[X4U] Belkin as good as Airport?

[Stroller]

On Sep 20, 2004, at 10:13 am, Paul Moortgat wrote:

> Can this replace Airport if one hasn't Airport?  See at OWC 
> <http://eshop.macsales.com/Item_MailList.cfm?ID=7179&Item=BLKF5D6050>

I looked at this unit around the time of my "Wireless networking an 
older iMac..." postings, and decided I wasn't comfortable installing it 
for a customer. IIRC it's the same chipset as this 
<http://tinyurl.com/6xtkl>. Amazon & other reviews for the Belkin are 
mixed, although I think those for the D-Link DWL-122 are worse.

IMO if you're going to go with an external, 3rd party unit, then you're 
best going with an Ethernet bridge. If a Playstation will work with 
one, then a Mac will. I've used these <http://tinyurl.com/432ap> on two 
occasions now, and they're up & running in 20 or 30 minutes if you're 
as dippy as me, taking time to tidy the cables & forgetting what IP 
address to point your browser at to configure it. Any Mac that you're 
likely to be using will have an Ethernet port & a web-browser, which is 
all you need for compatibility with this box - much better than 
worrying about USB driver support in the future.

Stroller.