Out of curiosity, are there any USB wireless adapters that work with Mac OS X? I work at a CompUSA and there are sometimes customers that have older Macs that use the Airport cards that are no longer available. What would be a good USB alternative for them?
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Mac-Compatible USB Wireless Adapters?
- Thread starter neoelectronaut
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neoelectronaut said:
the problem with USb adaptors is that the next OS update may break any driver support they do have, whihc can be flaky already. Ethernet based devices are much, much more reliable since they don't require drivers in the first place. linksys, belkin, dlink and macsense all make such products, and they work great. the macsense one is particularly neat becuase it uses USB for power, but networks through ethernet.
strider42 said:
Ethernet simply isn't an option. Customers want wireless, and airport cards are next to impossible to find these days.
neoelectronaut said:
WHat he is talking about are ethernet wireless adapters, not ethernet connection.....They are small boxed that plug into your ethernet port and provide your mac with wireless capabilities, have a look at the linksys wireless gaming adapter for an idea of what he's talking about,
SHadow
Edit: original airport cards can still be readily found on ebay, although they are sometimes sold at a premium.
For a while, I used (or tried to..) a DWL-122. It may look good because it's cheap compared to the original AirPort cards, but it is HORRIBLE.
It always locked up my system and never connected.
So, I'm not sure of which USB adapter works, but I know the DWL-122 DOESN'T. Stay away from it if you're using it on a Mac. (Works perfectly on a windows box, though)
It always locked up my system and never connected.
So, I'm not sure of which USB adapter works, but I know the DWL-122 DOESN'T. Stay away from it if you're using it on a Mac. (Works perfectly on a windows box, though)
FWIW, I've had no major problems using the D-Link DWL-122 with my G3 iMac running Panther.
It always connects to my WLAN properly and is plenty fast enough for what I do with it, despite the USB 1.1 bandwith limitation.
The only issue seems to be if I do a warm-reboot, the Mac doesn't recognise it after the reboot, but this can be resolved simply by disconnecting and then re-connecting the DWL-122. It's no biggie.
What I would say if you decide to spring for it is, download the latest drivers from the net, as what's provided on the CD has apparantley caused problems for a few people.
As always, YMMV, but I'm glad to report no problems at my end and it provided a much easier (not to mention cheaper) solution than trying to source a secondhand Airport card.
It always connects to my WLAN properly and is plenty fast enough for what I do with it, despite the USB 1.1 bandwith limitation.
The only issue seems to be if I do a warm-reboot, the Mac doesn't recognise it after the reboot, but this can be resolved simply by disconnecting and then re-connecting the DWL-122. It's no biggie.
What I would say if you decide to spring for it is, download the latest drivers from the net, as what's provided on the CD has apparantley caused problems for a few people.
As always, YMMV, but I'm glad to report no problems at my end and it provided a much easier (not to mention cheaper) solution than trying to source a secondhand Airport card.