Nov 22, '05 05:13:00AM • Contributed by: untitled90
Now, even better, Broadcom sells their chips to generic manufacturers, which allowed me to schlep down to Fry's Electronics and purchase a "PC only" generic wireless 802.11g notebook adapter for $14 (with a Broadcom chipset), slap it in my PowerBook (that's really all you've got to do), and enjoy wireless connectivity at a greater speed and price that would have otherwise been possible.
I have been testing this out on my 500mhz PowerBook G4, and it has been working as primary mode of connectivity for some time now (about five months), and has let me get wireless on my laptop (802.11g, even) for a grand total of $14, compared to the $120ish Apple would have charged me for an original AirPort card (that is slower).
Caveats:
- This method is "plug and play," as in you put the card in, go into Network Preferences, and it says that you now have AirPort (you can even drag the PCMCIA icon out of the menu bar for that clean look). However, it isn't "unplug and play again without a restart." You cannot take the card out while the computer is on and the put it back in again. For some reason in both Panther and Tiger, it requires a restart for the system to recognize the card as an AirPort card again. You also cannot use the PCMCIA menu to turn the card off, then turn it back on again and use it.
Workarounds: You can turn off AirPort using the AirPort drop-down menu. As far as I can tell, this accomplishes the same end. While your computer is asleep, you can take the card out and put it back in before the computer wakes up (for transporting in a small case, for example), and your computer will be none the wiser. If you don't put it back in before the computer wakes up, then you will have to restart, which is a pain for those of us who try to have run times measured in months rather than days (though following a few guidelines can prevent restarting from ever having to happen). - This is sort of a "try at your own risk thing," as I have no idea whether this method works on computers other than my own, though I have no idea why it wouldn't.
