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rich82fox · 09:46 AM

Hi

I noticed that with my iBook G3 with Airport card - I can share files wirelessly to my powermac g5 which is plugged into the router (powermac g5 has networking enabled).

If I add a third party wireless dongle to my powermac g3 - will it see the network? or just the internet?

or is it only Apple Airport that is able to share files wirelessly?

rich

P · Jul 15, 2010, 09:58 AM

These things happen at completely different levels. If you add a wireless dongle, you get access to the local network. This network may or may not be connected to the Internet, and in your case it seems to be. File sharing can happen over any network. If you add a wireless dongle, it should work.

angelmb · Jul 15, 2010, 11:07 AM

If I add a third party wireless dongle to my powermac g3 - will it see the network? or just the internet?

With an ASUS WL-138G V2 Wireless PCI card, a B&W G3 running 10.4.11 can see the local network, share files with my other Macs and browse the internet wirelessly. It is listed as an AirPort Extreme card, no need to install drivers, nothing whatsoever.

angelmb · Jul 15, 2010, 11:33 AM

Also, the antenna that came with the Asus is cr*p, had to replace it to get any signal from the network.

rich82fox · Jul 16, 2010, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by angelmb

With an ASUS WL-138G V2 Wireless PCI card, a B&W G3 running 10.4.11 can see the local network, share files with my other Macs and browse the internet wirelessly. It is listed as an AirPort Extreme card, no need to install drivers, nothing whatsoever.

The one I'm thinking of getting is an Asus N Wireless USB Adaptor

will that let me share files wirelessly between macs?

rich

angelmb · Jul 17, 2010, 09:19 AM

If you mean this one, it seems to work, albeit you need to install the driver from ASUS.

Was it an iMac, I could understand (the USB choice), but with a Power Mac I would choose the PCI card.

rich82fox · Jul 17, 2010, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by angelmb

If you mean this one, it seems to work, albeit you need to install the driver from ASUS.

Was it an iMac, I could understand (the USB choice), but with a Power Mac I would choose the PCI card.

The PCI version seems to be hard to find in the UK - whereas the USB version is easily purchased from places like Argos.

I've also come across Pluscom usb wireless dongle's that are advertised as being mac compatible - are those any good?

rich

angelmb · Jul 17, 2010, 03:59 PM

Thing is that the USB adaptor requires USB 2.0 ports. You would need to get a USB 2 PCI card in order to get it working.

Goes without saying I know iota about the UK market, but amazon UK has the PCI Wireless adaptor.

rich82fox · Jul 18, 2010, 06:19 AM

Originally Posted by angelmb

Thing is that the USB adaptor requires USB 2.0 ports. You would need to get a USB 2 PCI card in order to get it working.

Goes without saying I know iota about the UK market, but amazon UK has the PCI Wireless adaptor.

The adapter I'm thinking of using is this one:

Buy Asus N Wireless USB Adapter. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for .

for the powermacs I'll use the pci adapter - but for the tray loading imac I was thinking of using the usb one.

But I can't find out if it requires a 2.0 usb port

rich

angelmb · Jul 18, 2010, 06:27 AM

USB 2.0 seems to be mandatory. Click on Specifications.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Big Mac · 09:28 PM

I recommend against WIFI adapters in most situations. If built-in Airport is no longer an option, my preferred mostly wireless route is the Ethernet Over Powerline Bridge. Check out this thread for more information.

ghporter · Jul 19, 2010, 08:26 PM

Big Mac is right. USB tends to bottleneck data, even if you have USB 2.0 ports. On the other hand, an Ethernet bridge (which can be an inexpensive wireless router set up to be a bridge) has only the limitation of the WiFi bandwidth.

If this thread diverges from "would a USB dongle work" or "which USB dongle will work," I'll move it to Networking for more thorough discussion of the networking issues involved.

Big Mac · Jul 19, 2010, 09:28 PM

Somewhat what I meant. I was actually talking about ethernet over power bridges that connect to a router in one room and then connect through the powerline to a computer in a different room, but I couldn't remember at the time I posted that reply the name of the devices. I do definitely recommend against any networking devices that connects through USB. Wireless bridging is good if you can get it working, but powerline bridges are very simple to set up and work quite well in my experience.

ghporter · Jul 20, 2010, 07:44 AM

Powerline networking is a good choice too, but it's not as easy to find the equipment.

Big Mac · Jul 20, 2010, 04:36 PM

They may be less common, but they're usually effortless to install.