Macopinion

Hotrodding The Pismo Phase 7 - Buffalo G54 802.11g Wireless PC CardBus Adapter

It's been quite a while since my last "Hotrodding The Pismo" Installment, which was Phase 6, back in June, 2004, when I added a Fastmac 4x SuperDrive module (which has since been upgraded to an 8x unit).

Wireless connectivity is becoming more indispensable then modem support; indeed none of the Intel-based Mac notebooks has ever shipped with an internal modem and neither do Mac desktops these days. If you need a modem for a dial up Internet connection or to send and receive faxes, Apple will sell you an externally USB dongle unit for fifty dollars.

While some of us, including roughly 20 percent of homes here in Nova Scotia where I live (including mine) still have no access to broadband Internet connections, wireless zones - WiFi hot spots, home airport networks, or Office/institutional wireless networks are becoming more ubiquitous, and these days a notebook without wireless support has to be considered crippled.

Internal wireless cards have been available for all iBooks from the original 300 MHz clamshell models back in 1999, and PowerBooks beginning with the Pismo in March, 2000. However, an awful lot of the iBooks, Pismos and Titanium PowerBooks shipped without Airport card, which in the early years a configure-to-order option or user-installable upgrade but not standard equipment. Neither of my two Pismos nor my G3 iBook came with Airport cards.

With iBooks, the only remedy is to get an internal Airport card, but all PowerBooks from the 1998 WallStreet on except for the 12-inch aluminum model have a CardBus PC Card slot, which gives you another, more versatile option: a PC CardBus wireless adapter, which is the easiest and quickest way to add WiFi support to these machines. Another potential advantage of a PC Card wireless adapter for users of metal-skinned PowerBooks, especially those early Titanium models, is that the CardBus adapter, with its antenna outside the metal case, can provide substantially better range than the internal antenna does with these machines.

One cautionary note on the latter, in some cases, although reportedly not all, it will be necessary to remove the Internal Airport card, if present, to prevent risk of kernel panics at startup when the Buffalo card is inserted, presumably due to the OS becoming confused by the presence of two wireless cards.

Anyway, I've gone for nearly a decade since Airport's introduction without missing it it. I don't have a home Airport network; I use hard-wired Ethernet instead, and there is only one WiFi hot spot within 50 miles of where I live - at the local public library 12 miles away. Consequently, the first (and only thus far) Mac I've owned with Airport support is my 17-inch G4 PowerBook. However, broadband access, which is promised here (finally!) within the next 14 months, will likely come in the form of wireless, and it is increasingly convenient to be able to connect to WiFi hot spots went on the road. The big 17-incher works fine for this, but it isn't my first choice among my fleet of 'Books as a road warrioring machine, so it is was time to add wireless connectivity to one of my Pismo PowerBooks as well.

I settled on a Buffalo G54 802.11g Wireless PC CardBus Adapter from Wegener Media, which has a limited stock of these cards selling for a reasonable $39.95. The card supports all PowerBooks with a PC CardBus slot from the G3 series WallStreet on running OS X. OS 9, alas, is not supported.

Installing the Buffalo card is simplicity itself. Essentially, you just insert the card into that PC Card slot and you're good to go. On my PIsmo, running OS 10.4.9, Airport automatically recognized the card. No driver or other software installs were necessary.

I drove to the library, parked out front, woke up the Pismo, and was instantly connected. No fuss, no hassle, no bother, and the throughput was great. I spent about an hour downloading a bunch of software and application updates that I had been putting off, bringing down an assortment that would have taken more than a week of overnight download sessions over my dial up connection at home.

The Buffalo G54 802.11g Wireless PC CardBus Adapter transforms the old Pismo into a very satisfactory platform for wireless Internet surfing, and there's really little more to say.

At this point in a product review, one generally mentions any criticisms or complaints that have been identified during the test run, but in this case there are none. At least with my Pismo setup. Buffalo G54 802.11g card "just works," and works well in the best of the Macintosh tradition. I should mention, however, that I have heard from one reader who says the G54 802.11g card did not work with his Leopard, although the Leopard is listed as supported provided you're running OS X.

As for technical details, the Buffalo card offers full 10bT networking capabilities, full computability with Airport base stations, and the entire 802.11 network system. The card's Airport Extreme grade 54mbs Transfer rate lets you cruise the web wirelessly as fast as your connection will likely support

The Buffalo G54 802.11g card supports Powerbooks:
* G3 Wallstreet
* G3 Lombard
* G3 Pismo
* G3 Titanium

This card is compatible with OS X Panther & Tiger (10.3 & 10.4). No drivers or other software are needed - just slide the card in and reboot (actually, I didn't even have to reboot. Wegeners claim that this is the only card which is fully interoperable using your Airport menu on the screen. It certainly is with mine.

Wegeners also say that OS X 10.2 is compatible, but requires minor scripting. They include instructions for 10.2, but don't offer technical support for 10.2.

For details on how to hack support for OS 10.2, visit here:
http://www.kfu.com/~nsayer/osxhax/archives/000025.html

Wegener Media sells these cards for $39.99.

For more information, visit:
http://www.wegenermedia.com/buffwls.htm


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cmoore@macopinion.com


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