USB wifi adapters
Is anyone using one of these in lieu of an airport card?
I have an older g3 900 ibook and the ethernet port is busted. I want to get internet connection but Apple's reps have told me that the new AP Extreme cards will not work with my ibook. I tried the one made by D-Link but it caused my ibook to freeze. Are there any other reputable brands that work with Macs? I've tried googling but all it brings up is the D-Link adapter and a few other brands that I do not recognize as being reputable.
And why are the aiport card on ebay as expensive as a new AP extreme card?
I have an older g3 900 ibook and the ethernet port is busted. I want to get internet connection but Apple's reps have told me that the new AP Extreme cards will not work with my ibook. I tried the one made by D-Link but it caused my ibook to freeze. Are there any other reputable brands that work with Macs? I've tried googling but all it brings up is the D-Link adapter and a few other brands that I do not recognize as being reputable.
And why are the aiport card on ebay as expensive as a new AP extreme card?
Comments
Originally posted by LiquidR
Is anyone using one of these in lieu of an airport card?
I have an older g3 900 ibook and the ethernet port is busted. I want to get internet connection but Apple's reps have told me that the new AP Extreme cards will not work with my ibook. I tried the one made by D-Link but it caused my ibook to freeze. Are there any other reputable brands that work with Macs? I've tried googling but all it brings up is the D-Link adapter and a few other brands that I do not recognize as being reputable.
And why are the aiport card on ebay as expensive as a new AP extreme card?
hi Liquid, these days it is best to go with Airport or Airport Extreme for WiFi. all the usual manufacturers like dlink, etc. etc. are very very naughty and i feel its a waste of time to try anything else but an Airport card.
yeah i've looked around and it sucks that the Airport *non-extreme* is kind of as expensive as an Airport Extreme....
but anyway thats my 2cents, go with an older Airport card that works with your iBook and save yourself tons of hassle....
I was beginning to think that this thread was DOA.
Originally posted by LiquidR
And why are the aiport card on ebay as expensive as a new AP extreme card?
The reason that the original Airport cards are so expensive is because there are many Apple products that do not accept the Airport Extreme cards and Apple stopped manufacturing the original ones a long time ago.
It's just simple supply & demand, and likely a dash of ebay lunacy thrown in for good measure.
Originally posted by audiopollution
The reason that the original Airport cards are so expensive is because there are many Apple products that do not accept the Airport Extreme cards and Apple stopped manufacturing the original ones a long time ago.
It's just simple supply & demand, and likely a dash of ebay lunacy thrown in for good measure.
yeah this is kind of a weird twisted case like when everyone realized some famous composer-dude was a genius, but only after he died a pauper
in other words, apple was surprise, yet again ahead of everyone else with Airport original. when the rest of the pee cee world woke up and wi-fi hotspots became the rage, Apple had already moved on to Airport Extreme to stay ahead of the curve, or to ride the curve in that case of 802.11G.... only thing is now people that own old-Airport-compatible laptops are really able to fully take advantage of wi-fi, say at hotspots or home networking through much more affordable wireless routers, or share/scam wireless broadband of neighbours, they're able to make the most of Airport and thus i think the demand of old-Airport cards. plus remember that broadband in the home had to also gain enough momentum such that now sharing it wirelessly among several computers is so so so so much better than running cables everywhere.
wired internet is like, so 20th century, man... and when we look back, again, surprise, surprise, it will be apple that led that revolution. though some historians will probably note "centrino" under that galactic-wikipedia entry
I got two refurb AE cards from them at a pretty nice discount.
Not a problem with either one.
http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=175
TigerDirect has refurbs for about $20.
Dave
originally posted by Dave K.
This one will work:
http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=175
TigerDirect has refurbs for about $20.
Dave
Yup, that's the one I bought. Caused my ibook to freeze. I couldn't even power down. No beach ball, nuthin'. Just frozen. I had to pop the battery out to reboot. After 3 strikes I took it back.
Originally posted by LiquidR
Yup, that's the one I bought. Caused my ibook to freeze. I couldn't even power down. No beach ball, nuthin'. Just frozen. I had to pop the battery out to reboot. After 3 strikes I took it back.
Sorry dude. That sucks. Did you buy new, used, or refurbished? I am still pissed at Apple for making essentially a proprietary wireless interface (Airport) and just discontinuing it.
Originally posted by Dave K.
Sorry dude. That sucks. Did you buy new, used, or refurbished? I am still pissed at Apple for making essentially a proprietary wireless interface (Airport) and just discontinuing it.
i wouldn't put all the blame on Apple... 802.11b and g is a well-accepted wi-fi standard... there is nothing that proprietary about Airport.
even pcmcia/cardBus is supposed to be a well accepted standard, and yet we've still heard reports of wifi pcmcia/cardbus cards not working properly in PowerBooks... i doubt it's because of Apple not implementing the pcmcia/cardbus standard properly...
a lot of the blame should actually go to d-link, netgear, and similar manufacturers that just couldn't give a sh*t about making proper drivers for Mac
i just got a Canon Pixma ip1500, and the Mac driver and software on that is the best i've seen for printing on a mac, for basically their 2nd-cheapest (US$60) inkjet printer.... for Canon with such a large market share of lower-end PC printing, the thought that went into making sure Mac users are happy, is nothing short of stellar. Epson has completely dropped all Mac support on it's lower end printers and all-in-one scanner/printer thingys
originally posted by Dave K.
Sorry dude. That sucks. Did you buy new, used, or refurbished? I am still pissed at Apple for making essentially a proprietary wireless interface (Airport) and just discontinuing it.
New. I'm not mad at Apple though. I just wish I hadn't been a cheapskate when I got the ibook. I never figured I'd need a wireless connection, plus I was splurging to get the ipod.
More and more I see these internet hotspots popping up since I got my ibook. Now, I see how handy wifi can be.
Oh well, I guess I'll have to spring for the airport card on ebay.
BTW, are there any additionaly security issues when conecting with a wifi hotspot?
Originally posted by LiquidR
New. I'm not mad at Apple though. I just wish I hadn't been a cheapskate when I got the ibook. I never figured I'd need a wireless connection, plus I was splurging to get the ipod.
More and more I see these internet hotspots popping up since I got my ibook. Now, I see how handy wifi can be.
Oh well, I guess I'll have to spring for the airport card on ebay.
BTW, are there any additionaly security issues when conecting with a wifi hotspot?
dude, i don't think you were a cheapskate, just that you didnt expect this 'airport' thing (that apple was on about way ahead of everyone else) to catch on like wildfire a few years down the track... and that your trusty old iBook is still going strong...
if you manage to get an original 1st gen Airport, it should be sweet... security is normally covered by this stuff like "WEP 128-bit", but you may have to check out the hotspot 'specs' to see what their security is like, and wi-fi-heads on genius bar forums will be able to give you better info than myself