[shifuimam]

I'm planning on adding a USB 2.0 PCI card to my PowerMac G4 to give me the capability of having...something faster than USB 1.1.

Is there a particular card I must use to be compatible with OS X, or will any card work?

[Gareth Johnston]

Make sure it is OSX compatible. I did the same thing about 3 years ago when I bought my first iPod. The most difficult part was actually tracking down a suitable card.

[shifuimam]

That's the problem - how can I know that it's OS X compatible?

[angelmb]

I have two USB 2.0 PCI cards inside my Power Mac G4 (MDD 2003), one is this Belkin:

Belkin : Hi-Speed USB 2.0 5-Port PCI Card

while the other one I bought from eBay and has no particular brand… the chipset was said to be OS X compatible and well, it just works.

LaCie has some fancy cards though

LaCie - LaCie USB 2.0 PCI Card

[shifuimam]

Yeehah - that Belkin card is the one I just found on Newegg for $19.99 shipped - it's got a lifetime warranty, too. Thanks for the info though.

Did your Belkin card require anything special to get working? Even though the FSB on the G4 PowerMacs is pretty slow, I'm assuming it'll still be faster than USB 1.1...

[angelmb]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Did your Belkin card require anything special to get working?

Yes, Mac OS X 10.2.7 or better, does that qualify as 'special' ?

Joking aside, no it didn't, no drives needed to be installed at all. And don't worry, it is way faster than USB 1.1… my MDD didn't ship with built-in USB 2.0 ports since such a model was the last one aimed to be Mac OS 9 bootable, so I guess all should be fine with your PM G4 as well.

[mooblie]

Sonnet Allegro USB 2.0 Card.

[imitchellg5]

I got the Belkin card for my G4, it's great. Very quick and no drivers needed unless you use OS 9. (Or OS X Jaguar or under for some reason)