How do I make my 333MHz iMac go wireless?

ProstheticHead · Oct 17, 2007

So here is my current predicament:

My dad is receiving a new laptop from his work and is passing down his next-to-new Macbook to my mom for her to do her school work. She does all of her work on a blueberry iMac 333 and as an elementary teacher, doesn't have a whole lot of need for the power or mobility in the macbook. The thing that she does like, however, is the fact the laptop will be wireless so she can use it in the main family room, rather than in the office where the modem/router are located.

My proposition:

If I can get the iMac to go wireless, I can get it removed from the office and placed in our family room, thus allowing me inherit the Macbook.

Questions:

Does anyone know of a way to get an iMac (under OS 9.0 I believe) up and running on wifi? I'm aware of the internal mods you can make with the original airport card, but I wasn't sure if there were any cheaper ways to go about it. Next time I swing down by their house I'm going to plant the seed, but I'd like to have some ammunition to go along with it.

Thanks for your help!

disconap · Oct 17, 2007

If it is a slot loading Imac (cd or dvd discs are inserted in a front slot), it can use a standard Apple Airport card (note--FIRST generation, not Airport Extreme) which you can find used all over the place for around $50-100. You'll also need a harness if it didn't come with one (most that don't have airport cards already don't have harnesses), but they're usually like $10.

If it is a tray-loading Imac or you don't want to spend that money, any USB dongle that works with Apple products will work with your imac, though finding OS9 drivers might be difficult (probably not, though). I suggest the Belkin wi-fi USB dongles, they are reliable and pretty decent.

ProstheticHead · Oct 19, 2007

Alright thanks, it's a tray-loader, so I expect I'll be on the hunt for a decent dongle.

disconap · Oct 19, 2007

Good luck! You can get them pretty cheap. The D-Link DWL-122 is the model I use with my tray-loader and it works just fine.

roblawton · Oct 20, 2007

disconap said:
Good luck! You can get them pretty cheap. The D-Link DWL-122 is the model I use with my tray-loader and it works just fine.

Just ordered one of these to use on an old iMac I got for my folks.

Will I need to find any drivers? Or will OS 9 pick the adapter up fine?

Thanks,

Rob,

CRAZYBUBBA · Oct 20, 2007

STOP! I found the wireless is slow and unbearable on my iMac (Specs below). It flies with an ethernet connection, see if you can buy a $50 dollar super long ethernet cable instead.

Secondly, according to everymac, your computer is not compatible with airport. Mine was the first. http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac_333.html

If you still want to do this, you need an external usb powered airport thingie.

ProstheticHead said:
So here is my current predicament:

My dad is receiving a new laptop from his work and is passing down his next-to-new Macbook to my mom for her to do her school work. She does all of her work on a blueberry iMac 333 and as an elementary teacher, doesn't have a whole lot of need for the power or mobility in the macbook. The thing that she does like, however, is the fact the laptop will be wireless so she can use it in the main family room, rather than in the office where the modem/router are located.

My proposition:

If I can get the iMac to go wireless, I can get it removed from the office and placed in our family room, thus allowing me inherit the Macbook.

Questions:

Does anyone know of a way to get an iMac (under OS 9.0 I believe) up and running on wifi? I'm aware of the internal mods you can make with the original airport card, but I wasn't sure if there were any cheaper ways to go about it. Next time I swing down by their house I'm going to plant the seed, but I'd like to have some ammunition to go along with it.

Thanks for your help!

im_to_hyper · Oct 20, 2007

Hey there --

The OP is getting a USB dongle, and since the iMac has USB it will be compatible. The model of computer has no basis on whether a third party adapter. It won't work with a regular Airport card, but other ones will be fine.

As far as the iMac goes, OP, have you considered upgrading the RAM to 384MB+ and installing OS 10.3? Then you wouldn't need to worry about any compatibility issues, and will be able to assure that your computer will be working for awhile to come.

CRAZYBUBBA said:
STOP! I found the wireless is slow and unbearable on my iMac (Specs below). It flies with an ethernet connection, see if you can buy a $50 dollar super long ethernet cable instead.

Secondly, according to everymac, your computer is not compatible with airport. Mine was the first. http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac_333.html

If you still want to do this, you need an external usb powered airport thingie.

dukebound85 · Oct 20, 2007

i thought usb dongles required usb2.0. still even if it doesnt it will be so slow

disconap · Oct 20, 2007

No; there are some USB 2.0 dongles out there, but MOST dongles, even USB 2.0 ones, are compatible with USB 1.1. The DWL-122 is a 1.1 dongle.

It works fine, especially considering the speed of the G3 and early G4 machines; I haven't noticed a huge difference between it and ethernet in anything other than direct file downloading, where ethernet is of course much faster.

As for drivers for OS9, not sure, I have OSX on my imacs (the driver I have is 10.2 or higher, I run 10.3). Google around with DWL-122 and OS9 driver and see what you come up with, there's probably a general wireless driver that will work...

dukebound85 · Oct 20, 2007

oh really? so performance is not that bad? might have to look into one

disconap · Oct 20, 2007

I've found it to be more than adequate. I also use a third party general driver (but in 10.2 and 10.3) for mine, but it works just fine for web and email use (I wouldn't use it for file transfer of more than 4 mb, though)...

RedTomato · Oct 20, 2007

disconap said:
Good luck! You can get them pretty cheap. The D-Link DWL-122 is the model I use with my tray-loader and it works just fine.

I have a G3 350mhz powermac (currently running tiger rather slowly) that I'm interested in putting wireless on. Many thanks to the OP for creating this thread.

The D-Link DWL-122 seems pretty hard to find in the UK - most places list a GWL-122 which is a rather different usb access point.

Anybody in the USA got one spare? I don't mind paying via paypal to someone with a good reputation here.

ProstheticHead · Oct 22, 2007

I've toyed with the idea of increasing the RAM, I've just got to locate a piece that will work in it. A while back I attempted to plug in a chunk of the RAM from my Pismo, but (as I thought) it didn't work.

How does Panther run on a dinosaur like that though? I don't want it to be too unbearable for my mom!

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