I think the answer is "YES, it is easy to add a WLAN card to your 5300."
There are several choices for you, and all of them are about equal.
Your final decision should be based on price and your comfort level with the bundled drivers and software. I can't speak to the SkyLine or MacWireless drivers, but the drivers for the WaveLAN based cards leave something to be desired. The most current drivers require Mac OS 8.6 or 9.x. Older drivers will work with anything you can run on the 5300 (including System 7.5.2 and Mac OS 9.1). The older drivers are kind of annoying in that they don't give you ANY feedback on signal strength, available networks, or whether you are even connected. The newer drivers do much better in this regard (even including a nice control strip module), but they seem a bit finicky.
Also, I have a hunch that the ORiNOCO version 7.x drivers are incompatible with the MV16-en. Every system I have that has had the MV16-en drivers installed has refused to recognize the WaveLAN/ORiNOCO card when it is inserted. Systems that don't have the MV16-en software on them work fine - go figure. This isn't a problem with older drivers.
What do people think of the SkyLine software?
I was thinking about adding a comparison of the software and cards to my FAQ. Maybe I'll pick up a SkyLine card at some point and do an Apples-to-Apples comparison. ;-)
Peace, Drew
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