As this does not seem to have been mentioned here anywhere that I can see, I thought that I would post the hardware requirements to use AirDrop.
Simply upgrading the wireless card in a device, if possible, makes the feature available. (If you're minded to do this, try to ensure that you choose a replacement that has the same number of antenna connectors as the card that you are replacing.)
In order to use AirDrop, the wireless chip must have the ability to connect to an infrastructure network and be part of a personal area ad-hoc network at the same time.
This is known to be supported out of the box via:
With a modified kext, it is possible via:
Cards that are known to not support AirDrop:
For example, by replacing the commonly used BCM94321MC card in an existing Mac with an BCM94322MC, you get AirDrop. That's pretty cool and relatively easy to do!
Furthermore, if you purchase a generic BCM94322MC based card, it is not difficult to make it appear as a real AirPort device to Mac OS X.
See:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=28662&start=11
Simply upgrading the wireless card in a device, if possible, makes the feature available. (If you're minded to do this, try to ensure that you choose a replacement that has the same number of antenna connectors as the card that you are replacing.)
In order to use AirDrop, the wireless chip must have the ability to connect to an infrastructure network and be part of a personal area ad-hoc network at the same time.
This is known to be supported out of the box via:
- Atheros AR5BHB92
- Atheros AR5BXB92
- Atheros AR5B93
- Atheros AR5BXB112
- Broadcom BCM94322HM8L
- Broadcom BCM94322MC
With a modified kext, it is possible via:
- Atheros AR5B95
- Atheros AR5BXB72
Cards that are known to not support AirDrop:
- Broadcom BCM94321MC
- Broadcom BCM94312MCG
- Broadcom BCM94312MCAG
- Broadcom BCM94311MCG
For example, by replacing the commonly used BCM94321MC card in an existing Mac with an BCM94322MC, you get AirDrop. That's pretty cool and relatively easy to do!
Furthermore, if you purchase a generic BCM94322MC based card, it is not difficult to make it appear as a real AirPort device to Mac OS X.
See:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=28662&start=11
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