PCI wifi card in a Power Macintosh 8600?

[tevion5]

I was looking for something else on eBay when I stumbled upon this:

http://bit.ly/1ks5sI8

It claims to be an airport compatible PCI card and compatibility with a range of models including my 8600, listed in the description.

Legit or not? Also, OSX only, or could this thing work off the bat with OS9 by just popping it in?

Never heard of such a card for the 8600 before. I always thought wifi was a no go with pre airport/usb macs running OS9.

 

[Intell]

The only WiFi for OS 9 is with the Apple Airport B card. You can use that in your 8600, but it'll only work with OS X. I think only 10.3 and newer.

 

[MacTech68]

AFAIK there is no direct support for PCI 802.11g in OS9

Better option would be a wireless to ethernet bridge.

 

[WMD]

The only WiFi for OS 9 is with the Apple Airport B card.

Not quite; there was an Orinoco driver for 8.1+ that supported several cards. That was probably only 11b, though... maybe even only PCMCIA. (I recall it supporting at least one Dell-branded card, the TrueMobile 1150).

I have to wonder, though, why this eBay page says OS X compatible at one point and then lists a bunch of models that can't run OS X without hacks.

 

[tevion5]

Not quite; there was an Orinoco driver for 8.1+ that supported several cards. That was probably only 11b, though... maybe even only PCMCIA. (I recall it supporting at least one Dell-branded card, the TrueMobile 1150).

I have to wonder, though, why this eBay page says OS X compatible at one point and then lists a bunch of models that can't run OS X without hacks.

Exactly, that's what caught my attention at all.

 

[Intell]

Not quite; there was an Orinoco driver for 8.1+ that supported several cards. That was probably only 11b, though... maybe even only PCMCIA. (I recall it supporting at least one Dell-branded card, the TrueMobile 1150).

I have to wonder, though, why this eBay page says OS X compatible at one point and then lists a bunch of models that can't run OS X without hacks.

Orinoco cards are Airport B cards with a different picture on them. Orinoco is one of the brand names the actual Lucent card was sold under in addition to Apple's Airport.

 

[MacTech68]

And the Sony PCWA-C150S which looks exactly like an Apple Airport 802.11b card with an antenna plugged into it.