OK.....I have a 17" FP 800mghz imac running Tiger. I am going to be switchign to wireless in my home this week and was SHOCKED at the price of the original airport card. So i started reading and I think this one will work with a litttle help from you guys.
Its the LUCENT WAVELAN ORINOCO CLASSIC GOLD PCMCIA WIFI 802.11B which I purchased on ebay for $29 bucks.
I am maybe jumping the gun since it is not even here yet, so I don't know what problems i might run into, but i am looking to be prepared and make it an easy switchover. If anyone has made this card work in an iMac, or if they know for a fact it won't work...please let me know and point me in the right direction.
I have found a few links to drivers....and some people have said it needs to be modded to make it fit....I wold love to gather all my info here so i can reference one place. Thes are links to drivers.....
http://www.orangeware.com/endusers/wirelessformac.html
http://www.ioxperts.com/devices_80211b.html
thanks...
Tim
I could have sworn the iMac G4 used AirPort Extreme cards, which are MiniPCI.
my brothers imac 800 uses the regular "PC Card" style airport. I had to replace his a while back when we also replaced the HDD
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EDIT: Actually, the ones with USB 2.0 Do use the extreme card> But not the USB 1.1. According to mac tracked, the first to use the Extreme card was the 1GHz with the 17" Flatpanel
Yes it is spec'd to use the original airport card. You guys are right, once the imac got to 1ghz they introduced the airport exteme, USB2 followed that. As did bluetooth.
The lucent 2-wire card is the right connection to the imac, but the card is about an inch too long. Bummer....I was thinking that the black plastic piece was an external antenna and removable. But that is not the case...*sigh* anyone know of a card that I might look into that is in fact shorter?
and apple sees it as an airport card and has turned on "airport" on. My wireless router is still in transit so i cannot test it yet. I still cannot attach the antenna....it just won't quiet reach..do they make an antena extender?
card works great.....no software hacks needed...
Did you remove the black plastic? cut the 1" extra?
I'm about to get one of these for a PowerMac G4 that will need some mod, and I would like to know how you achieved such good results.
TIA
http://tinyurl.com/cnxek
This is the card i bought, and like you I thought the black plastic piece would come off and the card would be the same length as the original airport card..but that is not the case. Removing that black plastic part only reveals the tail of the PCB. But in my iMac that did not present a HUGE problem. It lays over the top of the memory stick, but causes no interference with the normal operation of the comuter. The biggest problem with that for my computer was the internal antenna would no longer reach the end of the card to allow me to plug it in. None the less I was getting a solid 85% signal strength with the router in another room. I later added this atenna and am no getting a 103% signal.
http://tinyurl.com/8h3av
As for how I got such good results...I plugged it in and the computer did everything else...it thinks I installed an airport card...and saw my linksys router and aside from having to call verizon to configure the router I did nothing but plug it in.
Good Luck....and the guy I bought from on ebay was great...we were emailing back and forth and he is really interested in making these cards work. For your G4 however you might have a bit more of a struggle from what I have read about the size might not allow you to shut the door... the card is abotu 4" long. For a shorter card I see the sony vaio 2.4 card selling on ebay....for about 60 bucks.
Good Luck!!