G4 needs an Original Airport Card

I think it's a Lucent type PC-Card.Lucent developed AirPort in 1999.Also,that Lucent card is in a Airport Base Station.

Yes it's a Lucent WaveLAN Silver PCMCIA card that was used in the original ABS. The apple cards for internal mac use are the same card, but two data pins are swapped, so you have to get the actual original airport card.

If you are running OSX, you can use any Broadcom based PCI card. Buffalo uses this chipset.

I'm running Panther. I have the Base station and used that for the desktop. Then centralized the base station in a hall closet. I can use my Thinkpad (company issued) to connect to the internet. I need connection for the desktop that is now 50' away from the router. Original Airport would do it. I might just run a cable.

If it's a G4 tower a regular Orinoco gold or silver will work. The only problem is the antenna is in the way and you won't be able to close it. Ebay probably has airport cards. Though wire will be faster.

Doreen, coius had one of the original Airport cards for a very reasonable price in this thread. Do you still have it for sale, coius? Toward the end of the thread you have an updated list, and everything is notated by the status/availability, but the Airport card has nothing beside it, so it is hard to tell.

Just thought I would try to bring you two crazy kids together.

Couldn't you just crack the card open, and swap those 2 pins? or am i being ignorant?

The hard part is finding which two were switched. You've got 32 data pins to work with, and the math for the problem is 32!, IIRC, which is 32*31*30*29*(...)*2*1, which is 2.63x10^35 combinaions to check. And Apple hasn't published which two they had swapped...

That and they're reeealy tiny.

In reply to the post by Jon:
I was under the impression (from earlier posts) that we knew which to pins it was. So, ok, i guess that is kinda out of the question to switch them.

the airport card hs been given away.

and reeealy close together!

And really sensative, too.

The "problem" with AP cards is not that other cards don't work in an AP slot, they do. The "problem" is AP cards cannot work (as-is anyway) in a slot other than an AP slot.

I've got some wifi cards apart (still!), and I'd welcome any pointers or tips or ideas or whatever, on what to check and where to discover the differences between AP cards and their PC-slot bretheren.

dan k

I looked here for information on generic airport cards, then I searched ebay. There are modified cards on ebay that fit into the airport slot for G3 and G4 computers. They are much cheaper than the old airport cards, and they are guaranteed to work. The seller has some ecstatic positive feedback.

to a generic airport card on eBay . . . eh? Vendor name, keyword(s), etc.

dan k

The item on ebay is simply a 2wire 802.11b Wireless card that has been hacked up. http://www.pcliquidations.com/item.asp?id=1525&referid=160165165163159

Other items that work are the Sony VAIO PCWAC150S (same card) but also difficult to find. No pins are switched on the APPLE Airport Card, it just doesn't have an internal antenna.

Dr Bob worked for Apple for years, so we tend to take his knowledge of Mac hardware for truth. He could'a been joking, but there is a clear indication that Lucent didn't want Apple AP cards being bought instead of Lucent WiFI cards. Maybe the AP slot is smart enought ot be able to tell what is installed. Swappign two bits of data is pretty easy if you know which two to swap.

The lucent Wavelan Series cards Bronze/Silver and Gold do indeed work just like a regular airport card. You don´t need any pin hacking to do so, nothing at all.

I myself did get a Lucent Wavelan Silver card acquired from a broken airport graphite station, popped it into the airport slot of my ibook dual usb g3 and it worked right away.

To get it fit I needed to get rid of the complete metal housing and to trim down the internal antenna. There is a antenna connector, which fits the internal airport antenna of the ibook.

Now my keyboard just shows a slight dent, but you hardly notice it anyway.

All original Airport cards are just regular Lucent Wavelan cards anyway, just with different labels.

I can't BELIEVE how much those old airport cards are running on eBay. Screw that.

If its a desktop... what's the problem with using a
D-Link DWL-G122 - Compact Wireless USB Adapter, 802.11g, 54Mbps and for only $18 after rebate

or, I'm not sure if it would work.... but a
D-Link DWL-G710 Wireless 802.11g 54 Mbps Range Extender seems pretty cool, for $35

even the Sonnet Aria extreme PCI - WiFi (802.11g) Wireless PCI Card ends up being less expensive (but still pricy @ $80 on Froogle).

and these are all 802.11g options (which should still all work with the 802.11b Airport).

[oops, looks like this thread is 6 months out... WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!]

The switching was on the Airport cards ROMs, so that they wouldn't run in PCMCIA slots and take away sales of the expensive (at the time) WaveLAN cards. There has been FUD around about using other cards in the Airport slots, but while some do work, they require modifications to fit. Ther is no simple plug-n-play card. I do remember one that had a fairly easily removable antenna that works, the Sony? I don't recall reading about anyone trying an AP card in a PC Card slot. Even if it plugged in and worked, you'd still need an antenna anyway.

AP card in CP card = no go.

Original Lucent-chipset card in AP card slot = works fine.

The only card of which I'm aware that is a direct drop-in for the AP card is Sony's pcwa-c150s, the one with the small external removable antenna. Those usually cost just as much or more than pukka AP cards.

dan k

I just saw these...

People seem happy with them. I think i'll bite and get one. they look shorter and more professional than the modified 2wires that were there a few weeks ago but seem to have vanished.
http://stores.ebay.com/Fair-Trade-Networks_W0QQssPageNameZviQ3asibQ3astoreviewQQtZkm

The purpose of the pin swap was part of our agreement with Lucent that the Apple cards could not be used in a regular PCMCIA slot since we were selling them for about 1/3 of what Lucent was selling their cards. There is nothing however in the agreement that says we couldn't use a real Lucent card in our internal slots, and indeed, both cards would work in the original ABS.

If you want to use a PCI wifi card instead of an airport card, look into finding a Belkin card. I've got a F5D7000 in my sawtooth and it picked it right up and I was up and running in no time.

Hi

Thrilled to hear definitively that there are other cards besides the Sony that can be used in the original internal Aiport slot as I want to upgrade from 802.11b on by iMac G4 800 15" to 802.11g without resoring to an ugly external option.

Are there any WaveLAN cards that are 802.11g. I did a google and ebay search and found that the cards tend to be 802.11b only? Finding an 802.11g card to pop into my iMac would end a months long search.. Hope someone here can help.

Thanks

G cards are most likely CardBus, IE they won't work in an Original AP slot. There was a thread here about just that... Here! (thanks to Google for site:applefritter.com airport cardbus slow being nice)

Even if the card fit, CardBus runs at 3.3v. Old 16-bit PC Cards ran at 5v. If the iMac doesn't use the proper voltage, it won't work, anyway.