getting Belkin PCMCIA card with Bluetooth working on OSX

alcimedesalcimedes
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
just wondering if anyone knew if this would work or not.



i got a PCMCIA bluetooth card today for my PB. the card is supposed to work with Macs unofficially.



it says it can't detect any bluetooth hardware. it's a belkin pcmcia card, and i know the USB one works under OSX. i thought bluetooth was standard enough that this card would work PC or Mac, although i might be wrong.



edit: cleared up a few details. also, i've looked around and can't find ANY bluetooth PCMCIA cards. is there one that exists at all?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    edit: duh. read first, post second. Please disregard....
  • Reply 2 of 14
    not unlike myselfnot unlike myself Posts: 2,037member
    Can you post your specs and the make/model of the card?
  • Reply 3 of 14
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    sure, although now i'm thinking this is either more of a Genius Bar problem or a lost cause.



    i'm running an 800Mhz PB, OSX 10.2.5



    the card was a Belkin PCMCIA bluetooth expansion card (they only make one)



    the card expressly said that it would only run on a Windows OS, but the Mac dude at CompUSA told me he had people using this card on Mac laptops no problem. (i now think he was full of shit)



    when i put the card in, a little icon shows up in the top bar saying that it's an unknown card, and do i want to turn off power to it. when i go to the bluetooth control panel/utility, it says it can't detect any bluetooth hardware. i think i'm going to just return it and see what else i can find.



    along those lines, anyone have a pcmcia bluetooth card working on a Mac?
  • Reply 4 of 14
    not unlike myselfnot unlike myself Posts: 2,037member
    I looked far and wide, sorry, no dice. Looks like you could try something like this and then add a USB Bluetooth adapter. Good luck!
  • Reply 5 of 14
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    weird part is i looked through the www.xlr8yourmac.com website. they had a pile of PCMCIA cards that are supposedly working on Mac laptops, but when i look through what they're doing with it, it talks about Linux drivers here and there, nothing really OSX.



    i don't know if this is something that just doesn't exist yet on the Mac side or what, but you'd think that someone would make a Mac version of this card. oh well, i'll keep looking. i don't want a stupid USB card, too slow. besides, they stick out to far.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Isn't bluetooth slower than USB?
  • Reply 7 of 14
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    yeah, maybe it is....



    1,000k USB to 700 something bluetooth. (12MB/12)
  • Reply 8 of 14
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Moved to Current Hardware.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    haunebuhaunebu Posts: 40member
    Nope, no Bluetooth PCMCIA cards work with OS X at this time. There just aren't any drivers. Nada, zip, zero. I know, I've been waiting. Having that DLink dongle hanging out the back of my TiBook sucks!



    As far as speeds are concerned, USB 1.1 is 12Mbps, or about 1.5MB per second. And real world performance is usually right there.



    Bluetooth 1.1 on the other hand, is 1.0Mbps, or about 120+KB per second. And real world performance is usually around 23-28KB persecond (depending on distance, intereference, etc.)



    In short, USB is much MUCH faster than Bluetooth both in spec and real world performance.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    oh well 10.2.6 update didn't add any funtionality on this front. i'll be sending the card back tonight. guess i'll go with a USB one for now.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    is this



    what you got?
  • Reply 12 of 14
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    actually the one i got was a Belkin product, but looked the exact same. didn't work for beans.



    i got a USB one, it was half the price and works just fine. just wish it was something a little smaller.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    hjordis71hjordis71 Posts: 45member
    If you do end up getting a Bluetooth USB dongle, you might want to go with the Belkin. I was told by an Apple Store employee that it actually works better than the D-link one, at least with the Sony Ericsson T68i.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by alcimedes

    actually the one i got was a Belkin product, but looked the exact same. didn't work for beans.



    i got a USB one, it was half the price and works just fine. just wish it was something a little smaller.



    so it was really a CF bt adapter? not a PC card one?
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