Wireless PCI card?

[Sweetfeld28]

I had never thought about it until today, but can Mac's with PCI expansion slots use those wireless PCI cards for PCs?

I currently use a Wireless connection at my house, both the G4 and the iBook are currently using the same connection. Does anyone think it would work?

Something like this one: bestbuy

 

[PowerbookG4]

Wireless PCI Card

Hi
I have one of the linksys cards in my G4 Tower. I think you need at least OSX 10.3. The mac just sees the card as an apple airport card. I bought this so I could get 802.11 G as the apple airport card only gives 802.11 B

 

[kgarner]

Hi
I have one of the linksys cards in my G4 Tower. I think you need at least OSX 10.3. The mac just sees the card as an apple airport card. I bought this so I could get 802.11 G as the apple airport card only gives 802.11 B

What is the model number of the card adn what G4 do you have? That would be very cool to set up at home.

 

[Sweetfeld28]

So, you don't think that it will work on my Beige G3 with 533 Mhz.? Also, have you had any problems with yours?

 

[PowerbookG4]

Wireless PCI Card

Hi all

the model of the card is Linksys WMP54G. There is a version with something called "speed boost, this does not work. The WMP54G has been great, no problems at all. I do think you need at least OSX 10.3 for this to work.

 

[mms]

I believe that Panther will recognize most PCI 802.11 cards as an Airport card, allowing you to use it without installing any drivers. However, you would probably want to check for compatibility before buying one. Up until Jaguar, there was an open-source generic driver that seemed to work adequately, though it is no longer in active development.
http://wirelessdriver.sourceforge.net/

 

[chv400]

Sonnet Makes a card called aria extreme that goes in a PCI slot
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/aria_pci.html
i think it only works in OS X though

 

[Sweetfeld28]

i like Sonnets stuff, but man is their stuff expensive. I mean why would i pay 99.95 for the Wireless PCI card from them, when i can buy pretty much the same thing at half the price from bestbuy (or somewhere else)?

 

[Finiksa]

I believe that Panther will recognize most PCI 802.11 cards as an Airport card

As long as it uses a Broadcom chipset (like the Airport Extreme card) it will be recognised natively as an Airport card. Apple did this to allow 802.11g compatibility for older systems, you need the latest Airport software installed also.

 

[caveman_uk]

Cards using the atheros chipset apparently also work using this driver which comes from a third party developer. It costs $15. I've never used it but pass this info on as it may be of some help to someone

 

[Sweetfeld28]

guys, i just bought the Linksys 802.11G PCI card and put it in my G3. For some reason i can't get it to see the network, or show up in the list in Sys. Prefs. -->Network. All i see is the Modem, and Ethernet. What was the last version of Airport software availible for 10.2(.8)? For those of you who said, that you have this installed and working, am i doing something wrong or did i miss something? Or should i have bought the 802.11B card instead?

The only thing that is required for 10.3 is the newer Airport software updates, at least i think so. At least that is what the Airport downloads stated.

 

[caveman_uk]

guys, i just bought the Linksys 802.11G PCI card

Linksys have a habit of changing the chipsets on their cards without notice and without changing model numbers. Just beacuse they used to use Broadcom doesn't mean they do now. This doesn't affect their PC users as they just use the drivers they are given. Apple users are however screwed. Apple only supports Broadcom chipset cards and if Linksys aren't using Broadcom the card will not work using the default drivers.

Is it visible in system profiler?

Edit: See this page

Version 4 Linksys WMP56G PCI Card no Longer Compatible (from the 7/26/2004 news page)
Although earlier revisions (like version 2) of the Linksys WMP54G PCI Adapter (Broadcom chip based) worked with Airport 3.1-3.4.2, a reader with a version 4 model (short card height) reported problems:

" I just wanted to pass along that the latest version of the Linksys WMP54G PCI (the skinny one - v4) may not work with Macs. I purchased one this morning and have tried it in a B & W 450 and a G5 Dual 2. The card does not show up in the system profiler or the network system preference at all on either machine. Works great in a Win XP machine. (I asked if he had Airport 3.1 or later installed - earlier model Linksys WMP54G cards were broadcom chip based and worked with Airport 3.1 to 3.4.2 (latest to date), but Linksys could have changed the chipset. I've seen that happen in the past with their older 802.11b products. Also a MDD owner running a PCI 802.11g card noted it did not work/wasn't recognized if an Airport card was also installed. Removing the Airport card solved that problem.-Mike)

Mac users may want to look for the v2 of this card (regular PCI height). Don't know what is going on for sure, but this is my experience.
Jeff L.
(I asked about the version of Airport installed on his B&W G3 and if the G5 had an airport card installed.)
I did have airport 3.4.2 installed on the B & W. All software updates (OS X 10.3.4 and all of the goodies) are current on both machines. On the G5, I did NOT have a Airport Extreme card installed."

Within minutes of posting this another reader replied he also had no luck with the version 4 (short) Linksys WMP54G model working with Airport either. So the version 4 cards must not use the Broadcom chipset that the earlier versions did. I've wondered if this would happen over time based on past experience with Linksys products (many "versions" of the same model number product.)

(previous info follows - from the june 27th, 2003 www.xlr8yourmac.com news page)

 

[PowerbookG4]

Wireless PCI Card

I Have 2 of the Linksys WMP54G cards working with no problems at all plugged them in and they show up in the system profile as Vendor ID 0x14e4 Device ID 0x4320 and Revision ID 0x0003

hope this helps.

if anyone in the UK wants one of these I can tell you who has them

 

[Sweetfeld28]

I think that i must have the v.4 Linksys card. I thought it looked kind of short when i bought it. I also was going to return it tonight, but i had to take an exam at school, so i didn't have time. But tomarrow after work i will return it. I think that bestbuy also had the Linksys A+B+G card, i think that this one may work. It looked bigger, like a normal sized PCI card, and thicker than the one i currently have.

Below is the one i have, it is a V.4 card, as stated from Linksys' site.