Which wireless works better with PBG3?

[Sludgedragon]

Right now I use the same PCMCIA wireless card that has wireless-b,g with my Lombards and Pismo on 10.3.9. I am thinking of putting an airport internal card into the Pismo, but that is older and only does wireless-b.

I already know that it's hard for me to tell the difference between the speed of my iMac G5's wireless connection, and the connection with the PBG3s, probably because the wireless DSL makes more of a difference than the computer, up to a point. (The only thing that's not as good with the G3s is YouTube at 1 or 2 frames per second! )

Has anyone compared these, and how much difference does it really make? It would be nice to free up the slot for other things, but not if the reception will be much slower.

 

[Da Penguin]

In all reality, if you aren't transferring files over your local network, it won't make a huge difference. Range would be the only concern.

DSL goes slower than what the theoretical limit of 802.11b really is. Granted this isn't a perfect on paper world, but you will still find it more than adequate for internet.

TBird

 

[tomlee59]

Da Penguin makes a very good point that most consumers don't understand. An 802.11g card doesn't do anything for you, speed-wise, if your internet connection is anything but fiber-to-the-home, basically. And g-speeds are only enjoyed at high signal strengths anyway. A g-network throttles back to b-speeds at moderate-to-low signal strength.

The exception, as Da Penguin mentioned, is if you are communicating peer-to-peer. In that case, you're not going through your ISP, so that won't be the speed bottleneck.

If you are just surfing the web, then it won't matter a whit if you're using an older b- or g-card. Go ahead and stick an old Airport card inside that Pismo, and leave the external card slot for something fun, like a vidcap card.

 

[Da Penguin]

Or keep both cards and download kismac to cause some havoc....

TBird

 

[Bunsen]

Original Airport cards are stupid expensive. If you can spare a PCMCIA slot, there are 802.11b cards that will either show up as Airport cards, or have their own compatible drivers. Right now my mind is drawing a blank on the brand name of the former.

 

[Sludgedragon]

I already have PC cards that work with Airport and 10.3.9. I'm looking mainly into eliminating clutter or having to switch out PC cards for different purposes. That way I could just have my card reader PC card live in the slot.

Another question, of course, is will the Pismo still be working after I replace the sound/power card, hoping that then I will be able to power it up with a cord instead of just with batteries. It's kind of daunting knowing that it will require taking it so completely apart, making so many chances for something to go wrong. I am actually considering looking into having my local Mac house do the installation. (I probably won't, though.)

 

[Da Penguin]

The nice part with the Pismo's, everything inside is 'big.' Everything goes where it should, and if you have a nice set of directions, it isn't too bad.

I would recommend testing with the least amount of re-assembly required too. I have all too often re-assembled, and not connected the inverter/hard drive/LVDS/etc.

Goodluck!

TBird

 

[tomlee59]

Original Airport cards are stupid expensive. If you can spare a PCMCIA slot, there are 802.11b cards that will either show up as Airport cards, or have their own compatible drivers. Right now my mind is drawing a blank on the brand name of the former.

The original Orinoco/Wavelan cards from Lucent use the same internals as the Airport cards (also made by Lucent). Orinoco cards were also rebranded by folks like Dell (as the TrueMobile something-or-other), and these are also electrically compatible with the Airport card. The problem is that these non-Airport cards have built-in antennas; the card extension to accommodate those makes the card too long to fit in the Airport slot. There are instructions on the web for how to shoehorn these nonetheless, with varying degrees of success. If you do succeed in fitting the cards in there, you will find that "it just works." The card will be seen by the OS as an Airport card, so no third-party drivers are needed.

 

[Sludgedragon]

Original Airport cards are stupid expensive.

Not so much lately, I have looked on eBay and they're a lot cheaper now. Maybe because more iterations of Macs have gone by, and the ones that use the original card are less and less used.

If I can get past the problems I'm having getting the case apart so I can replace the sound/power card, I'll definitely be getting an Airport card.

 

[ealex79]

Original Airport cards are stupid expensive.

Not so much lately, I have looked on eBay and they're a lot cheaper now. Maybe because more iterations of Macs have gone by, and the ones that use the original card are less and less used.

If I can get past the problems I'm having getting the case apart so I can replace the sound/power card, I'll definitely be getting an Airport card.

http://cgi.ebay.de/APPLE-AIRPORT-EXTREME-WLAN-KARTE-BLUETOOTH-ADAPTE-450ST_W0QQitemZ290236310595QQihZ019QQcategoryZ32895QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Start Price:

16,000.00 EUR

Buy Now Price:

20,000.00 EUR

[] ]'> 8-o [8]

 

[Sludgedragon]

I guess that would really be stupid expensive! :lol:

Besides, it's airport extreme...

 

[ealex79]

:-x It's illegal too afaik.

 

[sircabulon]

My sister has a Pismo and I have a Lombard. Her Pismo often connects to the internet faster with the Airport card than my Lombard does with a Sonnet Aria Extreme b/g card. The signal is much stronger on the Airport card because of the antennas that are built into the screen. Unless I am in the room with the base station in it, hers is faster.

 

[Temetka]

Or keep both cards and download kismac to cause some havoc....
TBird

Oh man, that brings back memories.

I just used my touch to break wifi the other day. Fun times.

Thanks for the lol though. [8D]