trottinett

Trottinett is a simple network interface manager, written to allow a laptop computer to quickly switch between a wired and a wifi connection while optionally using the same MAC address for both interfaces.

Download and installation

You may want to verify the signature or have a look at the release notes. If you are interested in versions other than the current release, you can check the list of all releases.

How does it work?

Trottinett's mode of operation is very simple:

If a network cable is connected

• Disconnect the wifi interface
• Run DHCP on the wired interface

If no network cable is connected

• Use wpa_supplicant to connect to a wireless network
• Run DHCP on the wifi interface

Dependencies

Trottinett uses some third-party software to do the heavy lifting:

• A DHCP client. Currently only dhcpcd is supported. Make sure to disable persistent interface configuration in the dhcpcd.conf configuration file or you will end up with lots of outdated DHCP leases.
• wpa_supplicant to manage your wifi settings. You may want to use wpa_gui for extra comfort.