[vespina]

Hi. I recently buyed an used iBook G3 800 Mhz and no airport card installed. I have another PC laptop with a built-in wifi adapter and now want to connect both laptops to a wifi router in order to share my internet connection.

1) Will my new iBook work with generic USB wifi adapters?
2) Wich wifi router (apart of airport base) will work better with both my mac and my pc ?

TIA


Victor Espina

[rjt1000]

Unfortunately most generic USB wifi adapters don't have OS X drivers.

Original airport cards are running $60-$90 on eBay and will give you 802.11b. Although still expensive, this is the most convenient solution (install it and forget it) and is probably the way I would go (if you don't need 802.11g).

Less convenient solutions like the MacWirelesss 802.11g/b USB dongle will cost you $80.

Hawking Tech has an 802.11g/b USB dongle with a removable antenna for about $50. I used another Hawking Tech product, their USB wifinder/ adapter and had reasonably good results with it, but it was less convenient to use as it used its own system preference rather than OS X's built in internet connect. (no idea how this Hawking USB dongle works.)

This eBay seller is selling a $50 802.11g/b USB dongle he states is Mac compatible.

The choice of router is much easier. Most generic wifi routers work fine with Macs as well as PC's. Linksys models seem to be quite popular.

[vespina]

rjt1000:

Thanks for your answer. I realize an airport card is the best solution, but unfortunately I can't afford it. I live in Venezuela, so getting one from eBay is out of question.

I have been doing some research and it seems that the best way to go it's Belkin stick. The other option I found was the DLink 122 but it appears to have some driver problems.

Do you know anything about the Belkin stick?

TIA

Victor Espina

[rjt1000]

I don't have any personal experience with the Belkin USB wifi adapters. What you need to do is go to Belkins website and search for the model number of the adapter you are considering. Then see whether or not there are OS X drivers for it. Unfortunately there are very few wireless products with OS X drivers (because most recent Macs have wireless cards built-in, so there isn't much of a market). You could also check out IOXperts which has commercial (i.e not free) OS X drivers for some otherwise unsupported wireless products. BTW, although many USA based eBay sellers dont want to ship overseas, some will, so you can always ask. A used original airport card would be the most convenient option (and it will definitely increase the resale value of your iBook--so you could reasonably consider it an investment rather than an expense.) Good luck.