[X4U] Wireless Hub?

[Stroller]

On Sep 30, 2005, at 8:28 am, Edie wrote:

>> Gotten, the Linksys WRT-54G
>> working for about 5 months, all is well,
>> now part two... looking to get my boy's computer
>> connected to the Linksys, its running OS 9.04
>> it does have a NIC card installed.
>>
>> What would be the easiest way of doing this?
>> that would interface with Linksys wireless well.
>
> Which Mac is your boy using? It makes a difference. The easiest is to 
> connect it to the router with an ethernet cable since you already have 
> the NIC card. Of course, running the cable through the house...
>
> If his Mac is Airport ready, then an airport card is the easiest WiFi 
> solution. The newer Macs take Airport Extreme, and older Macs (the 
> slot loading G3 iMacs [which also need an adapter card] and some G4 
> iMacs, for instance) take the original Airport cards that aren't made 
> anymore and fetch $100+ used on eBay :(.

I believe the older Airport cards are still available from Apple, but 
only as a "service" item, not as an upgrade. A local Mac dealer may be 
the best bet.

Broadcom-based wireless cards for PCs can be fitted to Macs with PCMCIA 
or PCI slots, but other than those, forget it. The Broadcom-based cards 
are all recognised by OS X as "Airport Extreme" but any other chipset 
will require 3rd party drivers, which may be of dubious reliability. In 
particular the D-Link DWL-122 is a USB wireless adaptor with Mac 
drivers, but it has some very poor user reviews at Amazon.com

Other than an Apple-branded solution the best way to connect a Mac to a 
wireless network is using a wireless bridge, now sometimes sold as 
"gaming adaptors". If your local computer emporium don't have a 
"wireless bridge" on display, ask them for a "gaming adaptor" telling 
them you wish to connect a PlayStation2 or Xbox to your wireless 
network. These provide access to the wireless network via standard 
Ethernet cable.

Stroller.