Hi And Help! Thanks for the advise re using ssh -X to run X11 remotely over a wlan. I would now like to activate the phone modem on the remote X11 server and then web browse from the laptop using the wlan. There must be some packet filtering occuring as I can log on to my isp whilist sitting at the server and ping external ip addresses and alos local (192.168.0.x addresses) i.e. local requests are somehow being caught and not forwarded over the ppp link to the isp but diverted into the lan. However if I ssh -X to the server from the laptop via the wlan then run kppp and dial the isp the connection goes thru but there must be some protocol problem as the link then collapses saying it cannot find ppp0. I presume this is all to do with packet filtering iptables and maybe ipchains .. an arcane area I do not fully understand and have yet to find a definitive howto which address the area in a way useful to my problem. I would appreciate any directions toward useful help.. Many thanks Stephen ps mozilla runs ok over the link but of course cannot access any links