Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Tiny-E · Mar 19, 2005, 11:04 PM

Hi, I'm moving to a new apartment and the flatmates there have wireless broadband set up in the house. I need to get a wireless card for my 550MHz ti powerbook but don't know what I need. I looked at a few at a store but none of them say mac OSX compatible. Will these work or do I need a specific one?

amazing · Mar 20, 2005, 12:51 AM

here's a short list (I've used both the Cisco Aironet and the Buffalo in a Ti-400.) Any PMCIA wireless card will have much, much, much better range than the internal airport card in a Ti-550. If you're just using Panther, you'd probably want to pick one of the Panther-native cards, i.e. those that use the Broadcom chip.

--Cisco Aironet 350, up to 100 mW, has drivers for both OS 9 and Jaguar and Panther.

--Buffalo Airstation PMCIA card, native support in Panther, Mac-specific model is WLI-CB-G54A

--Belkin 802.11g native support in Panther Part # F5D7010, card has orange + white label

--Macsense wireless cards:

AeroCard 802.11b Wireless Network Card WPE600, drivers for OS 9 and X

AeroCard Plus 802.11b Wireless PCMCIA Card for Mac/PC WPE-700
High Powered (200mW)http://macsense.com/product/broadban...s/image001.gif
Long Range (up to 3 times longer)
For PowerBooks with an available PCMCIA slot. Support Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.

AeroCard Extreme (WPE-800) native support in Panther

--D-Link DWL-G650X Wireless CardBus, native support in Panther

Tiny-E · Mar 20, 2005, 04:43 AM

Thanks for that!

I'm still using Jaguar (10.2.8). Does that change what I need to get?

Pierre B. · Mar 20, 2005, 08:39 AM

Originally posted by Tiny-E:
I looked at a few at a store but none of them say mac OSX compatible. Will these work or do I need a specific one?

If it doesn't say that it has OS X drivers, it would work only by chance. Most probably it won't work at all.

You will perhaps find something suitable for your needs here.

amazing · Mar 20, 2005, 03:47 PM

Originally posted by Tiny-E:
Thanks for that!

I'm still using Jaguar (10.2.8). Does that change what I need to get?

actually, most of the cards that are native to panther are also said to work in 10.2.6 and up, because that's the point at which Apple introduced the native support. Check the various websites and you'll see the details.

Mostly it depends on what's available at a reasonable price in your area. For example, here in the US, the netgear 11-g Model WG511 is available for $10 after rebates. Seems to me I've heard that it also is compatible with Panther, but their website says nary a word about the Mac. I'm gonna go into the store to see if anyone perchance might know...

Chris_G · Mar 20, 2005, 07:19 PM

The key to getting native support with a wireless card is that the card in question must have the Broadcom chipset (the chipset Apple supports). Hopefully, the card in question will tell you (or someone on the web will tell you) who their chipset maker is.

Chris

mattmarshall · Mar 20, 2005, 07:22 PM

my roommate just got the Belkin card for 15 dollars, after rebate, from Besy Buy.

the rebate said it was only a one-week promotion. we got it on thursday.

- matt

amazing · Mar 23, 2005, 11:14 AM

Just a heads up: apparently major manufacturers change chipsets without publicizing the changes. xlr8yourmac.com has a report that the Belkin F5D7010 no longer works, that a call to tech support confirmed it and that they suggested F5D7011 will work. Belkin sent out the new card for exchange and it worked.

Further down, there's another report about the Belkin #F5D7001 (and a sticker on the bottom saying it is version 1000.) It's advertised as a high-speed version, but is apparently using the Broadcom chip. The high-speed 125 Mbps stuff won't work in the Mac, natch, no support for anything other than 11-g.

crazeazn · Mar 23, 2005, 11:36 PM

ever just consider getting a used airport card on ebay?

amazing · Mar 24, 2005, 07:40 PM

Originally posted by crazeazn:
ever just consider getting a used airport card on ebay?

The early Ti have absolutely abysmal range with the internal card.

The range of a wireless pc-card rivals that of the awesome iBook.

Tiny-E · Mar 25, 2005, 05:21 AM

I'm in Sydney, Aus right now, does anyone know of an external wireless card that will work with my powerbook? I went to an apple store (well, NOT an Apples store but an authorized dealer blah, blah, blah) and they suggested a usb card? WTF? I used an external wireless card a couple months ago in the states with someone's airport which worked, but forgot to bring it over. Maybe I should just get that one mailed over. Any suggestions?