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waffffffle · Oct 18, 2004, 08:45 PM

I have an old G4 tower that I need to on a wireless (802.11 b) network as cheaply as possible. I need to get whatever hardware I need by Friday, New York time. The way I see it, here are my options that I know of so far:

~$100 for an Airport Card (new or used both seem to go for this price)

~$50 for an ethernet-WiFi Adapter if I buy it within the next 3 hours here

My big question though, is if I can get any USB-Wifi or PCI wifi adapters to work with OS X (10.2, NOT 10.3). I have access to a number of those devices that are lying around but I don't know how to get any of them to work with OS X. I know of this software but I'm not sure if I have access to any of those devices. I know for sure that I can get a Dell TrueMobile 1180 USB wireless driver, but I haven't figured out how to get it to work on OS X.

Any ideas? If I can't get anything I'll just buy the ethernet WiFi adapter tonight.

yikes600 · Oct 18, 2004, 08:54 PM

TrendNet TEW-403PI
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...4&loc=101&sp=1

OS X recognizes this natively as Airport without any additional software. Any PCI wifi adapter which uses the Broadcom chipset will work like this, though this is the cheapest one I know of. Plus it's 802.11g which is far faster than the old 802.11b stuff if your router supports it.

waffffffle · Oct 18, 2004, 08:57 PM

That looks good, except I am tied to 10.2. I can't upgrade or risk breaking compatibility with other device drivers that supposedly don't work in 10.3 on this system. Do you know if it works in 10.2?

yikes600 · Oct 18, 2004, 09:03 PM

I just checked the XLR8YourMac board and it will work if you're using 10.2.8 or later.

edit: One person says it works in 10.2.6 too, if you update the Airport software to 3.1.1.

waffffffle · Oct 18, 2004, 10:08 PM

Thanks. I'm about to order. I just cant seem to find the thread on xlr8yourmac. I see two threads but neither specifically mentions that this card works with 10.2.8. Can I safely assume that it does since other Broadcom-based chipset cards work with it?

Also I am not completely sure what software the computer has, but I could just download that and install it, correct? It doesn't require that the Mac actually have airport for the software to be installed, does it?

Thanks for your help.

bgordon · Oct 18, 2004, 10:51 PM

Check dis:

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=175

Works with 10.2., and it's portable and unpluggable in case you want to use it for a laptop.

Also, make sure you're getting something that's compatible with 802.11b and not just 802.11g. I think the one thing you showed was for G only. Either way, make sure the specs of the network you're connecting to first.

- bgordon

yikes600 · Oct 19, 2004, 01:43 AM

Originally posted by bgordon:
make sure you're getting something that's compatible with 802.11b and not just 802.11g. I think the one thing you showed was for G only. Either way, make sure the specs of the network you're connecting to first.

Umm, ALL 802.11g is backwards compatible to 802.11b.

waffffffle · Oct 19, 2004, 09:35 AM

Originally posted by bgordon:
Check dis:

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=175

Works with 10.2., and it's portable and unpluggable in case you want to use it for a laptop.

Also, make sure you're getting something that's compatible with 802.11b and not just 802.11g. I think the one thing you showed was for G only. Either way, make sure the specs of the network you're connecting to first.

- bgordon

It seems as if OS X support for this device is pretty crummy. I'm afraid to get it. I still haven't ordered the TrendNet card because Buy.com wouldn't let me check out yesterday. How has your experience been with this device?

bgordon · Oct 19, 2004, 03:42 PM

Can't vouch for it...I know D-link is a good name with a good reputation, though, and saw it was supported under 10.2.

Good luck.

- bgordon

waffffffle · Oct 24, 2004, 08:03 PM

The trendnet card worked great. Airport Express in an old G4 tower is great since it doesn't need to use some extra clunky software.

As for D-Link, I have had terrible luck with that company's products. I've had wireless NATs that leaked local IPs onto the WAN and would become zombies after firmware updates. I've had the quirkiest network switch and a bunch of wireless cards with awful drivers. I don't think I would feel comfortable purchasing another D-Link product.