WiFi on 400mhz TiBook

[MajorOwned]

Hi fellow PPC folks,

I’m hoping to get my titanium PowerBook back on wifi. It has an old airport card but no joy getting that to work.

Are there any PC Cards available that can work?

Many thanks

 

[Bigwaff]

It has an old airport card but no joy getting that to work.

Are you sure your router isn’t simply configured to use security protocols the Airport card doesn’t support? Dumb things down to WEP.

 

[MajorOwned]

I've got a Deco system that doesn’t support WEP at all, and I’ve tried very briefly a guest network with no encryption at all, but it doesn’t even see it for some reason, so a bit stumped on that count

 

[Amethyst1]

Is your WiFi set to 5 GHz or 802.11n/802.11ac-only by any chance? Try an unencrypted guest network that is set to 2.4 GHz and 802.11b/802.11g.

 

[headlessmike]

The original AirPort card in your PowerBook only supports 802.11b WiFi, WiFi 1 with the current naming scheme. Your access point is most likely not broadcasting such an old standard by default. Activating it will most certainly pull the rest of the network down to that level as well. You're probably better off using a cable or setting up a separate wireless network using old hardware.

 

[TheShortTimer]

You're probably better off using a cable or setting up a separate wireless network using old hardware.

This is what I was thinking...

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Yep, for my old macs, I run a legacy network off an old Apple airport. Connect via a cat cable from the modern router to your airport and broadcast your legacy network off the airport for your old mac wifi. Cheap and easy. If its a security concern to leave it up, just unplug the airport when you're not using them. Thats how I get my old macs online anyhow.

 

[swamprock]

Yep, for my old macs, I run a legacy network off an old Apple airport. Connect via a cat cable from the modern router to your airport and broadcast your legacy network off the airport for your old mac wifi. Cheap and easy. If its a security concern to leave it up, just unplug the airport when you're not using them. Thats how I get my old macs online anyhow.

I second this. I use an old graphite saucer Airport base station for WEP, in the same way CoE described. If you were running a later build of Tiger, you could use an old Belkin 54g PCMCIA card (found on the 'bay fairly cheap) and connect via WPA/WPA2, but I'll just assume you're running classic MacOS on that machine.

 

[MajorOwned]

I’m actually running the latest version of Tiger - a card like that would be great, do you know what type of PCMCIA card would work?

Many thanks for all the replies and advice

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I use a 5th generation airport extreme.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/112440

 

[swamprock]

I’m actually running the latest version of Tiger - a card like that would be great, do you know what type of PCMCIA card would work?

Many thanks for all the replies and advice

This one works. No driver installation required and full Airport support:

There are also USB 802.11n dongles, with Realtek chips in them, that will also work, but finding working drivers can be a bit of a chore. I was able to find the proper drivers after downloading and installing multiple drivers. Here's an example of one on the 'bay (MODS- not my auction)- 802.11n USB WIFI Dongle Mini Wireless LAN Network Adapter RTL8188 Windows 10 11 (ignore the Windows part of the description. They work in Tiger and Leopard).

The advantage of these is that they're ultra-cheap. Disadvantages include no Airport support (the driver package has its own wireless utility, that I hide using the Dockless program, after boot), use of a USB port, and the aforementioned driver search (that I can help with, if you choose to go this route). I don't have a photo of it, but I'm running a dual USB 2.0 PCMCIA card in my Wallstreet (running Tiger via XPostFacto), with one of those dongles using up one of the ports, and it works great.

 

[MajorOwned]

Thanks! I can’t quite make out the details of that card from the image? Would you be able to share them please? Would probably prefer the card one as there’s no driver hassle but failing that will snag one of those little USB dongles

 

[swamprock]

Thanks! I can’t quite make out the details of that card from the image? Would you be able to share them please? Would probably prefer the card one as there’s no driver hassle but failing that will snag one of those little USB dongles

It's a Belkin 54g card that'll work in your TiBook. Here's one on the 'bay with better pictures (MODS- not my auction)- Belkin 54g Wireless F507010 802.11g 54Mbps Notebook Network Card Version 1313

 

[eyoungren]

I'm using this card in my 17" PowerBook G4

Linksys WPC600N. Dual band, 802.11n.

 

[eyoungren]

I use a 5th generation airport extreme.
View attachment 2363231
https://support.apple.com/en-us/112440

I have three of these, one found for $25 at the Goodwill. I have it active, but not necessarily so my older Macs can use the network. Just to share the load around the house. With my primary router and this one we have six networks, 3 - 2.4Ghz (includes one guest network) and 3 - 5Ghz.

The other two AEs were included in a $60 purchase of two Mac Minis from a user here. I got those about two years ago or so and have yet to turn them on. I don't have any reason to yet.

 

[eyoungren]

A major frustration of mine is slow network speeds. WiFi has never measured up to the speeds I am accustomed to. Being wired in at all my jobs I'm just used to those speeds.

Unless WiFi is the only option I suggest running a cable. You'll get better speeds.

 

[MajorOwned]

I'm using this card in my 17" PowerBook G4

Linksys WPC600N. Dual band, 802.11n.

View attachment 2363490

Interesting, just it need drivers? Or will it work like an airport card? Thanks

 

[eyoungren]

Interesting, just it need drivers? Or will it work like an airport card? Thanks

Plug and play. The system will see it and control it just like a normal Airport card, i.e., from the menubar. There was a thread in here on this somewhere and I didn't see it so asked about a card that could access 5GHz WiFi. I was directed to that thread, which had that card.

@B S Magnet will know more. She suggested the card.

Oh, here we go - https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-extreme.1848849/?post=27268622#post-27268622

And my thread - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/suggestions-for-wifi.2320783/

 

[Doq]

Watch out when using the 600N. From my experience, it has only worked in Leopard and modern systems (Linux) and is completely nonfunctional in Tiger and earlier. I pulled it from the Companion because it's Tiger-primary.

(It may just need a kext but I haven't been able to find one.)

 

[eyoungren]

Watch out when using the 600N. From my experience, it has only worked in Leopard and modern systems (Linux) and is completely nonfunctional in Tiger and earlier. I pulled it from the Companion because it's Tiger-primary.

(It may just need a kext but I haven't been able to find one.)

Yeah, I tend to prefer Leopard over Tiger (even on systems that might run Tiger better) so I didn't consider that.

 

[MajorOwned]

Watch out when using the 600N. From my experience, it has only worked in Leopard and modern systems (Linux) and is completely nonfunctional in Tiger and earlier. I pulled it from the Companion because it's Tiger-primary.

(It may just need a kext but I haven't been able to find one.)

Ah good tip, thanks

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

I have three of these, one found for $25 at the Goodwill. I have it active, but not necessarily so my older Macs can use the network. Just to share the load around the house. With my primary router and this one we have six networks, 3 - 2.4Ghz (includes one guest network) and 3 - 5Ghz.

The other two AEs were included in a $60 purchase of two Mac Minis from a user here. I got those about two years ago or so and have yet to turn them on. I don't have any reason to yet.

These are so cheap nowadays. Last time I checked on ebay these were like $5-10 + shipping so folks really just about giving them away. I picked mine up years ago in a $10 tech corner grab bag from a local thrift. They are handy for legacy networks as theyre easy to stand up, they're era correct & native and include that USB2 port for NAS. That is subsequently where I keep all of my own retro win/linux/mac files hosted on that network.

But Op is interested in a PCMCIA solution which I actually dont have any of (for OSX anyways) as I use APE for access and my retro macs never leave this network. My PCMCIA slot is popuated with other goodies like USB2, microdrive/CF reader, click drives etc. Best of luck to OP with the PCMCIA solution. I should probably pick one up just to have around lol

 

[eyoungren]

These are so cheap nowadays. Last time I checked on ebay these were like $5-10 + shipping so folks really just about giving them away. I picked mine up years ago in a $10 tech corner grab bag from a local thrift. They are handy for legacy networks as theyre easy to stand up, they're era correct & native and include that USB2 port for NAS. That is subsequently where I keep all of my own retro win/linux/mac files hosted on that network.

What I've found with the AEs is that the farther past Tiger/Leopard you go the less features Airport Utility seems to offer for configuring. It's a minor reason for why I keep some of my older PowerPC Macs around.