Wireless with a PCMCIA Card

Question

Level 2

355 points

Wireless with a PCMCIA Card

The gear: A Snow ABS and a Lombard (non-AirPort) PowerBook. Motorola and Lucent wireless adapter cards. OS 10.3.8 and OS 9.2.2.

I set up the computer originally with the Motorola card and Panther. The card is not compatible with 9.2.2.

Now needing 9.2.2 wireless capability I have the Lucent card installed and working very nicely with 9.2.2 but Panther cannot find the card. Not System Profiler, not AirPort Setup Assistant nor anything else.

I'm guessing that Panther is still looking for the Motorola card. How do I get the Lucent card recognized?

Thanks,

Cookie

Posted on Jun 18, 2005 1:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jun 22, 2005 7:31 AM in response to Cookie

Your problem is finding a set of drivers compatible with OS X for this card. OS X supports, natively, PCMCIA cards based on the Broadcom chipset, not the Lucent chipset.

See these sites:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/wirelessdriver/
http://www.ioexperts.com/80211b_X.html
http://www.orangeware.com/endusers/wirelessformac.html

Reply

Answer 2

Cookie Author

Level 2

355 points

Jul 8, 2005 10:02 PM in response to Frank Canzolino

Frank

You got right to the problem. I obviously misread my compatibility source http://home.earthlink.net/~metaphyzx/Wireless.htm but all is now well on the PowerBook in OSX with either the IOXperts or Sourceforge drivers.

Thanks again.

Cookie

Reply

Answer 3

Jul 9, 2005 7:02 AM in response to Cookie

Like any Open Source project, the software can be surprisingly good, and I would try those free drivers first. Many people have reported good success with the IOXperts drivers. I have never used any of these drivers myself, and I have not heard any reports from people who have used them with Tiger (so they may not work at all, I just don't know). YMMV.

Reply

Answer 4

Jul 9, 2005 7:04 AM in response to Cookie

Reply

Answer 5

Aug 7, 2005 11:05 PM in response to Cookie

I have the same setup (Orinoco card) and when i upgraded to Tiger I had problems with the wireless card. I bought the IOxperts driver and it worked for about 2 weeks. Now the card won't work. I have tried reinstalling the drivers, but the pane that was installed the first time does not show up in System prefs. The card powers during startup; I get the little power light to respond for a second, and then it goes out and I cannot connect. Do these cards go bad? Any way for me to test it?

Reply

Answer 6

Cookie Author

Level 2

355 points

Aug 13, 2005 9:28 PM in response to Joe Stern

Hi Joe

The Orinoco card worked long and well with Panther?

What level of network security are you trying to use?

Is it the IOXperts prefpane that does not show up in System Preferences?

IF I remember right, there is an Uninstall option in the IOXperts Install package. Did you run this before the reinstall attempts?

Let us know.

Cookie

Reply