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News Archive for: Monday March 5th, 2007 (later added items first) Goto Current News Page
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| Anyone try the Buffalo 802.11n PCcard/Cardbus Adapter in a PowerBook? |
| Update: There's now a low cost ($59 as of summer 2007) 802.11n PCMCIA, PCI, and USB adapters with mac drivers for OS X 10.4.x and 10.3.x.
(Note: the Wednesday news page had a report on the non-dual band model not working in a PB G4.)
A reader with a Powerbook that has used the Airport (v3.x and later) compatible Buffalo wireless G PCcard (These were $25 on the site specials page but sold out now) asked if anyone had tried the Buffalo Wireless N PCcard to see if the Apple 802.11n enabler worked with it. Buffalo makes both a Wireless-N Nfiniti(tm) Dual Band Notebook Adapter (802.11n/g/b/a) and Wireless-N Nfiniti(tm) Notebook Adapter (802.11n/g/b - not 802.11a) model. (The OEM Mac N compatible adapters support 802.11a/b/g/n, so between the two the dual-band model might be a better risk, but it may not work either.) Although Buffalo does not list these as Mac OS compatible (so buy from a store with an easy return policy), if anyone tries one of these in a PowerBook (using either Pacifist to install the 802.11n enabler or owns a new Airport Extreme 802.11n base and installed the new Airport Software on the Powerbook) let me know if the Apple N enabler supports the card. (The Apple N enabler supports the broadcom chip based Mac Pro card and Atheros AR5008 based cards found in the C2D MacBook/Pros - it also worked with the Dell 1500 notebook (mini PCI-e) wireless card.)
Apple has a kbase doc on how to use Network Utility to tell if 802.11n-enabling software is installed. (i.e. see if the network adapter is reported as N compatible.) BTW - if you have an internal Airport card installed, remove it before using the PCcard. (Also removed when using 802.11g natively compatible cards.)
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| Quickertek announces 802.11n card for MacBook/Pro and Intel-based iMacs |
(Updated 11PM eastern, see below)
QuickerTek today has a press release on an 802.11n upgrade for MacBook/Macbook Pros and Intel-based iMacs. (The price seems steep - $100 more than the $49 Mac Pro card kit that many readers have already installed themselves, including some intel-based Mini owners and more than twice what Dell gets for their Wireless N 1500 mini PCI-e card some readers have also used.)
"QuickerTek has just announced the
availability of 802.11n wireless upgrade cards for Apple Intel
MacBook, Intel MacBook Pro models and Intel iMacs. Users can choose to
buy the card and install it themselves for $149 USD, or send their
computer to QuickerTek to have the card installed for only $199 USD"
The Quickertek 802.11n upgrade product page has no picture of the card but I wrote them to ask if the card was the same one as in the Mac Pro kit and about their "No drivers required" comment as even the Apple OEM N compatible cards (and Dell 1500 card) required the Apple 802.11n Enabler. (Which costs $1.99 separately, but is included/installed with the new Airport Extreme base software, even on older macs readers said.) I doubt they'll reply however...
Update: Although Quickertek didn't reply to my email this morning (but I did get sent THREE more email copies of the same PR), a reader said he called Quickertek and was told the card was the same as the Mac Pro kit card:
"I telephoned Quickertech this morning and inquired about their card
for the Macbook Pro. I specifically asked them about the differences
between their card and the Apple card for the Mac Pro which can be
purchased directly in the Apple retail store for $43. Their reply to me - that theirs is the exact same card - no difference!
-Gregg
"
The Mac Pro kit price was $49 typically but the Feb. 21st news page had a note from a reader that also got one for $43 from a dealer in VA. However quite a few readers last month said Apple retail stores near them wouldn't sell the kit to end users (the box is marked "for Apple Authorized Service Providers"). And I wonder if those Apple stores that did sell them in the past will do so now after the "bulletin" that was sent out last Monday, although Gregg later wrote he bought his kit today from an Apple store near him in NY state. Many others bought the kit from online dealers (that often sold out quickly) and one reader last month said some CompUSA retail stores had them also, despite the fact they were not listed at compusa.com
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| Editing Apple 802.11n Enabler installer System ID check |
| Although most readers used Pacifist (shareware) to install the Apple 802.11n enabler on 'unsupported' Macs (not needed if you already installed the new Airport Extreme base software on your Mac), a reader sent notes on editing the 802.11n enabler installer pkg to change the mac model ID check. (There's older articles here on similar edits to install Final Cut Pro for instance on older 'unsupported' macs.)
"
Its actually a very simple edit to make the 802.11N update work on
the original Macbook Pro.
Control-click (or right click if you have a 2 button mouse) on the installer and select "show package contents".
Open the "Contents" folder and open Distribution.dist using your
favorite text editor. (text edit works fine)
scroll down until you see the "function installationCheck()" section
Change
(property == "MacBookPro2,2")
to
(property == "MacBookPro1,1")
Save. Now the installer will work on any original macbook pro with
the 802.11n card installed.
Thanks, Tom F.
"
I don't have a copy of the Enabler installer here but assume it has similar checks for the MacBook model for instance. (Similar edits would be used - i.e. just change it to your Mac ID reported by Apple System Profiler).
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