> Thank you for the advice, both from you and Kris. I believe i still > have some homework to do. Do you have a specific brand, unit that you > recommend? Are all PCI-E mini cards that same size/form factor?
There are two mini-PCI-e form factors, and some Asian sellers sell both, while others sell adapters from short to long. The PCI-e adapters (fits in a PCI-e 1x slot) are all the same size, and some have provisions for one, two or three antennas. The actual PCI-e WiFi cards can be made by many manufacturers. Those which use a Broadcom chip set are generally out-of-the-box Airport Extreme-compatible. Broadcom cards are generally designed for one or two antenna connections, NOT for three antenna connections. To complicate matters, there are also the Broadcom mini-PCI cards, which fit in a mini-PCI to PCI adapter. These are also Airport Extreme-compatible. Only the latest, the Broadcom 4322 or 94322 are AirDrop-compatible, although the others are Airport Extreme-compatible. I use Broadcom mini-PCI/mini-PCI to PCI in my Hacks which have a free PCI slot; Broadcom mini-PCI-e/mini-PCIe to PCI-e in my Hacks which have a free PCI-e 1x slot; and Broadcom mini-PCIe in my Hacks which have a free mini-PCI-e slot. I generally use one antenna even though the Broadcom cards support two antennas. On my most recent Hack, a Shuttle SH67 (Intel H67 chip set), I have used a Broadcom 4322/94322 with two antennas. On this machine, the motherboard has a mini PCI-e slot which is available for installation of a WiFi card thereby leaving the PCI-e 16x and PCI-e 1x slots available for other uses. I think the following correlation is correct: Broadcom 4313 = mini-PCI, and is Airport Extreme-compatible OOTB, but does not support AirDrop. Broadcom 4318 = mini-PCIe, and is Airport Extreme-compatible OOTB, but does not support AirDrop. Broadcom 4322 = mini-PCIe, and is Airport Extreme-compatible OOTB, and does support AirDrop. Other than the mini-PCI cards, which come in only one form factor, the mini-PCI-e cards come in short and long form factors. Sometimes the mini-PCI-e adapters support both form factors, but more commonly the adapter has the stand-offs soldered onto the board. In this case it may be best to buy an adapter for a long card and then buy a long card or a short card plus a short-to-long adapter. All of this stuff is sold for very low $$$ on eBay by Hong Kong sellers, which usually ship immediately and by air, getting from HK to the West Coast in as little as five days, but more usually in about ten days. In all my dealings with those sellers, I have had only one DOA card, and it was simply the wrong card, not the one I had ordered, and the seller agreed to immediately ship the correct card. And, yes, several of my Hacks also are dual-booted with Windows 7, and these Broadcom cards are fully functional, not the half-a$$ed "Windows Edition" cards which won't work on any but a specified version of Win. Once you install the card under MacOS X, it should be immediately recognized by the system. Once you boot Windows, you will most likely have to go into the screen where maintenance is applied. Windows will recognize the card as being new and will download the Broadcom driver from whichever site hosts it. I also, on occasion, use USB WiFi dongles, and there are some good ones out there which have full MacOS X support. Rosewill RNX-N150UBE is my current choice, and it 802.11b/g/n-compatible and has 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 drivers, and the 10.6 driver works perfectly on Lion. Probably more than you ever wanted to know about Mac networking on-the-cheap. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
