Monday, September 25, 2006

Wireless Solution for an old Powermac G4

I needed to get my Mac online so I could stream music to it from a server upstairs to the living room, where I have the Mac hooked up. I wanted 802.11g but the G4 only supports the old AirPort cards (802.11b and about $100 on eBay). I found a Belkin Wireless PCI card, model F5D7000 version 4 on eBay for $30 shipped. I plugged it in and the OS 10.4 detected it as an AirPort card! Version 5, the one currently sold in stores, does NOT work (tried that one first). So, for those looking for a cheaper solution to get an old Mac on a wireless network (and at faster speeds than the AirPort card), this is it... (make sure it is version 4 though... I am not sure about versions 1-3 although I have heard that they may work OK).