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ajprice · Sep 24, 2005, 03:33 PM

I have bought a USB 2 PCI card for my G4 today, I have not fitted it yet. It is a 3 port card, with 2 on the back and one internal. The internal port seems like its of no use for the stuff I have, apart from my USB Bluetooth dongle.

If I fitted the Bluetooth stick to the internal port, would it work? I know it will physically work, but would the Bluetooth signal get through the G4's casing and shielding to the outside world, or would the signal be sealed inside the computer? Its a D-Link DWB-120M, by the way.

ghporter · Sep 24, 2005, 04:34 PM

I don't think having a Bluetooth dongle INSIDE the machine would work very well; too much of the computer would block the signal or be disturbed by it.

The third port is usually for adding a front port remotely in a PC; you just add a funky front panel drive bay cover with a port and plug the cable into the internal port on the card.

ajprice · Sep 24, 2005, 05:18 PM

Ah ok, thanks. Never thought of it being used to add front ports.

oni · Sep 24, 2005, 08:13 PM

I dont know what the G4 case is like but many of my PC using mates have their USB bluetooth dongles inside their case and it works fine

ghporter · Sep 24, 2005, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by oni

I dont know what the G4 case is like but many of my PC using mates have their USB bluetooth dongles inside their case and it works fine

Those are most likely not "dongles" as such; they're more likely built to be installed inside the case. And the kinds of cases on some PCs I've seen are pretty flimsy, mostly plastic, so a signal can go through. With all the metal in a G4's case, I don't think much signal could get out. The Bluetooth module for a G4 appears to have an external antenna connection-though I could be thinking of the AirPort module, which most certainly does have an external antenna.

ajprice · Sep 25, 2005, 01:53 PM

OK well I've just installed the card, I'll try the dongle later anyway, the card went in fine, except that I had to put it in the middle empty slot instead of next to the other cards, as the screw for the next slot was reeeeaaaally tight, I couldn't get the screw out, and I think I might have mashed the screwhead trying

.

oni · Sep 25, 2005, 05:40 PM

Those are most likely not "dongles" as such; they're more likely built to be installed inside the case.

They are definetly dongles, one is the microsoft provided dongle for use with their mouse and the other is a cheap generic dongle. I would agree though that the cases are mostly plastic, i thought the G4 case was similarly built?

Timo · Sep 25, 2005, 07:30 PM

FWIW I put a bluetooth D-Link module on the inside of both a G4 and a G5 and it works well with both a bluetooth keyboard and my phone.

ghporter · Sep 25, 2005, 08:50 PM

Oni, that's interesting. Considering how much stuff inside a PC case can be messed up by RF signals, I'm surprised you're not seeing problems. The G4 cases I've seen are metal-lined, wihich gives them plenty of shielding from outside signals, and should block inside signals from exiting the case. That's what they're SUPPOSED to do. Likewise plastic PC cases often depend on a fairly solid (and often rather sharp!) steel skeleton, which should also shield most of the works from the outside. Having a 2.4GHz transmitter within inches of a CPU just gives me the willies! There's all sorts of things that could go wrong with that configuration...

Timo, was that a PCI card module or one that depends on an internal USB/Firewire port? As I said, those internal ports really are supposed to be for front panel extensions, so I wouldn't try using them for much beyond extending them somewhere.

Timo · Sep 26, 2005, 12:15 PM

I bought a Belkin PCI USB card, probably like the original poster's card, to get USB 2.0. Or rather, I needed more USB ports, was having problems with hubs and thought I'd try to vaguely future-proof the card by making it a 2.0 and G5 compatible.

When I got my card I realized one port of three was internal (for me, useless) so I hit on the idea of trying my D-Link module on it. I was skeptical, but the installation worked well in a G4 Powermac (a Quicksilver, I think).

Soon after I moved the card to a refurbished G5 that came w/o a bluetooth module. I was even more skeptical that the D-Link/internal USB would work, but it has been fine for almost a year. Perhaps every six or seven days my bluetooth keyboard will get stuck "sending" the same key; when that happens I just turn the keyboard off and back on.

On the other hand my phone was harder to sync -- I'd put it right on the mac for what I thought was a better connection. However, with Tiger there's now a symbian isnyc program that allowed me to sync my mac with my phone without any special treatment, so I wonder if the problem was less about case interference in the first place.

What can I tell you, ghporter -- I was skeptical too, but it seems to work fine.

ajprice · Sep 26, 2005, 03:53 PM

I've put the D-link in the internal port now, and it works, I've synced my phone and transferred files over, no problems. Yes it is a Belkin card, when I installed it I had a warm feeling inside after I opened the pack, installed the card which worked straight away, then you find a Windows driver CD and manual in the box!

ghporter · Sep 26, 2005, 05:45 PM

I'm amazed folks. Not only is the signal getting out of your cases, it's not hurting the guts of the computers. It really should, though I'm glad it isn't.

oni · Sep 27, 2005, 12:47 AM

I am curious what sort of problems this should cause?

ghporter · Sep 27, 2005, 09:11 AM

Bluetooth signals are in the 2.4GHz range are close to multiples of the bus frequency, the CPU clock frequency, and several other signals inside the system. If there's enough RF energy, it can cause the bus to lose sync, the CPU to basically no longer connect with RAM or the rest of the system, and all sorts of other subsystems to stop working. This is because the RF signals could show up on those signaling lines at the wrong time and large enoughh to fool the hardware into thinking they're the correct signals. It is NEVER a good idea to give a computer more signals than it's built to expect.

While there may be no hardware damage, the problems would be very hard to track down. Memory errors, inability to connect with a disk drive, video problems, in fact just about any hardware related computer problem could easily be caused by too much RF inside the case.