I made a tutorial showing “How to Make an Ubuntu Laptop as a WiFi Hotspot” before. The post is actually for Ubuntu 10.04. Since the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) is released, there is a bit problem to implement the same purpose following the setup from that tutorial.

In this post I will show how to setup Ubuntu 12.04 as hotspot (ad-hoc, Access Point) to share wired internet with other WIFI enabled devices, e.g. laptops, iPad, iPhone, iTouch, smart-phones. Do not worry, it is quite easy to do the setup step by step by my captured screenshot.

First of all, what you need are:

A laptop with WIFI hardware and the WIFI function is on
The laptop is connected with internet via wired connection(WLAN)

OK, here we go.

• 1. Right click network manager on the laptop with wireless hardware (these days most of laptops have wireless modules) and connected with internet by wired network (WLAN), then choose “Edit Connections…”, click it (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Figure 2

• 2. Click the menu “Wireless”, and click “Add” button, then fill up the blanks as you like: your “Connection name”, “SSID”, then choose “Mode” option as “Ad-hoc”, for others no need to change, shown as Figure 3.

Figure 3

• 3. The next step is set up your key for the connection, click “Wireless Security”, choose “WEP 40/128-bit Key (Hex or ASCII)”, type your own “Key” if you do not want to make the whole world to share your WIFI, it is better make the length of the key as 5 characters that I tried successfully (other length may not work) (Figure 4).

Figure 4

• 4. Turn to “IPv4-Settings”, choose the option “Shared to other computers” for “Method”, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5

• 5. Do not make any change for “IPv6 Settings”, OK, click “Save” to finish the setup work, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6

• 6. Left click the wireless icon on the right top corner and left click the last option: “Create New Wireless Network…”, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7

• 7. On the new pop-up window, choose your created wireless network, in my case is “WIFI hotspot via LAN”, and click “Create” button, type your password set at the step 3. (Figure 8).

Figure 8

• 8. Now, you should see the “Wireless Networks” with a computer icon on your laptop, which means this WIFI is the wireless connection by a computer rather than a wireless router (Figure 9).

Figure 9

• 9. OK, all work is done on the laptop that acts as WIFI hotspot (ad-hoc). Now you can use the wireless connection (WIFI) you already created for other devices enabled with WIFI connection (Figure 10), select it, and input the Key (password you set) (Figure 11).

Figure 10

Figure 11

• 10. OK, you are using the WiFi from the laptop connected with cable Internet (WLAN connection) (Figure 12)!

Figure 12
Is it great? Yes, it is, no command, all is done by GUI setup. It is the power of Linux (here is Ubuntu 12.04), since this is only possible on Windows 7 in Microsoft family, almost no way for XP.

The above method has been successfully tested on my two laptops, iPad 2 (WIFI only), and Nokia 5800.

Here is the information of my two laptops (hardware and software).

• HP 520 laptop, Ubuntu 12.04, cable Internet (WLan)
• Intel Corporation 82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ – PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller Mobile (rev 01)
• Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
• Acer Aspire one Netbook, Ubuntu 12.04, WiFi provided by HP 520
• Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
• Atheros Communications Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev c0)

Update: If you think the procedure above is too complicated, you can also try the simplest and easiest method: How to create a WiFi hotspot in Ubuntu laptop for mobile devices [easiest and simplest]

来源：https://tumutanzi.com/archives/8195