs to be a crossover Ethernet cable instead of a regular one. These are readily available on eBay, Amazon etc.

If as you already have an Ethernet switch, you can connect both the Duet and your laptop to the switch.

Either way, you will need to give both the Duet and the laptop static IP addresses on the same subnet.

Herrminator117

@dc42:

You can connect a Duet Ethernet to a laptop computer with an Ethernet cable connected between their Ethernet ports. If your laptop doesn't have an auto-switching Ethernet socket, then it needs to be a crossover Ethernet cable instead of a regular one. These are readily available on eBay, Amazon etc.

If as you already have an Ethernet switch, you can connect both the Duet and your laptop to the switch.

Either way, you will need to give both the Duet and the laptop static IP addresses on the same subnet.

As always thank you for your insight! I am going to give that a try and see how it goes!
Will report back if I am still having issues!

Thanks again, Nate

Herrminator117

Hey David, I am having some issues, and this is probably me being a networking novice.

Here is what I have done so far:

Go into Network Connections>Ethernet Properties>TCP/IPv4 Properties
Set these values:
IP Address: 192.168.1.10
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS Server Addresses are both blank
Set Duet with these values
M552 P192.168.1.17 ;IP Address
M553 P255.255.255.0 ;Subnet Mask
M554 P192.168.1.1 ;Default Gateway

On the switch I am getting activity from the duet while the orange led on the ethernet port is solid. But I am getting no activity from the computer and neither of the ethernet port LEDs are lit. I also checked ipconfig /all and its saying no media connected on the ethernet port.

Any suggestions?

dc42

If the computer has WiFi as well as Ethernet then subnet 192.168.1.x may already be used by the WiFi connection. Check by running ipconfig. If that is the case, choose a different subnet for the wired Ethernet such as 10.0.0.x.

OTOH if the computer says no media is connected, that suggests that the Ethernet port is disabled or the cable or switch port is faulty.

Herrminator117

Alright so I changed things around, first off I switched ethernet ports and I getting activity now (my desktop has 2)
I changed the computer IPv4 to:
IP: 10.0.0.2
Subnet: 255.255.255.252
Gateway: 10.0.0.1

Duet changed to:
M552 P10.0.0.3
M553 P255.255.255.252
M554 P10.0.0.1

However all this is a guess in the dark haha, and putting 10.0.0.3 into the browser unfortunately did not pull up the web interface.
Again sorry for the questions. My googling skills are failing me.

WalterSKW

As said before you could connect computer and duet directly with an ethernet cable.

The IP configuration you would use between them is not that important, not when having a direct cable between them.
But both addresses have to be unique and on the same subnet (the part with the 255 numbers in it).

Using a 192.168.x.y addressing is ok.
Use for x something from 0 to 254 and has to be the same for both
For the y-part choose 2 different numbers from 1 to 254 .
Use 255.2555.255.0 as subnet for both. You don't need a router.

example :

[[language]]
PC : 192.168.50.10
Duet : 192.168.50.100
subnet on both 255.255.255.0

Cabling : most modern computers support automatic switching between straight and cross-over cables.
If a standard (straight) cable doesn't work, use a cross over.
See http://blog.showmecables.com/rj45-pinout/on how to distinguish between them by examining the connectors.

IPconfig should show something like :

[[language]]
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . :  192.168.1.15
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

If IPconfig results in the following, then you should change cables or use 2 standard cables and connect using a small switch (link LEDs should be on) :

[[language]]
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Herrminator117

@WalterSKW:

As said before you could connect computer and duet directly with an ethernet cable…..

Thank you so much. That did the trick! I can now use the web interface and I am so appreciative!

Nate

jandcando

Thank you for making this thread! It helped me manage through a very similar situation with my printer!