Looking for a wireless USB dongle for my Mother-in-law for her Lombard.So it must be able to run off usb 1.1, she is running Panther.If anyone has had any luck with a certain brand let me know what has worked for you.
I just got a D-Link WUA-1340 from Tiger Direct for $20.99. It's a refurbed unit, but it works just fine. I downloaded the drivers from D-link's site, and after installing and restarting, it saw my AirPort wireless signal with no problem.
As I recall, they have drivers for 10.4.x and 10.3.x so I think that may work out. Don't know about the USB 1.1, though. I'm using it on a G3 iBook, so that may be USB 2. Still for less than $35 including taxes and shipping it might be worth trying.
Best of luck!
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Chris
iMac 21.5", OS X Snow Leopard
2G iPod Touch 16 GB
With USB 1.1, your best best definitely is the PCMCIA route. Besides it is a tidier solution, tucks in nicely and leaves the USB port free. Generally one doesn't have anything else for that slot so the card can just remain in place. No "where the @##*#*&* did I put that dongle" issues.
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"not all those who wander are lost….." j.r.r. tolkien
Good point on the USB possible issue. Any one out their have any input for a PCMCIA card that they have working for their older PowerBook and that is easy to get hold of.
Actually, if the iBook had a PCMCIA slot, that is the route I would have taken. I suggest you check some of the manufacturers' sites and see which products will be Mac compatible. D-Link seemed (to me) to have the best selection, but I was focussed on the USB option.
I'm sure you'll find something that will work.
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Chris
iMac 21.5", OS X Snow Leopard
2G iPod Touch 16 GB
The best solution currently is anything with the RaLink chipset - like the DLink WUA-1340, or the equivalent Belkin (but I can't recall the model number, but it's usually on the shelf beside the DLink at the Store Formerly Known As Radio Shack). The old DLink G-122 was an excellent candidate, until they changed the chipset, which rendered it Mac incompatible. (Some chipsets run the data pump within the device driver rather than within the device - thus, the driver ends up being some Windoze only schlork - like many of the cheap NetGear devices).
The USB 1.1 will not impede anything, as the dongle will set itself to "B" speeds of 11Mb/s - which is equivalent to the speed of the original Airport card. (This will translate to between 450kB-600kB per second in real file transfer speeds on a typical network situation). It will not be quick enough for live video (unless you do not mind waiting for the transfer to complete) - but will be fine for lots of other things.
Many HotSpots lock down their network to "B" speeds anyways, since "B" speeds allow for more simultaneous connections that "G" speed - about 6 "B" connections per "G" connection. And even with Video, "B" speed works out fine enough.
PCMCIA can be a bit tricky on a Lombard, since some "G" speed cards will only be recognized as a "B" speed device anyways. But if you buy the cards at a place that has a generous return policy - then one can experiment until a suitable card is found. I have found the DLink USB device to be "better" because it comes with an external stand, so you can actually end up with better reception in marginal situations.
The RaLink driver can be found by Googling for RaLink - they have Panther and Tiger drivers for their devices. You will not be able to use any of the Airport utilities - but the RaLink utilities work fine enough.
The DLink WUA-1340 works perfectly with the Lombard - my friend uses it all of the time on his mighty Lombard, in which he gets six hours of run time off of his two battery setup...
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The PCMCIA Belkin F5D7010 2.4GHz wireless card works perfectly on a PB Pismo running Tiger so it should work with the Lombard. The card Version 1 use the Broadcom chipset (Airport chipset) so the card acts exactly as an Airport Card. Other F5D7010 versions use the Ralink driver (free download) and also work with the Pismo but it doesn't use the Airport software. Ebay cheap purchase but before buying ask the seller the card version and try to buy the V. 1 (the card has a yellow jacket).
The PCMCIA Belkin F5D7010 2.4GHz wireless card works perfectly on a PB Pismo running Tiger so it should work with the Lombard. The card Version 1 use the Broadcom chipset (Airport chipset) so the card acts exactly as an Airport Card. Other F5D7010 versions use the Ralink driver (free download) and also work with the Pismo but it doesn't use the Airport software. Ebay cheap purchase but before buying ask the seller the card version and try to buy the V. 1 (the card has a yellow jacket).
+1!
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"not all those who wander are lost….." j.r.r. tolkien
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