USB Wi-Fi adaptor compatibility?

guilly

guilly

Too handsome to use a PC
Hello.

Airport Extreme card for my iBook G4 is quite expensive, and I will never really be on the need to have a 54 MBps connection.

Many manufacturers provide USB stick-like 11 MBps 802.11 solutions. They do not mention Mac OS X compatibility.

Anyhow, I've made many non-documented hardware work on my OS X Panther with no additional drivers. Here comes the question:

Are USB Wi-Fi "cards" standard? That is, will Mac OS X detect them as Ethernet ports or similar without the need of specific, complex drivers? Has anyone tried to do so?. Forget about Belkin 'cause it's solution is not portable enough (I look for a USB pendrive-sized Wi-Fi adaptor).

Thank you!
 
Even if you get it working with your iBook, USB WiFi will provide really poor Performance, and will chew up you Battery. YOu'll also have to take it out every time you put your laptop away. My external USB Dongle is shaped like a Banana from before I started taking it out before I put the 'book in my Bag.
The other 3rd Party Option is PCMCIA, which isn't available for your iBook. It also chews up Juice, but you can use an External Antenna. If you had a PowerBook with PCMCIA, this might've been an option.
A Proper AirPort card has the benefits that it is completely contained in the 'Book, has one of the best Antennas for a WiFi Laptop, Will not chew up as much Battery and is Perfectly Integrated with the OS and software. The downside is that you can't use an External Antenna and it is slightly more expensive than the Generic USB WiFi Adaptor.

Also, thanks to the Ubiquity of AirPort on Macs, It's very unlikely that you'll be able to get Drivers for MacOS X. Why would the Third Party bother with Drivers when Apple make a much better solution for only a miniscule amount more.

In your Situation, I would definitely go for an AirPort Extreme Card. By the time you've replaced 1 broken or incompatible USB Adaptor, you could've had an AirPort Extreme Card and have it covered by either 1 year Factory or 3 Year AppleCare Warranty.
 
What abou bluetooth? Should be fast enough if you are on dial up. Ok, the range will be a prob, but I think this should be the cheapest possibility.
However, for a proper wifi-ing, I would also go for Apples Airport Extreme Card
 
Hmmm.

Airport Extreme card here in Spain costs around 130 euros. The USB Wi-Fi solution costs around 35 euros. I wouldn't say the difference is "slight".

I know very well both Airport and Airport Extreme since I have an iBook G3 fed with an Airport card (which was more affordable) and a PowerBook G4 with an Airport Extreme card. The first gives excellent performance and range. The second one (the Extreme) gives similar performance (the central router runs only at 11 MBps so who cares about "extreme speeds") and has half the range the conventional Airport has. That is due to two factors: first, the PowerBook alumminium case acts as a shield; second, it seems that the Airport Extreme cards have a lower activity range.

An external USB Wi-Fi solution will give me all the performance I need, will be compatible with my Airport Extreme Station which however can't reach more than 11 MBps due to the 3Com ADSL OfficeConnect router. Overmore, I need TWO USB solutions for TWO iBooks, which would raise the price to 270 euros, that is more than 300 USD.

On the other hand, I'm not really concerned with power cosumption. I will sometimes need to reach the Internet or the network somewhere in the house where I will not power-plug my computer, but most of the times I do not care having to do so. My home-made wireless network prosecutes not to install a high-cost inside-the-wall ethernet wire network - just that.

When I want to access public Wi-Fi networks from, for example, hotels - I will most surely plug the iBook. Just in case I do that from a place I do not have a plug, then I do not think so I will be in the need to be constantly connected - therefore only needing the connection at certain situations such as for e-mail download, punctual FTP and so.

So I post my question once again, because I think you indirectly answered it, but it was not too clear to me: does a USB Wi-Fi stick work on Mac OS X as a generic device?

Thank you ;)
 
Zammy-Sam said:
What abou bluetooth? Should be fast enough if you are on dial up. Ok, the range will be a prob, but I think this should be the cheapest possibility.
However, for a proper wifi-ing, I would also go for Apples Airport Extreme Card
Click to expand...

I actually have a bluetooth USB adaptor which works just fine but... is there a way to share my Internet connection via Bluetooth?

Also you're right - 10 mts is supposed to be the maximum, but in real life the signal gets lost at 5 mts or so.
 
It is possible to share the internet connection. It worked with my handy and I suppose it will be possible with the internet connection. It should be enough to sit on the couch and not have any wires around. But you will need a mac or a pc with bluetooth as well so you can share the connection.
 
Zammy-Sam said:
It is possible to share the internet connection. It worked with my handy and I suppose it will be possible with the internet connection. It should be enough to sit on the couch and not have any wires around. But you will need a mac or a pc with bluetooth as well so you can share the connection.
Click to expand...

Does that mean that you shared your active Internet connection in your desktop/laptop computer with your handy via Bluetooth?. Or the other way around? (you connected the Internet via Bluetooth with your handy built-in modem - there's a big difference).

Even though the solution you provide is no matter interesting, it would imply to have a "serving" computer running, and at a close range. Unfortunately that is below my expectations.
 
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