Wireless on an iBook?

[Michael P. Morris]

I am currently using a two-year old Dell laptop as my system of choice, but as time has passed it has become apparent the technology is obsolete. I want to get a new 14" iBook, but I am not sure about the wireless capabilities. I have a Linksys WPC-11 v.4 wireless card and I want to know if it will work on the iBook. Also, if it will not, I would appreciate input as to a replacement.

Thanks

 

[Robert Dewey]

I have an iBook, and it doesn't have a PCMCIA port OR a PS/2 port, not sure why exactly (maybe these are viewed as a "PC Only" capability?). I wouldn't choose the iBook for chasing, its better for media/word processing type applications. For chasing, I just stick with my 5 year old Dell (P.O.S)...

 

[B Ozanne]

Personal opinion here, an iBook is awesome if you are in graphic editing, movies, photos, etc. But why deal with a square wheel when everyone else is using a round one. BTW, I do photo editting on a pc and they come out just as good as on a mac.

 

[Keith Thomas]

Your best bet with an iBook is to purchase the card Apple offers with the machine ("AirPort", it slides into a slot under the keyboard) for $79, or a bit cheaper on .edu purchases. The 15"/17" PowerBook's include a PCMCIA slot, but they include the wireless card with the stock configurations.

While I can't comment on the chase-worthiness of an iBook, I can vouch that they're much more versatile than people typically think nowadays (OS 9 is dead and OS X is a totally different beast). I owned a 12" iBook for close to two years and just sold it to go up to a 15" PowerBook. I really have nothing but good things to say about my dealings with Apple and the operating system itself. I've found that it's an awesome platform for scientific software development work -- a Unix-based OS under the hood, a polished GUI on top, and a great set of development tools -- and most of the popular tools/libraries are available (NetCDF, HDF, HDF-EOS, GrADS, NCAR Graphics, etc.).

 

[Michael P. Morris]

Sorry - just a little clarification here. I am still plannig on keeping the PC for chasing purposes, etc. But I do need a new computer that is fast, powerful, portable, and has lots of storage space (iBook). I just need to know if the AirPort card is going to be compatible with the Linksys Wi-Fi network I have in my house.

Thanks

 

[Keith Thomas]

Sure will -- they're entirely 802.11b/g compliant.

 

[Robert Dewey]

I would go ahead and get one then...
My router is a Belkin (which can be considered a "off-brand" router), and it works fine. Only thing I am having problems with is "ssh"ing into my Linux workstation... I can get in and use the command line, but I can't seem to export any x-windows applications like GEMPAK or the IDV (if anyone has a solution, PM me).

My iBook is a couple of years old - It has a 800MHz G3 processor, 1GB RAM, 32MB Video Card, and a CD-RW/DVD ROM (bought the 3 year warranty, so still have around a year left). I bought if off my friend for $500 since he was getting a new laptop.

 

[Michael P. Morris]

Did you use the command "xhost +[hostname]" and the -X option when SSHing?

 

[Robert Dewey]

Originally posted by Michael P. Morris
Did you use the command \"xhost +[hostname]\" and the -X option when SSHing?

Yeah... But what I forgot to do was start X (in my case, XDarwin), and now I feel stupid LOL...

Thanks for the help!

 

[Eric Flescher]

mac stuff

I am really glad to see some mac people in the forum. I use a Imac flatpanel for website work. I have an older powerbook black one that has a model in it but not a wireless one. It might me too old to get a wireless with airport in it but I am still looking . I once saw a website that will mac any mac into a wireless so I will still look for it.

I don't chase with my computer (I use a mobile TV, radio and my equipment ). T I am thinking about a powerbook in the future to get better stuff but I still might be able to turn around this black one I have eventhough it is older.

With new ones you want to look for the Airport Extreme which you can find out at your local Apple retail dealer.

I am interested in more info on wireless to help make up my mine too. Thanks for opening up this forum thread.

If anyone wants more mac info. subscribe to my free mac newsletter (tell others too). (see more below)

Dr.Eric Flescher ([email protected]),Olathe, KS -Storm Satori-http://members.aol.com/kcstormguy/stormsatori/stormsatori.htm
Dr. Eric Flescher, ([email protected]), editor MacsU.N.I.T.E. (Subscribe send email to : [email protected]) , MacCompanion Reviewer/writer (http://www.maccompanion.com/); moderator [email protected]- to subscribe [email protected]; editor TechU.N.I.T.E. (Subscribe send email to PC version TechU.N.I.T.E.- Technology Users Network for Integrating Technology into Education- to subscribe send email to [email protected]: [email protected])

 

[Andrew Booth]

Re: mac stuff

I am really glad to see some mac people in the forum. I use a Imac flatpanel for website work. I have an older powerbook black one that has a model in it but not a wireless one. It might me too old to get a wireless with airport in it but I am still looking . I once saw a website that will mac any mac into a wireless so I will still look for it.

I don't chase with my computer (I use a mobile TV, radio and my equipment ). T I am thinking about a powerbook in the future to get better stuff but I still might be able to turn around this black one I have eventhough it is older.

With new ones you want to look for the Airport Extreme which you can find out at your local Apple retail dealer.

I am interested in more info on wireless to help make up my mine too. Thanks for opening up this forum thread.

If anyone wants more mac info. subscribe to my free mac newsletter (tell others too). (see more below)

Dr.Eric Flescher ([email protected]),Olathe, KS -Storm Satori-http://members.aol.com/kcstormguy/stormsatori/stormsatori.htm
Dr. Eric Flescher, ([email protected]), editor MacsU.N.I.T.E. (Subscribe send email to : [email protected]) , MacCompanion Reviewer/writer (http://www.maccompanion.com/); moderator [email protected]- to subscribe [email protected]; editor TechU.N.I.T.E. (Subscribe send email to PC version TechU.N.I.T.E.- Technology Users Network for Integrating Technology into Education- to subscribe send email to [email protected]: [email protected])

I don't know why, but I am assuming that you have the older "Wallstreet" style PowerBook (Black with the glowing "Crystal White" Apple on the lid). If so, I'm pretty sure it has a PCMCIA slot on it and you can use any of the popular 802.11b or g cards with it.

If you are running OS X than I believe there are already drivers built in for most popular cards (Linksys, Dlink... etc), as for OS9, I don't know. This also probably depends on what version of OS X you are running. To be safe I would at least have the last version of Jaguar ( OS X ver 10.2.8 ), but I would recommended that you upgrade to the latest version Panther ( 10.3.4 ).

Of course, I may be completely wrong about all of this being that I don't own a Mac (not yet, but soon) and I have yet to spend more than 10 minutes behind OS X. That being said, I have been extensively (sp?) researching all things Apple, and believe that the above information is at least 90% correct.