Leopard and PowerBook wireless cards

[AL1630]

I've been trying to use PPC for work as much as I can recently, just to see what I can do with the platform other than having the computers around as a novelty. I've been using my 1ghz TiBook for the last couple of days, and because the internal airport doesn't support WPA2, I've been using a USB wifi antenna. The plug sticking out of the back is a little annoying, so I've been looking into wireless cards for a cleaner way of connecting. I found a long compatibility list, however, all of the cards listed compatibility for tiger, but none for leopard, which I'm running. Are there cards that are confirmed to work with leopard, or is USB the best solution?

 

[bunnspecial]

If you go on Ebay and hunt for a Carbus "Airport Extreme" compatible card, it will work fine and be recognized natively in Leopard(and Tiger). There are a couple of different ones out there, but the chipset is what matters. The one I have is made by Belkin.

You'll need to remove the internal Airport card. Then, just slide the card above into the CardBus slot in the side.

I can still use my TiBook at work on our 802.11x/WPA2 Enterprise network without issues using the card I described above.

By the way, this works on any computer running Tiger or newer with a Carbus slot. I've gone as far back as a Lombard G3.

 

[weckart]

http://lowendmac.com/ed/moore/09cwm/belkin-wifi-cardbus-mac.html

http://lowendmac.com/2009/wifi-cardbus-adapters-compatible-with-mac-os-x/ <--- Ignore the Orangeware cards, just stick to the native Airport compatible ones.

 

[AL1630]

Thanks! I'll keep an eye out on eBay.

 

[ziggy29]

If you go on Ebay and hunt for a Carbus "Airport Extreme" compatible card, it will work fine and be recognized natively in Leopard(and Tiger). There are a couple of different ones out there, but the chipset is what matters. The one I have is made by Belkin.

You'll need to remove the internal Airport card. Then, just slide the card above into the CardBus slot in the side.

Interesting. I don't even have to take the internal card out in order to use my Sonnet Aria Extreme cardbus adaptor (G54CB) -- the card automatically overrides the internal card when it is installed at boot time. That's true on both my TiBook and on my Pismo -- no removal required.

 

[bunnspecial]

Interesting. I don't even have to take the internal card out in order to use my Sonnet Aria Extreme cardbus adaptor (G54CB) -- the card automatically overrides the internal card when it is installed at boot time. That's true on both my TiBook and on my Pismo -- no removal required.

I think the difference may be that-to the computer-the cards I referenced ARE an Airport Extreme card. They use the same chipset and are on the same bus as a "real" one. Thus, the problem comes from the fact that they are using the same extensions.

I've tried running both a factory Airport card and one of these aftermarket Extremes at the same time, and the computer will seem to see and recognize that both are present. It can't seem to do anything with either card, though.

Of course, the downside is that if you dual boot OS X and OS 9, you have to reinstall the Airport card if you want WiFi in OS 9. The other option is to find an Orinoco Gold card, which you can then plug into the carbus slot in OS 9. Airport cards are rebranded Orinoco Golds, and I've used my(Orinico branded) card in OS 8.6 going back to some computers a lot older than the Sawtooth/Pismo(where the Airport card debuted). It also works natively provided that you have the Airport extensions and related control panel installed.