Apple G4 + wireless card = ???

June 7, 2006 12:31 PM

Help me get my aged G4 onto my home wireless network.

It's a G4/500 AGP -- still a perfectly serviceable machine, running OSX 10.3.

It has an open PCI expansion slot and I'd like to stick a wireless card in. Might this D-Link or this Linksys card work?

The techs at the local compumart were uniformly unhelpful -- "Apple?" -- and it appears the only Apple solution would be an AirPort card, which are hard to find and costly.

posted by docgonzo to computers & internet (8 comments total)

The "Sawtooth" (the name for your model of G4) is AirPort card ready, and the original AirPort cards are available on eBay for much less than the $99 that most retail places offer. I wouldn't use the PCI cards - they're meant for the IBM-compatible architectures. If you really don't want to use the AirPort solution, you could look into a USB-based WiFi adapter. Netgear, maybe?
posted by salsamander at 12:48 PM on June 7, 2006

Ah - here's one - the Netgear MA111 - USB 1.1 compatible (you don't have USB 2.0 on the Sawtooth) and should get you going for wireless.
posted by salsamander at 12:50 PM on June 7, 2006

The PCI cards are usually just PCI->PCMCIA bridge adapters with a PCMCIA card inserted.

The original 802.11b AirPort card was an Orinoco card with some physical and possibly firmware modifications. A quick google results in conflicting information as to whether a plain orinoco will work in a powermac. One post suggests that you won't be able to put your cover back on, another suggests that you need 3rd party drivers.

The easiest thing to do would be to get an Apple Airport card from EBay. It looks like you should be able to pick one up for under $75. Certainly not cheap, but it will work right away.
posted by b1tr0t at 1:42 PM on June 7, 2006

I'm using a Motorola WPCI810GP in a Sawtooth with no problems. I didn't expect it to work, but when I plugged it in it was recognized with zero difficulty -- OS X identifies it was an network adapter and the airport subsystem works just fine. Your mileage may vary, of course.
posted by mmcg at 2:11 PM on June 7, 2006

I like this guy for used Mac stuff. His prices are pretty good and he's easy to deal with.
posted by wildeepdotorg at 2:29 PM on June 7, 2006

A year or so ago I put in a "Belikin Wireless G Network card". I didn't do anything special to get it running. I was running os10.2. Running 10.3.9 now w/o a hitch. Could be factory for all I think about it.
posted by pointilist at 4:11 PM on June 7, 2006

You're probably best off just getting an Airport if you can find one. I asked a related question a while back and got some interesting answers. I am surprised to hear that third party cards are "just working" but also not too surprised. I've tried to get a third party pcmcia card working in my Powerbook to no avail. Maybe time to try again. I would reccomend against getting a USB wifi adapter in general, and in particular one that doesn't explicitly have Apple drivers.
posted by mzurer at 4:22 PM on June 7, 2006

Docgonzo I may - I'm not sure - be able to hook you up on this one, and for you it will be a freebie. Get in touch and we'll investigate further.
posted by mikel at 8:09 PM on June 7, 2006