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Hack 48 Apple Software Base Station

Use an OS X machine with an AirPort card as a
true access point.

Mac OS 9 had a
handy AirPort feature called
"Software Base Station." It allowed
any Mac with an AirPort card and an Ethernet (or dialup) connection
to act like a hardware access point, sharing its Internet
connection over the wireless. The early versions of OS X were
noticeably lacking this handy feature, but it has been restored in
OS X 10.2.

To begin, you need to establish a connection to the Internet over
something other than wireless (Ethernet is ideal). You might think
that to start a new wireless network, you could simply click on the
AirPort icon and select Create Network, but this
will make an IBSS (peer-to-peer) network.
In order to turn your Mac into a true access point, you need to go to
System Preferences
Sharing, and click on the Internet tab, shown in
Figure 4-2.

Check the top box (Share your Internet connection with
AirPort-equipped computers), but before clicking the
Start button, you probably want to set up your
wireless parameters. Click the AirPort
Options... button, and you should see a drop-down menu
like that shown in Figure 4-3.

Specify a network name and channel, and turn on WEP [Hack #86] if
you need it. Click OK, then click the
Start button. Close the control panel, and your
AirPort icon should change to include an arrow (Figure 4-4). This means that your AirPort is now
operating as a real access point.

To turn off sharing and return to normal AirPort operations, go back
to the Sharing control panel (or just click Open Internet
Sharing... from the AirPort menu bar) and click the
Stop button. As long as you have Internet
sharing enabled, anyone in range of your Mac will see it as a normal
access point, and can access the Internet just as if it were a
hardware AP. I'm not sure why Apple made this
feature a bit obscure to enable, but it can come in handy in a pinch
when you need an AP in a hurry.