[wednesday]

I have an older tray-loading iMac G3 (grape!) that has an ethernet port...what can I stick in the port that would pick up a signal from our in-home wireless network...so we don't have cables running all over the house. Thanks!

[iMacfan]

It's actually the USB you're going to have to use. There are quite a few adapters on the market, most look like a USB thumbdrive - check that there are drivers for whatever OS you are using.

David

[Will C]

You could use something like the netgear ME101 which bridges wireless to your ethernet port - From what I have heard Ethernet is better for networking than USB on Macs, BUT maybe the drivers are getting better, so iMacfan's suggestion may be the cheaper and neater option now.

[P]

Wifi over USB works decently enough. For details, search the forums (this has been up a million times or so - once asked by your truly), but your best and cheapest bet would be to get the free drivers from here:

Ralink Technology, Corp.

and match them with a unit from the ones in this list:

Ralink chipsets based wireless devices

Beware the revision numbers - it will NOT work with part of the wrong revision.

[ghporter]

---or ask this question in the NETWORKING forum... You'll get better answers there.

For example, having to use a USB 1.1 port for WiFi is going to be unpleasant-it'll be slow for one thing, and you have to hope the drivers work (the ones P posted are an exception because they DO work, but finding the right hardware for them is another matter sometimes). A wireless bridge, while more expensive, needs no drivers, is often available with an external antenna (which beats the tiny things on USB devices) and will have higher performance overall.

[Macola]

Seconded--just go with an Ethernet bridge. You'll be much happier.