Running a Bridge Session without a Router

[Simon H]

Hi,

I am new to the forum and a new user of BridgeScore and BridgePal - so still learning but I'm very impressed so far.

For those that may be interested, it is possible to run a wireless bridge session without a Wi-Fi Router by using a laptop (or desktop) computer as a Wi-Fi Access Point. I appreciate many people will have access to a cheap or existing router, but using a laptop means one less thing to carry and worry about (particularly if the venue is not a dedicated bridge centre). I have written a short paper on how to set this up, which I will try to attached to this post, but is also available from a share on my Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1V4fdcAn4MQ_quCopkmtJFZ_SQW8QL-sL

I have tested it functionally (and it works) but I haven't load tested it or measured its range (although this will depend to some extent on any antenna used in conjunction with the Wi-Fi card).

Simon H.

[Reg Hull]

Interesting idea.
Not sure but I would think most people using BridgePal will just want the simplicity of just plugging a cheap router in and everything works.
It's certainly worth knowing if you get stuck without a router or want to pursue this router. Does it work for Windows10?

[Simon H]

Curiously Microsoft has deprecated this feature from Windows10, presumably in favour of its own ‘hotspot’ feature (but maximum 8 devices – and requires Internet access – why?). Ironically, the embedded wireless card probably still supports hosted networks, but since it was deprecated by Microsoft, it has been removed from Windows10 drivers by wireless card vendors. It may be possible to find, download and install previous versions of the driver (e.g. Windows8) to restore this functionality - but this is beyond the scope of my article.

[Reg Hull]

Why indeed.
Always amazes me that Microsoft know what's best for us. Surely can't have  caused them a problem to leave it in, just like lots of other things they hav removed over the years.
Looks like I will be sticking to my trusty router.
Thanks for the article, very interesting.