Wireless Cards

[phonemonkey]

I am not sure about my options. I am going to get a wireless card, but was wondering if the airport card was the only one compatible with my ibook g4. The main reason I wonder is price. So would a d-link card work or does it have to be airport. And assuming I can get one that isn't the airport, am I right to figure I shouldn't have any trouble networking with macs that do have the airport card? I do lots of peer to peer for gaming, ftp, etc with my friends

phonemonkey

 

[caveman_uk]

I am not sure about my options. I am going to get a wireless card, but was wondering if the airport card was the only one compatible with my ibook g4. The main reason I wonder is price. So would a d-link card work or does it have to be airport. And assuming I can get one that isn't the airport, am I right to figure I shouldn't have any trouble networking with macs that do have the airport card? I do lots of peer to peer for gaming, ftp, etc with my friends

phonemonkey

AFAIK ibook G4s only take Airport Extreme cards internally. Be sure to get the 'extreme' version as the original airport is a completely different connector (PCMCIA vs mini-PCI I think). I don't think third party cards will fit in the internal slot though there maybe external USB2 dongles you could use. Also only cards with Broadcom chipsets are supported by Mac OS X. The airport extreme card is a broadcom chipset card. This support allows folks with older powerbooks (not ibooks) and powermacs to get g wireless networking when their computers don't have an airport extreme slot using third-party PCMCIA or PCI cards.

Sadly ibooks don't have PCMCIA or PCI slots so it's probably airport extreme or nothing for you...