Two original Airport cards

[beachycove]

One for a Pismo and one for the Cube. Just installed it in the Pismo; the Cube awaits further attention.

To my pleasant surprise, Pismo wireless reception proves to be remarkably good. Sitting the same area, I get one bar in the Airport icon on a 12" G4 PowerBook, but all four bars on the Pismo (running X.4 for now — I may well "downgrade" to 9.2). I know this is a very rough measure, but it is still a measure.

 

[Unknown_K]

I just recieved my first airport card a week ago from ebay (been using Wavelan silvers for years). Those cards don't have a built in antenna do they? I stuck mine in a G4 tower to test and those have the external antennas you are supposed to plug into the card (or is it just a booster)?

 

[beachycove]

The antenna is indeed built into certain machines, and there is a plug on the Airport card into which to insert the built-in lead. In the case of the Pismo, it goes up into the screen assembly.

 

[Unknown_K]

Does the pismo have a built in hidden airport slot or do you use the exposed cardbus slots?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

All Apple computers that use an official AirPort card use them in an internal-access-only slot. (On the eMac, it's easy to get to, behind the optical drive flap - on the Pismo, it's under the keyboard, but even in those cases, it's not somewhere you can get to without active effort.)

 

[beachycove]

The Pismo Airport slot is immediately adjacent to the cardbus slot and evidently shares its circuitry, but as has been said, it and the antenna are internal to the machine. Access is gained by removing the keyboard (though it helps to remove the little bezel above the keyboard/ under the screen too, which is easily done). The cardbus slot itself is thus left free for separate use. If you know what you're doing, it only takes about a minute to install, start to finish.

If anyone is looking for a good deal on an Airport card, by the way, the NY-based eBay seller electronicscafe has been intermittently selling them for $10 a pop (none presently), with very reasonable shipping. Best deal you'll find short of finding one lying on the street.

 

[Unknown_K]

Got mine from ebay for $.99 and free shipping, I get lucky sometimes.

I guess the airport card came out after my Wallstreet was made, no hidden cardbus slots on it.