Airport Exteme == Mini-PCI?

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Airport Exteme == Mini-PCI?

How does Apple's A.E. card slot compare to a normal Mini-PCI slot? I know the card is Mini-PCI based but with Apple that could mean anything Wink

If anyone is wondering I'm just investigating the possibilities of a A.E. -> PCI converter (as Mini-PCI -> PCI converters exist). Google doesn't seem to turn up much, and I was wondering if anyone here (especially a certain ex-Apple employee) knew anything about these slots.

TOM

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It's the exact same size as t

It's the exact same size as the Intel miniPCI WiFi card that's used in Centrino notebooks. I don't know if the pins are the same, though. If they aren't then they probably only switched 2 pins or something just to make people buy Apple.

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That business of switching 2

That business of switching 2 pins on the old airport card was Lucent, not apple. Lucent insisted they do that to prevent people from buying $100 apple cards istead of the $450 Wavelan card.

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Its funny, but I was just thinking this

I've been tossing around the idea of taking a PC minipci card and trying it in the mac. Specificaly I thought it would be great to add a gigabit networking card to the mac mini for firewall applications. Please post if you find an answer.

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Who makes mini-pci gigabit ca

Who makes mini-pci gigabit cards??

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You'll see PCI express gigabi

You'll see PCI express gigabit ethernet cards first

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It can't really hurt, I guess

It can't really hurt, I guess.

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Do a google search and you wi

Do a google search and you will find a few companies that make them. They are kind of pricey, so my thought was to try this with a standard 10/100 card from a pc laptop first. By taking out the modem in the mini and slightly modifying the external jack, I think this could make a sweet mod for the mini. Even adding a second 10/100 card internally would be cool.

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MacSlash

There's a thread on MacSlash from a guy who is building an AE to PCI converter.

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Re: MacSlash

There's a thread on MacSlash from a guy who is building an AE to PCI converter.

Link??

TOM

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I could be wrong as I have no

I could be wrong as I have not read the article since it was originally posted, but I was under the impression that the guy that posted the article was trying to guage interest. I don't think he had a completed prototype.

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You got it, Tom!

http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/10/1656214&mode=thread

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MacSlash Article

Well, I sent an email to that guy asking if he decided to go through with it. He had responded to one of the posts saying the the slot is not identical to a standard minipci slot. I've asked him for the pin-out, but considering he is in the process of developing a "for profit" product I'm not sure how forthcoming he will be with the info.

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old amiga miniPCI - pci busboard?

just a thought, but the Amiga PPC accelerator cards released a few years back by Phase5 of Germany (now DCE) had a miniPCI slot, for a later-released graphics card.

Third parties later released PCI busboards for these cards, with between 2 and 5 (i think) full PCI 2.1 slots. The one I remember was called Grex, or G-Rex. You can see the G-Rex here: http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1365

or buy it from http://www.eyetech.co.uk/search.php?SearchStr=grex&SearchCat=all+categories

But i'm guessing that would be quite an expensive outlay just to see if it works with the mini. Stranger things have happened though, so if any ex-Amigan Mac mini-owners who have the requisite kit dont mind risking £££ worth of kit in the name of science... ;o)

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I think that guy should sell

I think that guy should sell the information or release it so that companies can build it into products rather than having an adapter.

Jon
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I just had a short trip down

I just had a short trip down meory lane... I'm an Amigan from back in the day. I never had anything as new as a PPC card, but I've read about those slot adapter for years, getting on to about 8 years or more. I'll bet no one else had a market that was feasible for them until Mac mini came along. Now, I'd almost bet there'll be a niche market for a PCI breakout box of some sort.

It really makes me wonder though, there are 68040 and 68060 cards for my old A2000 that I can buy for over $400-500. Those PCI adapters are going for $150? over the cost of the PPC card they plug into and the cost of the custom conversion tower they are used in. Amigans seem to be willing to spend almost obsene amounts of money to upgrade and old system to at least 10 year old specs, and more to get within 8 years. Geez, at least I could replace my A1000 keyboard for $15. Mine's missing the capslock key. That would be worht it if I really cared enough... I don't care enough to speend all that money to upgrade my A2000 to a fast 68k or a PPC when I can spend $50 and get a Beige G3. Oh well. Rambling off topic I guess.

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