AirPort Blog

Glenn,

I'm shopping for a laptop and am considering the 15" TiBook (12"er has no PCMCIA and 17" is absurd) but wanted to confirm that I'll be able to move up to 11g in the future via the PCMCIA slot, right?

Thanks for starting this blog!

Yes, the PC Card slot will handle the higher speed, and Belkin has already announced Feb. 2003 Mac compatibility with its PC Card and PCI Card!

By the way, geek alert! The PC Card hasn't been called PCMCIA for years -- the earlier term was abandoned. You can tell how long someone has been in the industry if they still use it.

Hi Adam and Glenn,
Thanks for starting this blog; I'm sure it will be extremely useful for everybody.
Regarding updates to existing Apple laptops, I've read that Apple didn't offer a 802.11g card for the old Airport slot because its interface wouldn't be able to handle the higher data rate anyway. So PC Cards are the only option for an upgrade.
Since the Airport slot is very similar to the PC Card interface (only 1 pin is different), I'm somewhat doubtful about the latter coping with 802.11g's data rate. If there are any 100 Mbps Ethernet PC Cards, it might be instructive to test a few to see at what effective speed they top out...

It's like a PC Card, but Apple says the bus speed is pre-modern. Remember the slot was developed as a cheap alternative to a PC Card back in mid-1999 using a design that might have dated to 1998 (the iMac). So the AirPort Bus is sub-54 Mbps -- i think it's actually somewhere in the 20 to 30 Mbps range.

You can't put non-AirPort PC Cards in the slot even though it just requires a pin switch. I know of no one who has pulled this off.

Any comments as to why Apple is charging so much more than the other 802.11g manufacturers?

Ron, Apple always tries to differentiate its products by throwing in extras to justify a higher price. If they were trying to be competitive, they'd have a stripped down gateway for $150 that didn't have USB printer sharing and bridging, and then the other two models. Instead, they're guaranteeing higher margins because of uniqueness, and it's hard to blame them when you have alternatives, like those items from four other makers. (Since most of us aren't relying on AppleTalk under Mac OS X, the lack of AppleTalk support is only an irritation with those other gateways.)

The AirPort Extreme Card is priced at $100 because Apple has found that nobody seems to care that it's $100 -- or care enough to stop buying them.

This sounds cynical, but it's just pricing elasticity. If people didn't buy the products Apple sold, they'd rejigger the prices.

The Extreme Base Stations are actually incredible deals at $200 and $250 -- if you need those extra features.

Hi Adam and Glenn -

Very nice, and timely blog - thanks!

I have a question, and a comment.

First,do you know if there are any plans by Apple to bring .11g to the iBook (or are you NDA'd)?

Second, although they don't yet offer a .11g solution, I would encourage readers to watch for forthcoming products from Asante. They are a long time supplier to the Mac market, have always been very Mac friendly, produce great products, and their documentation and support is top-notch. Their products are usually a few dollars more than the competition's, but it's worth it (to me, anyway) to buy from a company that does such a good job of supporting Mac users, and of supporting their product.

In case anybody's wondering, I have no affiliation with Asante, other than being a very satisfied customer.

Dave, that's an existential question: if we were NDA'd, would we disclose it? Typically, Apple tells us nothing in advance, so no worries there.

I'd be surprised if the iBooks support AirPort Extreme within the next 3 to 6 months unless Apple re-engineers them. They would actually have to redesign the motherboard, as they have for the PowerBook G4 aluminum model, and I don't know if the lifespan of the iBook is short enough to require that before Macworld Expo this summer or even the fall.

However, iBooks do get a big workout in the education market, and if Apple is getting pressure from education partners like, "we'd buy 20,000 if it did 802.11g," you can bet they'll accelerate the schedule.

I've been wondering when Asante would step up to the bat. Releasing new wireless products shouldn't be that big of a deal these days for a variety of reasons surrounding reference design and manufacture.

Please help! Should I let my parents down and get a windows? I got the ibook for xmas-- what I thought would be good. But we have a windows wireless at home, and I'm desperate and trying to find wireless connection for my little ibuudie! I need help! Will airport go with a windows base station? Will airport extreme work on the Ibook? Thanks!! please email me for comments!! -Kate

No, don't get a windows machine. It's not going to make any difference, and your iBook is an awesome machine. You just need an Airport card (Snap one up quick, they're already disappearing locally) which installs under your keyboard. It works just fine with *any* 802.11b wireless network. My Book travels with me through both my company and home wireless nets and I'm the only mac user in either place. (Imagine... a Mac using PC salesman :)

Oops. I bought the WLI CB G54 card from Buffalo without understanding that it doesn't have a Mac driver... what should I do, return it? Or is there something out there (I have a G3 Firewire powerbook).... Thanks,

Kevin

I bought an iMac,secondhand,only a few months old,it already had an AirPort card instaled,so I bought an AirPort Extreme base Station and a DLink DWL-520+.The iMac is having no problem connecting to the net,but for the life of me ,I can't get the DLink card to connect.the utility tells me I have 100% link and signal.When I try to ping the AirPort ISP I get timed out.Is it possible that the DWL-520+ will not work with the AirPort......Thanks.....Sandy

Why don't they make a USB wireless-G Device for the Ibook? I just installed a Microsoft USB device for a PC, why not get Mac drivers for such a device and off you go? Would be seemingly a simple solution to a hardware design issue.

John

Hi there. Just set up and Airport Extreme base station. Naturally my PowerBook hooked right into it, no problem. Naturally, too, my wife's Toshiba laptop--which took me four months to get working with my original Airport--tells me it can find the network and is getting a signal but will not actually *do* anything. There's no password to get onto the network and encryption is turned off, precisely to try to accommodate the lame Proxim PC card. Any advice? Are there any PC cards that work better with Airport Extreme?

Thanks.

Cheers.

--- das

Just FYI for you guys. I have the Airport Extreme, and I bought a Belkin 54g card for my laptops, and it works great. I have it in a Toshiba (Tecra 8000). It also works in my Dell (Inspiron 7500). It does get upset if I turn off SSID transmission though on the PCs. My iMac doesn't care of course. ;)

late

Hi there
Has anyone experience with apple airport extreme pc card in a compaq labtop running win nt?
currently I just have the airport base station and the old compaq thingy, powerbook is planned in late summer :)

thx for help

peter

I'm new to all this. I just bought an iBook 700mhz and I see that I can't use Airport Extreme. Regular Airport may suffice. I just want to be able to surf the net and prin to my Ethernet printer from inside my RV when the printer is located in another RV about 20-30 feet away. Should this work?

mbossiere@pobox.com

I just bought an Airport Extreme card for our new 17" iMac, and I am unable to get it to work with our Linksys BEFW11S4 (an 802.11b access point/router). The Airport Setup recognizes the router, but then I am unable to connect to the internet or to the router's control page (192.168.x.x). Any ideas?

>>You can't put non-AirPort PC Cards in the slot even though it just requires a pin switch. I know of no one who has pulled this off.

Posted by: Glenn Fleishman on January 17, 2003 03:48 PM<<

Were you aware that Orinoco/WaveLAN PC cards and clones (Dell TrueMobile 1150, Compex WL11A+, Compaq or HP WL 110, Enterasys RoamAbout, IBM High Rate Wireless LAN PC Card, etc.) will WORK in a Mac's AirPort slot? You can even update the firmware this way, and convert "silver" cards to support 128 bit WEP.

However the PC cards don't FIT very well, because with the attached antenna they are too long. For example, you can put one in a "dual USB" iBook, but then the keyboard won't go back in. You can put one in a TiBook with the bottom off and the corners supported.

I also had one report of an AirPort Card working in a Windows PCs PC card slot with later generic Agere drivers - although it needs to have an antenna attached. (AirPort cards use the same antenna connector, the Orinoco or "MC Card" connector as on Orinoco PC cards.)

I don't think its a pin issue. I think Lucent (now Agere) arranged with Apple for AirPort cards to not work in PC card slots since at the time they came out AirPort cards were cheaper than comparable Lucent WaveLAN IEEE cards.

Kevin wrote on July 17, 2003:
"I just bought an Airport Extreme card for our new 17" iMac, and I am unable to get it to work with our Linksys BEFW11S4 (an 802.11b access point/router). The Airport Setup recognizes the router, but then I am unable to connect to the internet or to the router's control page (192.168.x.x). Any ideas?"

I just wanted to note that a friend with the same setup (although his is a 17" PBG4) has experienced the same exact problem and symptoms. I have a feeling the answer is going to be getting a new WiFi base station. Bummer.

Kevin wrote on July 17, 2003:
"I just bought an Airport Extreme card for our new 17" iMac, and I am unable to get it to work with our Linksys BEFW11S4 (an 802.11b access point/router). The Airport Setup recognizes the router, but then I am unable to connect to the internet or to the router's control page (192.168.x.x). Any ideas?"

I just wanted to note that a friend with the same setup (although his is a 17" PBG4) has experienced the same exact problem and symptoms. I have a feeling the answer is going to be getting a new WiFi base station. Bummer.

I just bought a 12" powerbook g4 witha built in airport extreme and i have a linksys befw11s4 base station and i have the same problem as kevin, except i have internet until it disconnects me.....But i called apple and of course its' not their problem and neither is it linskys so don't know where to go for support???

Hello Glen and friends. I have a quandry perhaps any number of you can help me with. I'm about to set up our small office wireless network and am having trouble finding resources that compare Airport Extreme Base Station alternatives. I have nothing against going the Apple route since we our a design studio and have all macs, but would like to research all my alternatives. Currently I'm having the most trouble finding "G" routers that support AppleTalk. We have yet to make the migration to OS X and I plann on setting up a temporary AppleShare network with Print Server until such time that we can all move up to OS X. All our macs to this point our only "b" compatible, but I'd like to go ahead and buy a "G" router since any new machines we buy will have Airport Extreme. So, anyone with any comments, opinions or links directing me to some information that will help solve my dilema will be most appreciated.