Ethernet to Wifi on old laptops

[bbraun]

Has anyone experimented with ethernet to wifi bridges/gaming adapters on laptops with builtin ethernet but not wifi?

I've been looking at http://www.netgear.com/landing/wnce2001.aspx for possibly making a powerbook 540c a little more mobile without the difficult to obtain PCMCIA card cage. I can be powered off 5V, which is what the internal floppy drive uses. I'm not sure how much current the floppy is allowed to draw and if this would draw too much.

Anyway, just thought I'd see if anyone else has tried something similar before I order one of these things.

 

[Bunsen]

You can also get 5V DC from the ADB port; on desktops this will supply up to 500mA, but I believe it is less on Powerbooks.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I use a WGA600N with my TiBook. The power supply rating is almost exactly that what you would get from the FireWire port, so I fashioned a simple adaptor from the FireWire power pins to the WGA's power plug and a short Ethernet pigtail and velcroed it all to the lid. The WGA's configuration interface is also fully compatible with Classilla and iCab.

Sure, the TiBook has a PCMCIA card slot, but the antenna sticking out is just asking to get snapped off, and this gives me WPA2 access in Mac OS 9 since it's the WGA that's doing the wireless, not the machine.

I would think that the power draw for the Netgear would be less than the floppy at peak, but it would draw it all the time, so it's something to think about. Also, I don't know if the browser choices on a 520c would allow you to configure it (maybe iCab 2.9.9). You might have to create a custom app in something like FutureBASIC that could automate SSID selection.

 

[bbraun]

FWIW, this is now the back of my PB540c:

This is a Netgear wnce2001, which runs fine off 5V 500mA USB, although says it wants 1A. The powerbooks are only rated to 200mA on the ADB port (desktops are apparently rated to 500mA). This seems to work fine with an ADB to USB adapter (power only, no data of course). In any case, the 540c is now on an 802.11g network without trouble (yet ).

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Hey, that's really nice work! I'm tempted to try that with my 1400 now (Orinoco cards are no good when I have to use WPA2).

 

[Bunsen]

Excellent! Any thoughts about boxing all that up?

 

[bbraun]

Since AAUI also has 5V and is probably what the transceiver is powered from, I had considered unboxing both the transceiver and the bridge, having only the one AAUI connection and box attached, or possibly relocating the single box to the left battery bay.

However, this seems to be doing a sufficient job at the moment. Maybe sometime in the future I'll tackle the rest.

 

[blackbird]

does it require drivers? what settings are you running (software wise)? What browser are you using? Now that you've used it for a while...have you had any problems with it? I'm thinking about trying it on my 540c.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

It doesn't need drivers. The Mac just sees it as an Ethernet connection; you configure the SSID, etc., through the browser.

I've been doing a similar thing with my TiBook and Classilla with a FireWire power tap, but I'm going to use Rob's ADB power idea for my 1400.

 

[blackbird]

I'm gonna try it. Thanks.

 

[bbraun]

The wifi configuration is a little annoying from system7, since the entire configuration is done through javascript and xmlhttprequests.

I've written a ghetto little tool to do the configuration without a browser. I basically only support open and wpa2 AP's, since that's all I use. This tool doesn't address changing network settings when changing wifi associations.

When not associated with any network, by default, the WNCE2001 will provide a DHCP address. This means, when changing wifi associations, you'll almost always want to change your network settings. OpenTransport 1.x isn't so great about dhcp release/renews. You can fiddle with the TCP/IP control panel and get it to work, but I typically am lazy and just reboot.

The WNCE2001 will remember the last wifi association and wpa2 credentials, so if you usually only use one AP, you don't need to reconfigure anything.

Anyway, it's not a great tool, but it's what I use, and seems to work. Full source is included, it's a 68k codewarrior project.

http://synack.net/~bbraun/wnce2001config.bin

 

[bbraun]

I've updated the config tool to be a nicer GUI: http://synack.net/~bbraun/wnce2001config1.1.hqx

After joining a network, the WNCE2001 will not change its network settings to allow the client to continue talking to it. When you're ready to adopt the new network settings, there are two choices:

1) Have the WNCE2001 request a new DHCP address, which will just reconfigure the WNCE2001's IP address, leaving your IP address alone.

2) Reboot the WNCE2001, which will cause it to both DHCP a new address and remove link from the LAN port. On most modern systems, removing and reestablishing link triggers a DHCP update. OpenTransport (at least versions <2) don't do this. They'll keep the same DHCP address regardless of link state.

So, once the WNCE2001 adopts the changes, the config tool can no longer talk to it until your IP configuration is updated too, which isn't automatic. You need OpenTransport to refresh its DHCP information (or just reboot), or reconfigure your IP address manually.

 

[theos911]

This is really neat. Its awesome to see another 68k code project going on! ,especially one dealing with wifi and real-world compatibility. [^]

 

[bbraun]

I've finally done something similar for a Duo:



This is using an E-machines EtherDock + IOGear GWU627 wifi-ethernet bridge, again using an ADB-USB adapter for power. The GWU627 seems right on the edge of maximum current available from the duo when running on battery, at least when configured for 802.11n 2.4GHz WPA2. With any luck, 802.11g or even b might reduce the power draw just a tad. FWIW, this is a 270c (was a 280c, swapped the logic board to a 270c because 68882's are cool) with a PowerMonster CF board.

I haven't added it to my configuration program yet, it's on the TODO list...

 

[tmtomh]

Very impressive!

 

[applefreak]

on powerbooks with PC card slot i use the MacWireless PCI card

small, no clutter, simple and easy

______________________________________________________________________________

my apple collection

.

 

[jruschme]

Interesting... I'm guessing it's a standard 16-bit PCMCIA card in a PCI adapter.

Any idea what chipset in the actual card? I'd guess a Prism2 if only because the card physically reminds me of one I have. (Which also makes me wonder if the drivers could be patched for other Prism2-based cards.)

More curiously, I wonder how that PCI card is implemented. Does it present as a full PCMCIA slot or is it some minimal implementation that mostly routes signals around. (I have a a couple of Linksys ones (WDT11) around here that are for their use with their WPC11 card. As I understand it, the card is mostly one big chip which just glues the ISA signals from the card to the PCI bus.

JR

 

[applefreak]

PCI adapter card is installed in one of my 20th anniversary macintosh

the PC card moves between the Powerbooks and the Tam

 

[sirwiggum]

Not totally mac related, but on my old PC laptops (Toshiba T2130, Thinkpad 380Z) I use a Cisco Airnet card. It is compatible with Dos/Win3.1,9x,2000.

Only thing is, had to downgrade the router security to WEP / 802.11B.