My linksys router died...

Hi Susan, the Apple ones are not 10.4.11 friendly, I'd try just about any other brand.

I've been using one of these both with Tiger on an old iMac G3 and Snow Leopard on a newer Intel iMac. Very reliable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190&Tpk=linksys%20wr t%2054%20gl

Check out the reviews.

Your Tiger Powerbook can run AirPort Utility 5.4.2 which can administer a brand new AirPort Express just fine. However, there is no Tiger-compatible version of AirPort Utility that can administer a current production AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule.

So your Apple alternatives are a new Express, or a used 802.11b/g Extreme. The latter are cheap and abundant on eBay.

susanfromwinston wrote:

Thanks John. I may look into the older 802.11b/g. Appreciate the direction.

Gobs of the original AirPort Extreme models on eBay. Search "airport extreme A1034" to find them. Most are $20 and under.

One thing to be certain of with any router is to be sure its encryption protocol can be set to WPA2/AES. I'm not sure the older ones can be set to that. They may use WEP, which can be cracked in under a minute or WPA, which has also been broken. You also want to set a very long, all over the keyboard router password. Just keep it safe somewhere and don't lose it. Mine is 40+ characters and no one's going to guess it.

You are basically broacasting all your data, i.e. passwords, sensitive or personal information, and you want to be sure it can't be read.

And, whatever router you settle on, do not set up the router security with any automatic feature. You want to avoid those and do it all manually. These have been easily cracked.

And the stock Linksys firmware for the WRT54GL, though not bad, can easily be replaced with a superior one, "Tomato." If you're not up to doing that, there's no problem keeping the original Linksys firmware.

http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

http://lifehacker.com/344765/turn-your-60-router-into-a-user+friendly-super+rout er-with-tomato

The original AirPort Extreme supports WPA/WPA2. So does the PowerBook G4 with its original AirPort Extreme card, assuming all Software Updates have been applied. The available encryption protocols are identical to the newest models.

The AirPort Express is a full featured router, with one major limitation: one Ethernet port. If you were to replace your current Linksys router with that, its one port will be occupied by the connection to your modem, leaving nothing for any hardwired devices.

However, if you were to keep your current router or buy a new one, you can also use the Express as a wireless access point. In that configuration you would connect it to the Netgear - I'm assuming the Netgear is a switch with an available port to use. You can configure it to create the same exact network as the Linksys, which will result in a "roaming network". It has significant advantages over a network with just one wireless access point.

The original AirPort Extreme can do the same thing, if you want to buy one for cheap. Search for it as Old Comm Guy suggests. The advantage of a new Express is that it can use either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz as well connect external speakers for streaming AirTunes if that matters to youl.

susanfromwinston wrote:

By "original AirPort Extreme supports WPA/WPA2", do you mean the one that looks like a Hershey's kiss (referenced by "Old Comm Guy" in this thread [airport extreme A1034])?

Yes. A vanilla Hershey's Kiss. Just make sure it comes with the power supply.

Don't spend a lot. You can find one for $10 if you're persistent. Better to find one being sold by its original owner than some junk reseller who won't know if it works.

If you ran Software Update any time within the past ten years or so, you probably updated the drivers for your AirPort Extreme card so that it can use WPA a long time ago.