I have an old Mac Mini where I’ve installed OpenSuse 13.1 (minimal X version). My goal is to throw the Mac Mini in the trunk of my car and run Plex Media Server on it so I can stream movies to the ipad.
How should I setup a wifi hotspot? I’ve read that I should create an ad-hoc network. The ipad sees this network, but I can’t connect to the Plex Media Server. I cannot ping from the Mac Mini to the ipad. Might this be a problem of IP addresses?
So when I click on “edit the wireless network adapter” which options should be selected on the Mac Mini:
No link and ip setup
Dynamic address
Statically assigned ip address
Operationg mode: ad-hoc ; managed ; master
Any other settings? Like turning off the firewall?
Should I manually set an ip address on the ipad in the same range as specified on the Mac Mini?
If you have questions about whether your network is set up properly, you need to post “ip addr” or “ifconfig” for each machine.
If you run a PING test, describe from which machine and post the command (ie. It’s important to know if you are pinging the IP address or name)
You also need to be more technically descriptive and avoid colloquial descriptions like “The ipad sees this network, but I can’t connect to the Plex Media Server” — What do you mean that the ipad can “see” the network, are you saying that it can see the workgroup name? If some kind of name resolution is enabled, can you see the remote machine’s name?
BTW - I skimmed the available info on the Plex website…
There is hardly any technical information available about the technologies it uses.
Also, although “SUSE is supported” I don’t see any downloads or install documentation specific to openSUSE, so you may need to describe your install in detail to determine if it succeeded. There is no hint how Plex is installed and what technologies it uses, but it launches as a binary. Because the RPM install is based on CentOS/Fedora, the install <must> include all its own dependencies because if the install relies on distro packages, package names will almost certainly be different.
Note also:
Specific documentation about Linux permissions.
The commands and descriptions are based on SysVinit. Should work, but may require review and testing.
And, you need to describe what URL you are using to connecting to your Plex server. Note that you need to connect to port 32400/web
FYI -
Because I was curious about this (Plexmedia server),
I went ahead and installed into one of my virtualized Guests…
Downloaded the Fedora 64-bit rpm
Ran
zypper in plexmedia*.rpm
The result is that it looks like it recognized the local system was openSUSE so it downloaded a different package from the Internet, installed and created a systemd service.
Started the plexmediaserver service with the following
systemctl start plexmediaserver
Note that if you want plex to start on boot you should also run
systemctl enable plexmediaserver
Opened up the required port in the firewall using YAST > Firewall > Allowed Services > Advanced
Configured 32400 for both TCP and UDP on the External interface, then click “OK” and “Next” then restarted the Firewall to apply changes.
On the same machine, then opened a browser to
http://localhost:32400/web
Once you’ve done that, you know you have a working server and can then turn your attention to connecting using a remote device. Your ipad can connect either by opening safari to your machine using an IP address (assuming you don’t have name resolution setup in your 2 machine ad hoc network). Or, I assume there is some kind of plex app in the Apple store that should connect to your server requiring only an IP address.
Technically you’re not setting up a “Hotspot” – By definition a Hotspot is an access point which provides connectivity to clients but it sounds like you instead want to set up an ad hoc network which by definition are equal nodes.
In general, if you have Network Manager installed, it should guide you in configuring properly,
You need to define a SSID (network name)
Specify “Ad Hoc” rather than "Infrastructure
Configure IPv4 settings. Assuming you aren’t running DHCP, each machine will need to be configured with a static(manual) IP address with subnet mask, all nodes on the same network defined by the subnet mask. Routing (including Default Gateway) should not need to be configured if you’re not connecting outside the 2 machine network (like the Internet).
Be aware that ad hoc networks can be less reliable compared to Infrastructure networks.