[Zeno C]

I own a PowerMac G4/400 AGP, and a new PowerBook 1Ghz with gigabit ethernet.
I would like to add a Gigabit ethernet PCI card to my "old" PowerMac (where I'll install Mac OS X Server)

Which model do you suggest me (of PCI Ethernet gigabit card)?
Are those cards normally recognized by the OS (Mac OS X 10.2), or do they need specific Mac drivers?
I'm looking for a quite cheap card, here in Switzerland I can get a "Intel Pro/1000MT Desktop" for 95 CHF (about 60 USD) but I don't know if it will be recognized by OSX...

can anybody help me?

[jarends]

I don't think its worth the bother.

You're going to max out the speed of your PCI bus before you really take advantage of the speed of gigabit ethernet. Unless you move gigs and gigs of files around on a daily basis, it's just not necessary.

Frankly I have no idea why Apple puts in gigabit ethernet in all its macs. It really is a waste of money to me.

The only thing I use gig ethernet for is for a network backbone.

I guess you could use a crossover cable between the 2 computers, but gigabit switches (even unmanaged ones) are so expensive you'd never be able to afford one.

Spend the money on a new fast disk drive or more ram. You simply don't need gig ethernet.

[passmaster16]

Originally posted by Zeno C:
I own a PowerMac G4/400 AGP, and a new PowerBook 1Ghz with gigabit ethernet.
I would like to add a Gigabit ethernet PCI card to my "old" PowerMac (where I'll install Mac OS X Server)

Which model do you suggest me (of PCI Ethernet gigabit card)?
Are those cards normally recognized by the OS (Mac OS X 10.2), or do they need specific Mac drivers?
I'm looking for a quite cheap card, here in Switzerland I can get a "Intel Pro/1000MT Desktop" for 95 CHF (about 60 USD) but I don't know if it will be recognized by OSX...

can anybody help me?

I would like to know this myself. So far i don't know of any intel or 3com cards that will work with X unless they were used by apple in their systems.

[vmarks]

Originally posted by jarends:
I don't think its worth the bother.

You're going to max out the speed of your PCI bus before you really take advantage of the speed of gigabit ethernet. Unless you move gigs and gigs of files around on a daily basis, it's just not necessary.

Frankly I have no idea why Apple puts in gigabit ethernet in all its macs. It really is a waste of money to me.

The only thing I use gig ethernet for is for a network backbone.

I guess you could use a crossover cable between the 2 computers, but gigabit switches (even unmanaged ones) are so expensive you'd never be able to afford one.

Spend the money on a new fast disk drive or more ram. You simply don't need gig ethernet.

The chip costs apple less than $5 and gives them big bragging rights when it comes to marketing.

And, the PCI bus will not be saturated with gigabit ethernet. Bits, not bytes.

I am highly tempted to believe that Intel card would be supported.

[l008com]

The cards are too expensive for my blood. I probably average a Gigabyte a day between my main computer and my server, but to me it wasn't worth the money for a gigabit card. Plus I don't think my server could keep the card fed. Going full speed from my G4 to my server at 100 base averages about 50 % of my CPU. So it wouldn't have been gigabit for me, probably around 200mbit max due to cpu (225MHz 604e) But the hubs are also like $1000 for 4 ports. WAY too much. You know, you're better off using FireWire! Its not 1000, but its still 4X faster than 100base!