As you found it's not easy finding a wireless card/ adapter for Mac
especially at retail stores . I'm pretty sure there is no such thing
as an Apple branded Airport PCI card. Glad you found one that worked
for you. I've spent a lot of time on this in the last few months. The
problem with recommending a card brand and model is the next batch of
cards made with that brand and model number on the box may use a
totally different chip set then the one recommended. So You could buy
several from different stores or even from the same store and they
could all be different. Generally if you do your homework and know the
version number of the model your ok. As the version number tells you
which chip set your getting . It is nearly always marked both on the
box and on the adapter. Linksys is one of the few which doesn't put
the version number on the box nor the adapter. On the box .v then a
number is what you are looking for. Linksys info is found by the
serial number which is on the box. Google search will find you a chart
of what Linksys serial number equals what chip set. It's easy but a
real pain.
It is possible as pointed out to find 3rd party software that works
with many of the PC adapters if the chipset is one that works with
Macs and has software.
I've been through a fair number of them. Some of the third party
software is good and some barely works or doesn't let you use the
security features you need or want.
I have one card that only works with OS 9 no software has been written
for OSX.
I have 3 cards (one USB) that work fine with OSX but PPC only . When I
needed wireless for my used Intel Mac no luck as there is no software
for any of the 3 cards. Also updating to a different version of the
Mac OS may leave you with no working software for your wireless card
if your using third party.
In the long run I think most people will be happiest and it will be
easier to use a card/ adapter that uses Apples Airport software. It
just works better then nearly any of the other software. What a
surprise ;-)
It does take some digging but there are such cards. Here's one I and
many others from another list recommend.
Asus PCI Wireless adapter WL-138G .v2 Yes it uses a Broadcom chip
and any Mac with a PCI slot should work out of the box with Apples
Airport software. You may need to update your Airport software if
using an older Mac OS or use software update to do it for you after
installing the card. It's been $20.00 with free shipping for the last
year or so. I just checked and of course the price has just gone up.
It's now $23.99 with $7.29 shipping (free shipping comes and goes with
this company). Other places may have it . newegg.com is the quoted
place and even their free shipping usually takes only 3 days and
likely no sales tax unless you live in California .
For your info Apple now also uses Airport cards with the Atheros
AR5008 chips in addition to the Broadcom chips. So many cards with
that chip also works with Airport software.
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