Just spitballing a random thought I had, is anyone here using the original pre-2007 AirPort models shaped like saucers for any purpose? Step-down or other network compatibility use? They were pretty cool looking but I see little reason to own one other than as a display piece these days, curious to see if anyone is still applying them.
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Saucer Airports in use
- Thread starter retta283
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Not a saucer, but I do have an AirPort Express deployed for use with pre-Tiger Mac OS/pre-AirPort Extreme hardware, as well as for being an AirPlay target for all of my Macs.
My brother was using one up until about five years ago when it finally failed. He might be using it today had it not gone on to greener pastures.
I use one for the combination of my "Guest WiFi" and to allow vintage machines to connect that don't support WPA2+.
An OG graphite 802.11b slow one. Natural bottlenecking to make sure guests don't use up all my internet speed. 😁 (Although even 802.11a/g would be slower.) I have it on a HomeKit-compatible "smart outlet" so I can turn it on or off with Siri.
One fun thing about the original graphite models - internally they used a Lucent WaveLAN Silver PCMCIA card. (The same basic card as the Apple AirPort card, but with a big blocky antenna on the end.) My original AirPort Base Station stopped working, so I took it apart, saw this, tried swapping in a Lucent WaveLAN card I wasn't using any more, and voila - it has been working fine for another 20 years.
An OG graphite 802.11b slow one. Natural bottlenecking to make sure guests don't use up all my internet speed. 😁 (Although even 802.11a/g would be slower.) I have it on a HomeKit-compatible "smart outlet" so I can turn it on or off with Siri.
One fun thing about the original graphite models - internally they used a Lucent WaveLAN Silver PCMCIA card. (The same basic card as the Apple AirPort card, but with a big blocky antenna on the end.) My original AirPort Base Station stopped working, so I took it apart, saw this, tried swapping in a Lucent WaveLAN card I wasn't using any more, and voila - it has been working fine for another 20 years.
I have one hanging on my wall as a decoration, but they are not secure to use for anything important. I had an original silver one I wish I kept when it died. 
I always thought they'd make a good wall clock. Pop it open, pull out the guts and put in a random battery operated clock mechanism.I have one hanging on my wall as a decoration, but they are not secure to use for anything important. I had an original silver one I wish I kept when it died.
I still have the white, AirPort Extreme g one, that I got 20 years ago. I also have an external directional antenna for it as well.
While it has not been in use for a long time, I was thinking about connecting it as a second network for my ancient Macs.
She was pretty mad...
While it has not been in use for a long time, I was thinking about connecting it as a second network for my ancient Macs.
Good idea!
I had an original silver one I wish I kept when it died.
A long while back, I had this exact idea about my then-girlfriend's annoying cat.I always thought they'd make a good wall clock. Pop it open, pull out the guts and put in a random battery operated clock mechanism.
She was pretty mad...
I've got an original graphite Airport saucer laying around in a box somewhere. I haven't used it in years, but remembered that it clogged up my network when I utilized it for a WEP signal. That was probably just an issue with my cheap N router, though, or I just didn't connect it properly...
Yep. I tore one apart and used it for this mod to get wifi on a 2.3ghz pcie G5.
I really enjoyed this mod vid and have been on the lookout for unwanted flying saucers to harvest their guts ever since.
This is a great idea considering how cheap these old AirPort Extremes often are.