PCcard PB 802.11G

nocnitsa · June 3, 2004 7:49PM

I decided to get a new Router and I figure I might as well prepare for the future and get a IEEE802.11G.

Currently I only will use the wireless side for my PB. My PB can only handle a regular AirPort802.11B card, which is simply not good enough. I then decided to find an appropriate PCMCIA card. I've searched for answers and found little.

Thus far, I have not found any 802.11G PCMCIA cards that will work on an Apple PB. I would like to avoid third party drivers (IOxperts, etc.. ).

Can anyone direct me to a PCMCIA card that supports at least 54Mbps for a Powerbook (gigabit edition)?

FACTS:

PB=10.3.4; 512RAM; 550Mhz G4; 16Mb ATI; 1 PCMCIA slot

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My first choice was to get the D-Link DWL-G650 PCMCIA card (which when linked with the D-Link DI-624 router, can achieve speeds up to 108Mbps, and not just 54Mbps).

My Second choice is Linksys (WPC54GS and WRT54GS respectively).

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nocnitsaATcanada.com

nocnitsa · June 4, 2004 2:12AM

Perhaps I'm looking for answers/responses too fast, but I feel I must summarize-

Is there any way to get IEEE802.11G (54Mbps) (and/or AirPort Extreme) on an Apple Powerbook (gigabyte edition) as internal or PCMCIA external?

I appreciate any help or pointers in this area. Thank you.

his dudeness · June 4, 2004 6:23PM

Well, I can tell you that my G3 Powerbook doesn't have Airport built in. The ONLY way I could get my Powerbook to be wireless was to get a USB adapter from D-Link, the D-Link DWL-122 Wireless USB Adapter. It's 802.11B. It is the ONLY thing I have found so far.

nocnitsa · June 8, 2004 12:12AM

Quote:

Originally posted by His Dudeness

Well, I can tell you that my G3 Powerbook doesn't have Airport built in. The ONLY way I could get my Powerbook to be wireless was to get a USB adapter from D-Link, the D-Link DWL-122 Wireless USB Adapter. It's 802.11B. It is the ONLY thing I have found so far.

Yea, I've noticed one or two PCMCIA cards (and other USB adapters) that can offer a mac 802.11b... but If i'm going to bother with that, I might as well get the original 'airport' card internal.

Damn, just when I was going to go wireless .. and I find out no one makes third party 802.11G drivers for mac.

At this rate, I'll just have to wait until I replace this PB with a new edition.

Thanks

gabid · June 8, 2004 6:43AM

Quote:

Originally posted by nocnitsa

Yea, I've noticed one or two PCMCIA cards (and other USB adapters) that can offer a mac 802.11b... but If i'm going to bother with that, I might as well get the original 'airport' card internal.

Damn, just when I was going to go wireless .. and I find out no one makes third party 802.11G drivers for mac.

At this rate, I'll just have to wait until I replace this PB with a new edition.

Thanks

Don't give up hope! Unless Apple has changed something recently, as of last summer Apple made it so the standard Airport Extreme driver will recognise ANY 802.11g (and only g) PC card based on the Broadcom chipset. This happened just around this time last year. It definitely worked with a Linksys card and my old TiBook (in fact, the exact same model you have). Heck, it worked with a Japanese version of the Linksys card! If I remember, D-Link cards would not work (since they weren't based on Broadcom).

I don't have this PowerBook anymore to confirm that the newest AirPort updates kill this functionality, but I haven't seen any scuttlebutt on-line about it, so you'll probably be fine. If you can, make sure you have at least 10.2 with whatever version of the AirPort software that came out this time last year and see if you can find a store that will let you plug it a PC card to test. Again, it should work: you just need to plug in the card and you'll be ok.

nocnitsa · June 9, 2004 10:37PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gabid

Don't give up hope! Unless Apple has changed something recently, as of last summer Apple made it so the standard Airport Extreme driver will recognise ANY 802.11g (and only g) PC card based on the Broadcom chipset. This happened just around this time last year. It definitely worked with a Linksys card and my old TiBook (in fact, the exact same model you have). Heck, it worked with a Japanese version of the Linksys card! If I remember, D-Link cards would not work (since they weren't based on Broadcom).

Really?! so I just have to make sure that whatever company PCMCIA card I choose... is based on this 'broadcom'. I've never heard of Broadcom.. but i'll have to look around.

I might just get the new Linksys then! If I pick anything up, I'll post back here to give a final answer/results!

eugene · June 10, 2004 5:37AM

The following brands use Broadcom chips:

Linksys

Buffalo

Belkin

Sonnet

his dudeness · June 10, 2004 1:51PM

Quote:

Originally posted by nocnitsa

Yea, I've noticed one or two PCMCIA cards (and other USB adapters) that can offer a mac 802.11b... but If i'm going to bother with that, I might as well get the original 'airport' card internal.

Damn, just when I was going to go wireless .. and I find out no one makes third party 802.11G drivers for mac.

At this rate, I'll just have to wait until I replace this PB with a new edition.

Thanks

The other day, I was in my favorite store, no not the Armani store, but Barnes and Noble. I came across a book in the Mac section called The Wireless Wi-Fi Mac, or something like that. I can't remember. But I read a paragraph in there that said that as long as you are running 10.2.8 or higher and had the latest install of the Airport software, pretty much any 3rd party wireless PC card would work. I would look into that a bit more if I were you.

eugene · June 10, 2004 4:15PM

Not pretty much any card... Stick to the brands I listed above please...

nocnitsa · June 11, 2004 2:57AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eugene

The following brands use Broadcom chips:

Linksys

Buffalo

Belkin

Sonnet

I am currently updating in a room which has never before seen the likes of 'INterNET' before. Meaning: I got a card to work.

I choose the newish Linksys 802.11G (with Speed Boster), and it worked like a snap. I'm using 10.3.4 and updated to the newist airport software/drivers just tonight.

The speed varies, and I don't think that my PCMCIA card is using the speed boster tech (yes, my router is the new Linksys with Speed Booster as well) but I expected that and don't care. The important thing is: I have wireless 54Mbps.

Interesting to note: The PCMCIA card shows up as a 'Broadcom' and has faded out below it 802.11b... I'll have to test the speed I'm getting...

I hope this post will answer questions in the future for folks wanting to buy third party wirelessG.

Thanks to Gabid for the initial tip.

Thanks to Eugene for the list.

nocnitsa · June 11, 2004 3:01AM

Quote:

Originally posted by His Dudeness

The other day, I was in my favorite store, no not the Armani store, but Barnes and Noble. I came across a book in the Mac section called The Wireless Wi-Fi Mac, or something like that. I can't remember. But I read a paragraph in there that said that as long as you are running 10.2.8 or higher and had the latest install of the Airport software, pretty much any 3rd party wireless PC card would work. I would look into that a bit more if I were you.

I found a note on powerbooks and wi-fi in the apple support section, and it said if you have a powerbook G3, or a powerbook with only airport (regular) as an option, you may have to use third party products.

That gave me the impression, that if one is using at least 10.2, that even a G3 powerbook could use wirelessG. Just a thought...

PCcard PB 802.11G

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