Mac Mini Wireless assembly on PowerMac G5?

[mklos]

I just bought a new Dual Core PowerMac G5, and I found out the hard way that if you don't get AirPort Extreme Standard when you buy it, that you have to have Apple install the slot enclosure (wireless assembly) like you would on the Mac Mini. I was wondering if I could use the same thing for my Dual Core PowerMac? Keep in mind that this may be different from older PowerMacs as the AirPort Extreme Card slot may already be there, but its not present on the Dual Core PowerMacs if you don't order the PowerMac with wireless built in.

I looked inside and the connector on my PowerMac G5 has the same connection as the Mac Mini wireless assembly so I think it will plug in fine, but my only concern is will the wireless antennas already present connect to this? Has anyone every tried it?

Here is a pic of the MacMini Wireless Assembly:

 

[ITASOR]

Not sure about putting that in your G5, but you know that Airport Extreme isn't your only option, right?

You can get a PCI wireless card that OS X recognizes natively as an Airport card. It needs to have a broadcom chip on it. I had a Motorola PCI Card from walmart (think it was around $40) and it worked great!

 

[mkrishnan]

Fascinating that the lowest-end Mini and the PM's are the only Macs that do not have standard AE and BT.... I hope that by the Intel transition, the entire fleet is AE/BT2 standard.

Death to wired keyboards!

 

[mklos]

Fascinating that the lowest-end Mini and the PM's are the only Macs that do not have standard AE and BT.... I hope that by the Intel transition, the entire fleet is AE/BT2 standard.

Death to wired keyboards!

Yeah it kinda blows how you pay $2500 for a PowerMac and don't get wireless of any sort built in, but you pay $699 for a Mac Mini and you get wireless built in. WTF is up with that? And to top it all off, Apple doesn't even make it possible to just buy an $79 AirPort Extreme Card and plug it in!!!!!

 

[mklos]

Not sure about putting that in your G5, but you know that Airport Extreme isn't your only option, right?

You can get a PCI wireless card that OS X recognizes natively as an Airport card. It needs to have a broadcom chip on it. I had a Motorola PCI Card from walmart (think it was around $40) and it worked great!

That would work in the old PowerMac G5's, but the Dual Core PowerMac G5's ONLY have PCI Express slots in them, and PCI Express isn't backwards compatible with PCI. So does anymore know of a PCI Express 802.11g Wireless card?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Small Dog advertises an Apple card for PCI-Express machines http://www.smalldog.com/product/38824
Sweetwater has the same thing with a pic
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/G5Wireless

 

[mklos]

Thanks! Already bought one and retracted my bid on the eBay auction!