Ativa wireless G USB adapter

Question

Level 1

9 points

Ativa wireless G USB adapter

Hey everybody,
Is there any reason this item would not let me connect to my wireless network? It's for an eMac 700mhz.
I know the original airport card would be ideal but cost effectiveness is the issue here.
$30 vs. $80ish.
Thanks as always.

MacBook, iBook G4 x 2, iBook G3, Powermac G4, eMac 700mhz, Mac OS X (10.5.2), 2 GB Nano x 2, 512 mb Shuffle, iPod Touch 8GB

Posted on Mar 3, 2008 10:12 AM

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Answer 1

JMVP

Level 6

16,851 points

Mar 4, 2008 7:56 AM in response to gmakc4

PT has already given you the advice you need re a wireless Ethernet bridge. If the Ethernet port absolutely must be used for something else, the only USB WiFi adapter I've seen mentioned as being fully Mac compatible is this 802.11n Apple Wireless-to-USB Adapter, but it lists for US$110, which won't help your budgetcomapred to the Ethernet bridge.

There are more alternatives to the original Airport card given at iFelix: Original Airport Card Alternatives ; also see the info from iFelix and Ronda Wilson in this thread.

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Answer 2

gmakc4 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 3, 2008 10:25 AM in response to Allan Jones

Sure, it is running 10.4.11 with over 100GB free space. I have just done a clean install on this as I am giving it to my friend. Just want him to be able to connect to his existing wireless network.
Thank you.

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Answer 3

PT

Level 7

20,894 points

Mar 3, 2008 10:55 AM in response to gmakc4

Looking at the Ativa support pages it would appear that the one you are looking at does NOT have any Mac drivers at all. This is often a problem with any USB based Wifi adapter, in that they often lack drivers to begin with and when they do have drivers they A) may not be very good to begin with and could cause system issues or B) rarely get updated as needed for Apple OS updates and future versions.
This is why I usually recommend Ethernet to Wifi bridge devices instead. Reason #1 = they do not require any drivers. Reason #2 = they are operating system independent. Reason #3 = they use the dedicated ethernet port that is likely not being used anyway where as USB ones use up one of your USB ports and have to share bandwidth with any other USB devices on the system.
These are often marketed as "gaming" internet devices to hook of Playstations, XBoxes, etc. to the internet.
Unfortunately they tend to be a bit pricey compared to the USB versions.
Patrick

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Answer 4

gmakc4 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 3, 2008 11:03 AM in response to PT

Yeah, I saw that too. I thought some time ago there was a link to a generic driver (or something like that) that would I guess allow this to work...Of course now I can't find it. If I just plug this in, will it do anything at all? Is there a workaround of some sort?
Thank you.

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Answer 5

PT

Level 7

20,894 points

Mar 4, 2008 6:19 AM in response to gmakc4

No work around that I know of and I wouldn't personally even bother with something like that trying to get it to work if I knew there were other known working solutions instead. After all, $30 on something that ends up not working is a lot more expensive in my mind than $80 on something you know will work.
Go for the Ethernet bridge device. Yes, more expensive, but they will work. Here are a couple examples...
http://www.superwarehouse.com/LinksysWireless-G_GameAdapter/WGA54G/p/299085
http://www.superwarehouse.com/D-LinkXtreme_G_Wireless_GamingAdapter/DWL-G820/p/1488201
No experience with that vendor, just found those via a generic internet search.
I use an old Netgear version on my ancient purple G3 iMac. It worked great under OS9 and when I upgraded that to OS 10.2.x it still works great (although that computer is rarely used anymore).
Patrick

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Answer 6

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

24,235 points

Mar 4, 2008 7:03 AM in response to gmakc4

Hi,

Yes, unless you can find the appropriate AirPort card, a wireless Ethernet bridge is probably the best solution here. As Patrick indicated, such a bridge does not (usually) require any drivers, and will thus work with almost any Ethernet-capable device under almost any operating system. Another example would be Belkin's F5D7330.

Always check a supplier's download page for the latest firmware update (for instance, allowing the use of WPA instead of WEP security).

There are some USB wireless adapters with Mac drivers (part of the package or made available for download by the manufacturer). If not, it may be necessary to first establish which chipset is used for a certain adapter model. Then one could investigate whether there are any Mac drivers.

Jan

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Answer 7

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,320 points

Mar 3, 2008 10:22 AM in response to gmakc4

I can't quite tell from your equipment list how your eMac 700 is configured. Can you post the specific OS, RAM and drive free space for the eMac separately?

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Answer 8

gmakc4 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 4, 2008 5:05 AM in response to gmakc4

Anyone else have thoughts please?

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Answer 9

gmakc4 Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 5, 2008 1:47 PM in response to JMVP

Thanks to all of you. After a bit of frustration and calls to India, I will just find an Airport Card. Should have done so to begin with.
Now I know.
Thanks again.

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