TiBook Wi-Fi Range Hack: New Card

eggboard writes "Apple likes the profit margins on its internal AirPort card (still $100 three years after introduction), but the Faraday cage that is the Titanium PowerBook keeps the AirPort card and the TiBook's internal antenna from achieving the same range as the plastic-cased white dual-USB iBooks. Wired News reports today on Cliff Skolnick et al's hack, which is simply to use a 200 mW PC Card coupled with OS X-compatible drivers. The cost winds up less than an AirPort Card, and you can get a model with an external antenna jack, too."

Comments

Hack?

[TotallyUseless]

Buying a WiFi card and installing drivers is a hack? mmmmmk.

Re:Hack?

[Anonymous Coward]

Its close enough to be a hack, since its on a apple.

Re:Hack?

[Davoid]

In the Mac world that is what is known as a "hack". So people like Janie Porche are considered hackers.

Re:Hack?

[L33t-Geek]

Its doing somthing or expploiting a feature that is not publicized by the manufacturor. Therefore it can be, and is concidered a hack. I cant belive apple still has there 802.11b card at $100. That price isnt going to stand once 802.11a and 802.11g hit the main stream. Then the "WiFi" model will fall in price. I wonder if this hack will work with 802.11a cards when they are released in great numbers. -Geek

Re:Hack?

[adelayde]

I totally agree with you. How on Earth does this deserve an article, let alone being posted on /.? Yes we had the same problem when we ran a solar and peddle powered internet cafe [plug] this summer with the titanium casing, the iBooks were loads less sensitive. But really, the thing comes with a PCMCIA slot, so it's hardly rocket science to go and buy a WiFi card no is it!? I use a slimline Buafflo WaveLAN cards, there are some drivers for it on the net somewhere, try Google, works very well, but don't eject it whilst the interface is being used unless you're in to seeing OS X crash!

Next we'll see articles on how connecting and external DVD-RAM drive via firewire, solves the problem of them not coming with TiBooks!

Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Hairy_Potter]

Goodness knows that Macs command a premium on their hardware, but that's because all their official Apple Hardware has been thoroughly tested and debugged against the various OSii. King Jobs rules a stern and strict kingdom, but at least you get stability.

In contrast, if you start sticking commodity PC hardware in their with poorly tested drivers, yeah, you may save a few bucks, but you lose a lot of stability, your TiBook may no longer be capable of multiday uptimes.

Here's a little experiment, go to any Mac forum and read up on hardware/software bugs, you'll find that 70% of them have been due to poorly designed third party software. Jobs may be greedy, but he also wants you have to the best, most reliable software out there.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[josh crawley]

Is Apple still demanding:

1: Apple ONLY ram?
2: 100$ for floppy drive?

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[MaxVlast]

1. No, but any PC133 or DDR RAM and go to town.
2. Macs haven't come with floppy drives since 1998. Go polish your PS/2 port and plug in an ISA card. (Joke)

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[pla]

go to any Mac forum and read up on hardware/software bugs, you'll find that 70% of them have been due to poorly designed third party software.

First, I do not mean this as an anti-Mac troll, so please don't take it as such.

The fact that the OS loses stability when running 3rd party software does NOT say much for the quality of its own engineering. *Anyone* can write a standalone app suite that, under ideal conditions (ie, a vanilla W2K install and just the app suite running) will seem rock-solid.

In the real world, however, hundreds or even thousands of different software packages, most from different developers, must occupy the same physical machine. A decent OS *MUST* acknowledge that and not only deal with, but *expect*, poor behavior on the part of its apps. Not every app returns a meaningful value, not every app completely frees its memory, not every app releases all the hardware it asked to use. None of those "should" happen, but especially when a program crashes, they *do* happen. The OS has to figure out a way to clean up no matter what a user-space program does.

No, I don't intend to say that any one OS does a whole lot better (cough, cough, Linux, cough), but I would not consider "stability under ideal conditions" a big selling point.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Scott Wood]

Linux, like any monolithic kernel, gives complete privilege to drivers (including those for wireless networking devices), allowing them to crash the system at will. I suggest you invest in some cough drops.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[josh crawley]

I know that macs havent had floppys on standard systems, but some of us want floppy support. When we went to the Mac builder on the site, we added a floppy drive. The cost went up 100$ .

Does Apple still do that, or have they even quit building computers (special orders) with floppys altogether?

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Quixotic Raindrop]

3. or go use your two button mouse
4. or go play your games we won't get for 6 months (if we're lucky...)

Hm. I have a two-button ... er, three button ... mouse for my iBook ... sure, I had to buy it.

I was also smart enough to know when I bought it that I actually needed one. Probably 99% of PCs (and most Macs, anymore) don't come with RCA Composite out cables for directly connecting with a VCR ... so, if you need to do that, you buy the tool you need. You know if you need it or not.

Newbie users and two button mice? You've never done phone support for newbies, have you? You'd know better. Two button mice is an intermediate concept, and not a good idea for new users. Since one of the Macintosh's primary audiences is, and always has been, new users, shipping with single-button mice makes a lot of sense.

Oh, and if the game comes out late, that's unfortunate. What difference does six months make in the overall scheme of life? What kind of a spoiled, demanding brat are you if you can't wait six months for a new way to detach from reality? I would say that if six months is too long for you to wait for a new escapist activity, you should seek therapy.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[PhoenixFlare]

Oh, so almost anything non-Apple/third party has "poorly tested drivers" now?

Seems a bit presumptous to imply that, if you ask me.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[ehintz]

FUD. Plain and simple. This argument made sense under OS 9; under X it's for the most part a moot point. If the wireless driver dies (and I've used it for over a year with a Lucent card on a Wallstreet G3 with zero trouble-and that with bizzare base stations like OpenBSD as well as the Lucent AP1000), so what? It's not like OS 9 where everything dies. The network access dies. Wahh. Welcome to the wonderful world of BSD underneath. Sure, under OS 9 you'd probably be doing the cmd-cntrl-power stunt. That was then, this is now...

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[gaudior]

Third Party drivers, not applications. Drivers run in the priveledged kernel environment. The amount of damage a poorly written, tested, and debugged driver can do is much greater than an application of similar shoddy quality.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[MaxVlast]

The never did it as a special-built option. You can get Zip drives as such, and you can always buy a retail USB floppy drive through the Apple store.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[asv108]

Linux, like any monolithic kernel, gives complete privilege to drivers (including those for wireless networking devices), allowing them to crash the system at will. I suggest you invest in some cough drops.

Well if that were the case, why is Linux so damn stable? I have 2 systems running beta and expirmental wireless and firewire drivers that have never crashed. In my experience with Linux, drivers are sometimes a pain in the ass to get working, but once they are working they don't crash.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. You guys berate Microsoft for making a web browser that is incredibly forgiving in reading bad HTML code, yet applaud when Torvalds and Co. make a forgiving kernel. So, should we force people to obey standards when developing software/websites, or let them screw up as much as they want?

I'm not saying that developing software that assumes the third party is wrong or broken is right, just the way you apply the idea seems rather hypocritical to me.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Pengo]

I don't really get your point. I get blue screens on windows with shitty drivers. I get kernel panics on Linux with shitty drivers *cough nVidia*. I get system freezes on openbsd with bad ram.

Lets face it, the whole point of getting the whole widget, the stuff should just work. This is whole reason that MS is doing the certified hardware crap, that doesn't seem to really be helping much, is to gain stability in the OS.

I don't believe you can properly protect the system from the hardware and bad drivers and maintain good performance. Maybe some modern mach kernels will do it, but I don't see anything mainstream in the CONSUMERS hands that do it.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Anonymous Coward]

> ...that's because all their official Apple Hardware has been thoroughly tested and debugged against the various OSii

You mean like WHQL certified devices?

King Jobs indeed. You my friend, are a buffoon.

Nice troll, though.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Anonymous Coward]

You apparently don't play with bleeding edge video cards and XFree86.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[FyRE666]

Try using the NVidia drivers with a GF2 sometime, it may not crash today, or tomorrow, but eventually... The only time I've seen linux crash has been through driver/hardware problems...

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Anonymous Coward]

Previous comment where right, a simple module can take down your kenel.

Probably you had no problem because despite of this fact, kernel modules are normally writen by kernel gurus before they get include into kernel source are preatty much revised, thank to they can be revised (Open Source)

And normally you do not run propietary modules in linux

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Anonymous Coward]

Goodness knows that Macs command a premium on their hardware, but that's because all their official Apple Hardware has been thoroughly tested and debugged against the various OSii. King Jobs rules a stern and strict kingdom, but at least you get stability.

Yeah. Cuba is stable, too. Guess you can thank King Castro for doing a good job. Point is, that freedom is not just for software. Free choices in hardware and open architectures matter, too. Supporting Apple hardware is akin to supporting Microsoft software. Screw 'em both.

It shouldn't be a "hack" posted to /. to add a wi-fi card to a computer. You're asking to be screwed into fewer (and ultimately) poorer choices for computing platforms if you head down that road.

Anonymous Coward

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[josh crawley]

Oh well, I must have confused the USB floppy with the standard internal "floppy".

Still, thanks for clearing it up ;-)

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[dattaway]

Your experience may vary. I have been using nvidia's drivers for my g2 toshiba satellite for over a year now. My laptop is always on, rarely powered down, and has yet to crash an X session.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Bartab]

Hm. I have a two-button ... er, three button ... mouse for my iBook ... sure, I had to buy it.

That's a valid point for a desktop, but for a laptop (as your ibook) it is not. Try using your external add on mouse on a plane, or in any situation where it's a laptop, instead of ap ortable desktop.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Phs2501]

Well if that were the case, why is Linux so damn stable? I have 2 systems running beta and expirmental wireless and firewire drivers that have never crashed. In my experience with Linux, drivers are sometimes a pain in the ass to get working, but once they are working they don't crash.

It's because the Linux drivers are written carefully. Linux is also very good at catching bad memory accesses in kernel space and giving a non-fatal oops instead of panicing. Trust me, though, go do some driver development and you'll be very happy you have journaled filesystems while watching the box reboot for the nth time.

Not that microkernels are a perfect solution to problems like this - whenever you screw around with interrupts off it's not very hard to hang the machine.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[SensitiveMale]

Are you insane?

ANY PERSON can write a PROGRAM that will crash ANY OS.

I don't care what OS it is. Even linux.

I'm willing to wager that your god Linus can write a program that will crash every version of linux ever released.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Quixotic Raindrop]

Actually, I do this all the time. Maybe I misled, but it's a Logitech three-button trackball/thumbball, and I use it in cramped conditions just about every day (bus, coffee shop, etc.).

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[shepd]

>I have 2 systems running beta and expirmental wireless and firewire drivers that have never crashed.

You're doing better than me.

When I tried the Spectrum24t experimental drivers for my Nortel Network e-mobility card it panicked and locked up my laptop solid, IIRC. I still can't find a decent driver for that card.

But I don't blame linux for that. Even Nortel doesn't support these cards, being that they are more than 4 months old.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[punkass]

Josh,

Go here.

Go Storage:Floppy Drives:USB.

Pick the first non-ECS product you see.

Voila, under $40, shipped. Some people pay more for software....

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm willing to wager that your god Linus can write a program that will crash every version of linux ever released

It's already been done.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[be-fan]

I've been using NVIDIA Linux drivers since they came out, on everything from a TNT to a GeForce4 MX. I've never had a single crash.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[SensitiveMale]

OFMG!

THAT was funny.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[sheean.nl]

Oh, and if the game comes out late, that's unfortunate. What difference does six months make in the overall scheme of life? What kind of a spoiled, demanding brat are you if you can't wait six months for a new way to detach from reality? I would say that if six months is too long for you to wait for a new escapist activity, you should seek therapy.

Like? Ehm.. multiplayer games? 6 months later almost nobody is playing the game (except the Mac Users, the WineX users and the people who only buy at 50% discount). It is not only a new escapist activity, it's an way of communicating for most people, we humans have brains (well, most do), and an knowledge of time, if you aren't doing something (new) during an amount of time, you can get bored, getting bored, will lead to paranoia, paranoia leads to civil disorder and war, and eventually our doom.

So, stop bugging :)

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[fgodfrey]

Err, I don't wanna burst your bubble, but even under Unix, a bad driver can ruin your day. As another poster above mentioned, drivers have full access to everything. This means they get to crash your system. This is true under Solaris, Net/Free/OpenBSD, Linux, Irix, Windows, MacOS 9, MacOS X, ProDOS, and just about anything else you can think of. While it would be theoretically possible to isolate off driver access, in reality it becomes rather difficult. Irix has an interface to do drivers entirely in userspace, but even then, there is a possibility that they can screw stuff up since they are directly manipulating hardware.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you have over 1600 [slashdot.org] comments? Why Not?

Because I've always preferred quality over quantity. You obviously have not.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[shepd]

>Because I've always preferred quality over quantity. You obviously have not.

And ACs always post quality over quantity?

If you're going to insult me, be a man about it. Use an account.

Oh, and I should mention I regularly get modded up. I know you can't handle the thought that someone else is more intelligent than you, but sorry; I can't afford your psychiatry bills this month.

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[Anonymous Coward]

int main( int argc, char *argv[]) {
while (1) fork();
}

Re:Cheaper, but you lose stability

[jx100]

Same here. I pretty much only get any instability when I turn on the "nvidia" drivers. My system's rock-solid under the "nv" drivers.

What a hack.

[aardvarkjoe]

Wow. They managed to plug in another card and install the drivers for it.

I just installed a new video card in my machine. Can I get that written up as a hack on Slashdot? Or does it only count if I use a Mac?

Re:What a hack.

[anothermortal]

Seriously dude. I work for Johns Hopkins, and a small sect (used politely, of course!) of us are Mac loyalists...we've done this already. Its not news, except it involves Macs, and OS X. (the default aiport driver worked with the Orinoco cards, as I recall)

Re:What a hack.

[Anonymous Coward]

whoa, you can do that? last I checked, the Ministry of Hardware Alteration doesn't allow that sort of thing. you might install a video card without digital rights management!

Re:What a hack.

[vicarina22]

if you install a new video card in your powerbook (or any other 1" thick notebook), then yes, certainly that would count.

Re:What a hack.

[snubber1]

Would that be called Minihard?

Re:What a hack.

[thinkliberty]

Did you even read the article?

"By porting an open-source Prism driver from Berkeley Unix to OS X, McKeever was able to get Prism cards working on the Mac."

Yeah. Port a video card driver from Berkeley Unix to OS X/Darwin and you would most likely get written up on Slashdot.

Re:What a hack.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

the default aiport driver worked with the Orinoco cards, as I recall

That's probably because the airport card _is_ an orinoco card.

Re:What a hack.

[Anonymous Coward]

We have to humor the mac users, they don't get to play with their hardware much. (Sorry!)

Re:What a hack.

[Anonymous Coward]

What about putting PC cards into the PC card slot (like they did here)? Does that count?

Re:What a hack.

[bjtuna]

interestingly enough, it sounds like you may be able to help me. I'm a student at Hopkins, and I am an OSX user having issues with Hopkins' wireless (although using a Cisco card instead of an Airport). What department do you work for?

If you get a chance, email me: (you'll have to decipher the address)

brian AT acm DOT SPAMjhu DOT SPAMedu

Re:What a hack.

[Anonymous Coward]

you're a nice guy.

in other news

[Anonymous Coward]

In a new hack, area man Bob Tinklepee discovers that his iMac's power cord is "completely interchangable" with the one his PC, thus saving him the $1400 expense of replacing his iMac with a new one when the cord became frayed.

Members of online community slashdot were quick to praise the hack, but their fun was soon over when Apple filed a lawsuit against Bob for violating the DMCA.

Tough nuts, Bob!

Re:in other news

[BWJones]

In a new hack, area man Bob Tinklepee discovers that his iMac's power cord is "completely interchangable" with the one his PC, thus saving him the $1400 expense of replacing his iMac with a new one when the cord became frayed.

Actually, I believe the power cord on the iMac is unique and not interchangeable with the PC. Oh well, the power cord on my dual G4 is at least standard.

Re:in other news

[lameland]

Actually, the power cord on an iMac (at least the LCD ones) is NOT compatible with a PC. It's got a rather funky three cylinder shape that would not fit in a PC and vise versa :)

Re:in other news

[kzinti]

It's got a rather funky three cylinder shape that would not fit in a PC and vise versa...

That sounds like the power cord that connects to the transformer on my Dell laptop, and several other small appliances I've seen. It's not the typical power cord that PCs and monitors typically use, but it's still fairly common in other uses.

--Jim

Re:in other news

[XorNand]

I don't know about the new iMacs, but the older candy-colored ones had a standard power cord. They are translucent with multicolored wires (like the iMac they came with). I'm using one on my PC right now, in fact. Just another one of those little details that Apple is known for. How many PC vendors would bother with custom made power cords?

Re:in other news

[White Roses]

The flat panel iMacs, rather than the D-shaped cord, use a, erm, three-bubble shaped one. Kinda like three-fifths of the olympic logo, if that helps describe it. I don't think they are proprietary, as the older Compaq Armada laptops had the same kind of cord (the power supply was internal). Still, I haven't tried an Armada cord with my iMac yet: the cord is beige, it would ruin the decor.

Re:in other news

[porkchop_d_clown]

Considering I have a dead power cord, let me know if you find a source for other cords like that. Apple insisted I'd have to buy a new power supply for my iBook - I wasn't allowed to replace the cord.

Re:in other news

[dr00g911]

The power cords on the original iMacs (and every desktop Mac to date beforehand besides the cube) were industry-standard "D" plugs.

The new flat-panel iMac is also a "D" plug, but the plastic molding around it is shaped kinda funny in a cloverleaf pattern, and it plugs in flush with the back of the unit to keep from breaking any lines, design-wise.

You could take a dremel/exacto and a lot of patience to a standard power plug and it would work. But it would be really, really ugly.

If worse came to worse and my cord shorted out/got chewed up by something, I'd probably order the Apple part instead of trying a hack. The new iMacs are just so nice looking, it'd be a shame to detract from it.

Re:in other news

[dubiousmike]

Custom power cords?!?

No wonder I paid so much for my Imac.

Re:in other news

[imadork]

Considering I have a dead power cord, let me know if you find a source for other cords like that. Apple insisted I'd have to buy a new power supply for my iBook - I wasn't allowed to replace the cord.

Depending on the model of your power supply, pbparts.com may be helpful. I purchased a few extra cords for my iBook's yo-yo adaptor from them, although I had to look in the Pismo section to find it. (Yo-Yo Type Adapter Cord (M7332))

Re:in other news

[milkman_matt]

Considering I have a dead power cord, let me know if you find a source for other cords like that. Apple insisted I'd have to buy a new power supply for my iBook - I wasn't allowed to replace the cord.

Happened to mine too, luckily it happened not even a week before they recalled the power supplies for my powerbook (whew) still bought another, but now i've got one at home and one at work, so I shouldn't need to do it again anytime soon.

-matt

Re:in other news

[Rude Turnip]

I have the same cord for my Dell laptop and in fact I have the same cord for an old IBM Thinkpad 365, so the cord has been around since at least 1995.

Re:in other news

[Otterley]

That type of cable is commonly used for Dell laptops as well. You can buy replacements here.

I'm baffled as to why this new type of cable exists in the first place. Why couldn't they use an ordinary cable?

Re:in other news

[Kompressor]

I believe that some Samsung LCD monitors have the same power cord. AFAIK, it's not proprietary, it's just less standard...

Re:in other news

[goon america]

How many PC vendors would bother with custom made power cords?

How many PC vendors would bother with the expense of custom-made power cords?

Re:in other news

[Anonymous Coward]

You also forgot to mention that they're extrememly flexible compared to traditional rigid pc cords. They're very nice cords.

Re:in other news

[MaxVlast]

It's a much smaller plug/housing.

Slashdot: news for macs

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot is turning into news for Apple. Ever since CmdrTaco turned traitor on open-source / free software and used OS X for is his primary laptop, Apple is everyone's favorite. They still make proprietary software everyone.

Other enhancments.

[juuri]

Search the forums on Ars and you will see that a large problem with the TiBooks is that the antenna inside often shifts during transport. There is a simple fix where you find the antenna and simply push it back into the proper place and the range suddenly increases to almost iBook like quality.

Wait even better, here is the thread:

http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tp c&s=50009562&f=8300945231&m=3480972435

Re:Other enhancments.

[tweder]

That link doesn't seem to work for me.

Re:Other enhancments.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just flipped over my TiBook and took out the battery and pressed along the side like the arstechnica link suggested and now I am getting 3 bars in a room where I wouldn't have been able to even get service prior. Its about time this laptop can get some range. I recommend atleast trying this, god knows I didn't think it would work and even when I was doing it it seemed like a waste of time...

Re:Other enhancments.

[Gogo Dodo]

It appears that you have to have a session cookie from the top level of ArsTechnica's discussion boards before you can look at individual messages. So deep linking doesn't work.

Try searching for "TiBook antenna" in the forums there.

I hate websites that do this...

Re:HAHAHHA!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hack the mouse, use a usb one with three buttons...and a scroll wheel. Now thats a hack

Ho hum

[Olentangy]

I've been using my old Lucent 802.11b PC-card in my old TiBook for some time because the internal card has such poor range.

The driver up on source forge works fine.

Fine, but how is this news?

How does it affect battery life?

[burgburgburg]

If the new card is pumping out 200 milliwatts of radio signal as opposed to the usual 30- to 100-milliwatt range of most 802.11b cards, what is the hit on battery life?

Re:How does it affect battery life?

[panurge]

Probably hardly at all. Radio transmitters are rather efficient in the power stages nowadays and 200mW is very low compared to the screen consumption.

Re:How does it affect battery life?

[LoudMusic]

Well, since you'll be able to take your pr0n-link anywhere, I imagine you'll be surfing that much more, and draining the battery to a greater extent. It's not so much the antenna, but the availability of the connection.

Re:How does it affect battery life?

[zman99]

My question is this.....the problem with the TiBooks is the airport reception, so how does an 802.11 card that transmits more power help this problem?

The metal enclosure of the TiBook impedes signals from going in and out so I doubt that fixing only one side of the problem will really have that much effect.

You need a better card and a better base station.

-Z

This is what I do

[Anonymous Coward]

If I'm having problems with range on the internal Airport card, I put in my PCMCIA card (in linux) and use that.

Don't usually need it at work or at school, but if I'm really having problems with signal strength, the PCMCIA card works much better. Also get much better reception for war driving. I love kismet

.:diatonic:.

I switched.

[grub]

I was a Mac user for many years..
[insert pic of attractive woman]
..but the terrible range of the TiBook 802.11b they had was just too much.
I bought a Windows XP based laptop and now my range is all I've ever dreamed of, I'm not locked into one company's hardware and my breath is minty fresh.

- Val

Re:I switched.

[Drakonian]

Deja vu... My spidey sense sees a formula for instant karma.

As a Mac loyalist...

[SPYvSPY]

...this story is an utter insult.

Why don't you write up something interesting (and useful to me), like how to get Wi-Fi running on my Newton.

Re:As a Mac loyalist...

[edbarrett]

I don't use this myself, but if you manage to wade through the endless piles of crap that is the newtontalk mailing list you'll find people at least being able to connect to their desktops.

The Real Fix for TiBook WiFI

[pafischer]

A friend of mine found this fix on the macnet2.com message boards. I have tried it on 5 TiBooks so far and it works great. The fix involves popping out our battery and squeezing the side of the case where the serial number label is. I don't understand why it works because the antenna cable runs in the ofther direction. But it does work. I have about 4x the WiFi reception/transmission range since I fixed my TiBook.

Re:The Real Fix for TiBook WiFI

[grue23]

WOW. I used to get flaky/intermittent reception in my living room (30-40 feet away from the Netgear WAP station upstairs), and squeezing the plastic strip in the battery compartment for 10 seconds or so is giving me PERFECT reception in there. Thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Still doesn't recv any better

[Jason Straight]

200mW cards only output more power they have the same input sensetivity so I doubt it's going to actually yeild much better range. Since the cards antenna is still inside the box so to speak.

Re:Still doesn't recv any better

[Anonymous Coward]

Al Gore is keeping the card in his lock box.

Re:Still doesn't recv any better

[Anonymous Coward]

It actually recieves a lot better on my PCMCIA when the antenna is outside the titanium casing rather than inside. The antenna portion of the pcmcia card sticks outside the slot.

Re:Still doesn't recv any better

[hoagieslapper]

The 200mW output can help your speeds out quite a bit. Without good trasmit, TCP/IP will have problems sending its ACK and NACK packets to the access point.

Re:Crappy airport

[Anonymous Coward]

It is still only 10 base while all the desktop units are gigabit.

Huh? are you on drugs? 802.11 is at MAX 11Mbit and usually hangs around 4-5 Mbit. Nobody has Gigabit, it isnt even available to purchase.

please, PLEASE... pull your head out of your butt.. the world is better out here.

Apple will lose profits not stability

[asv108]

Here's a little experiment, go to any Mac forum and read up on hardware/software bugs, you'll find that 70% of them have been due to poorly designed third party software. Jobs may be greedy, but he also wants you have to the best, most reliable software out there.

See this is the problem with Mac fanboys is they take PR as fact. Steve Jobs doesn't care about software reliability, he cares about make profits. I'm not trying to put him down, because making profits is exactly what he should be doing. Mac's could use "commodity hardware" stably, but that would cannibalize their own hardware business. Why spend money supporting drivers from other hardware companies? So instead they give preference to their own hardware, which they should because Apple is a hardware company. Its not about stability, its about profits, which is not bad thing, but I'm sick of Apple fanboys thinking that their is some mission behind the company besides profits.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[gaudior]

I am so tired of hearing how Apple doesn't use commodity hardware, etc. What part of FireWire, IDE, SDRAM, USB, AGP, PCI is proprietary to Apple?

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[namespan]

The problem with Mac fanboys is they take PR as fact. Steve Jobs doesn't care about software reliability, he cares about make profits.

I have no doubt that he cares about both. Part of what powers the Steve Jobs reality distortion field is the he exudes a belief in what he's doing... the attention to detail, the aesthetics of the computing experience. It isn't an afterthought. Steve isn't always right, but it's really easy to believe he's trying to do The Right Thing (TM).

Illustrative quote: "the problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste" ie, they don't really care about the user experience (and note when I say here that user experience is not just about pretty UI, it's about easy of system administration, and power to do what you'd like to do) except as an afterthought. Whereas Apple has often been concerned with -- even passionate about creating a product they thought was done right.

Maybe I'm hypnotized by a mind ray. But I think that what it comes down to is that while Apple has to and is therefore concerned about profits and smart business, Apple is also headed by and made up mostly of craftsmen, while most other computing companies are headed by and made up of businessmen. Is there any way to prove this? I don't know. But their presentation has a more honest smell. And I find their products to be of a higher quality than the alternatives.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[Anonymous Coward]

So Mac supports some common protocols, but they don't support all the commodity devices I can connect to AGP and PCI.

I read this article expecting some kind of cool hardware hack. It turns out that the "hack" was installing a commodity wireless pc-card in a Mac. Lame. People have been using these cards for years in under Windows and Linux.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 1) achieve high stability through controversial whole-widget solution
Step 2) make users happy to pay out the ass for the whole widget
Step 3) Profit.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[shepd]

>What part of FireWire, IDE, SDRAM, USB, AGP, PCI is proprietary to Apple?

I don't know.

Maybe the parts that put people off years ago, like:

5v serial ports, 5v DIMMs, NuBus, localtalk, motoroized eject disk drives, making people call FireWire 1001 different names, and other fun little stupidities?

Or maybe today's problems, like not using an ATX case, their software, or 100% of apple mainboards?

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[FrankSt]

People have been using them in Macs for years, too.

My 1999-model Powerbook predated internal 802.11 support, so I bought a Lucent WaveLAN card. No worries. I also used it in my circa-1997 PowerBook 2400c, again without a problem.

I think the point of the Wired article is that some set of TiBook users have moved beyond using the internal AirPort (tm) cards that are Apple-labeled, and are getting something like 4x the range using high-power 200-milliwatt external cards. Perhaps this will embarrass Apple into fixing the problems their flagship portable has with a technology they popularized...

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[rworne]

5v serial ports, 5v DIMMs, NuBus, localtalk, motoroized eject disk drives, making people call FireWire 1001 different names, and other fun little stupidities?

Or VESA Local Bus, EISA, Microchannel, 486sx, SIPPs, Hercules, CGA, EGA, 8514a. And as a more modern example: iLink (as a stupid firewire name). Different architectures have different hardware needs and implementations. Just 'cause none (exception:FireWire) of your examples ever showed up on a PC, doesn't mean that the PC world isn't guilty of the same crimes.

Pot... Kettle... Black

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[geekee]

All of it, since if you want a Mac, you can only buy it from Apple. It doesn't matter that they've switched to pc-like hardware. It's still a proprietary system.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[Anonymous Coward]

They're not propietary just because you've never used them. NuBus was an open standard developed by MIT. Apple ended up being the only one that used it.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[MobileC]

FireWire is.
1394 isn't.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[shepd]

>Or VESA Local Bus, EISA, Microchannel, 486sx, SIPPs, Hercules, CGA, EGA, 8514a.

All of these are backwards compatible, though.

VLB and EISA support ISA cards. MCA was proprietary and died before it got off the floor like it should have. 486sx? That supported all 386 and 486 software. SIPPs, I'm told, worked fine as SIMMs if you removed the legs (not to mention I've only EVER had one mobo that used them -- they died like they should have too!). All those video standards you talk about are FULLY supported by all modern VGA controllers. Not to mention many of those controllers themselves were backwards compatible. And that they were all fully documented -- so much so they were copied successfully by numerous companies.

>Different architectures have different hardware needs and implementations.

Yes. But PCs are fully documented, and when there's already a set standard for something, they don't break compatability for that standard. The standard DIMM was 3.3v, but Apple chose to ignore the standard, costing users money and time. This goes for many of those items. Motorized eject disk drives are something I've only ever seen on a Mac. Same with localtalk and NuBus.

At least (I'm told) ISA was intended to be easy for an S100 bus designer to adapt to...

Maybe the difference is that when a proprietary standard is introduced into the PC world, it dies almost instantly, no matter how much howling and bawling IBM does. Whereas in the Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field, proprietary standards are forced down users throats until Steve Jobs' decides they suck. Not to mention the documentation thing again, as well.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[shepd]

>NuBus was an open standard developed by MIT.

Thanks for the info. I'll no longer refer to NuBus as proprietary, then.

However, many of the other parts are proprietary, and others (including NuBus) specialty parts that only Macs can use, driving up Mac prices. (remember, I'm still talking about the past. New Macs are somewhat less specialty items, and use far fewer proprietary components.)

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[rworne]

Ah, yes. But just because a standard is on the PC, does not make it a standard for the Mac world. What is standard in the Mac world also is not necessarily a standard for PCs. Memory costs are pretty much a function of supply and demand, the lower supply of 5v RAM means higher costs. Macs even then were a fraction of the PC marketshare.

Apple introduced that ejecting floppy drive (3 1/2") back when PCs were still using 5 1/4" 360K floppy disks. Now that PC's have non-ejecting 3 1/2" drives, the Apple move looked strange. But back then it was innovative, and probably because of that you have these drives in PC's today. Apples response now is to get rid of floppies altogether. The PC world is still apparently scratching their collective heads trying to come up with a decent, universal floppy replacement: CDR, Zip, USB dongle or other flash media, LS120, CDs, etc.

VLB was proprietary, I never saw it on anything but PC's. EISA is apparently on life support, the 486sx and 386sx were crude hacks, lets not forget those other great chips by Cyrix and other failed Intel CPU clone manufacturers. Warts like these are commonplace, and proprietary hardware standards do fail, I only wish proprietary software protocols would fail as well.

Now if you want to complain about Apple OEM CDROM and hard drives that would work on a Mac, but the cheaper OEM drives without the Apple name would not without 3rd party software/hacks, then you have a good point. However, PC companies *cough* Compaq *cough* did odd things like this with their hardware as well.

I think most PC manufacturers (and Apple) are a bit older and wiser now.

Apple doesn't do any of this OEM crap now. Their system is more "open" than it ever has been before. Yes, the case isn't an ATX case, but who cares? It has SDRAM/DDRAM, AGP/PCI, USB, FireWire, 10/100/1G Ethernet. On the software side they have TCP/IP, and any other "UNIX" protocol. It plays Quicktime, Windows Media, Realvideo, MP3, MPEG1, Divx and others. Yes, they have that funky video connector, but that can be fixed with a cheap cable if you don't like Apple's monitor offerings. There are other computer platforms that have proprietary buses, interfaces, memory and protocols but you don't neccessarily see their users bitching every day about it.

Note that I am a recent addition to the Mac community, and not particularly a fan of Apple after the Apple II and before OS X. In fact, I was a critic - I can't stand the "classic" MacOS and wasn't fond of their early PowerPC hardware. I see your point, I just don't believe Apple isn't any more or less guilty than the PC world. Mac users and PC users each live in their own "fishbowls"- anything outside their comfortable little worlds are both strange and frightening to them.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[shepd]

>Apple introduced that ejecting floppy drive (3 1/2") back when PCs were still using 5 1/4" 360K floppy disks. Now that PC's have non-ejecting 3 1/2" drives, the Apple move looked strange.

Okay. I think I can take this one on.

LinkTo an Amiga 1000. Notice the 3.5" floppy with eject button in 1985. :-)

>Apple doesn't do any of this OEM crap now.

Agreed, with the occasional exception. But the damage is done.

>Yes, the case isn't an ATX case, but who cares

Anyone who wants to put 24 hard drives in their Mac? Not likely, but you can in the ATX world...

>On the software side they have TCP/IP, and any other "UNIX" protocol.

Yeah, but what's interesting is there was once a time when MacOS didn't come with a PPP stack. And this was well after PCs had free PPP stacks, IIRC.

>There are other computer platforms that have proprietary buses, interfaces, memory and protocols but you don't neccessarily see their users bitching every day about it.

Tis true, but then again, they aren't marketed to end users (or at least they aren't any more). I've never seen a home user with an AS/400 or a system/36. ;)

>the 486sx and 386sx were crude hacks ...Cyrix and other failed Intel CPU clone manufacturers...

Yeah, but they were a choice, not to mention the complete commandset for those processors was always available... Not proprietary or special (except for having forced brain damage).

All I'm trying to say is that Apple's history has hurt them beyond repair. Perhaps a renaming, and complete repackaging would get them back on their feet. I truly think if they were to release OS X for the x86, and _not_ be a bunch of whiners about hardware compatability (I am NOT going to use an OS that requires a special BIOS), they could whip Microsoft.

Apple needs to quit focusing on hardware -- it's so... 80's. Software is where it's at (and has been well before OS X). Just look at the move to software controlled hardware, like DSPs and microcontrollers. Hardware just isn't the profit margin, or the popularity margin it once was.

I might consider getting a Mac for learning purposes, but all I can afford to spend on a learning toy is the super proprietary Macs. Blech. Not to mention I don't like hardware I can't rip apart and put together again in less than a few seconds (I can just imagine having to repair the iLamp iMac -- Help, I'm in hell!).

>The PC world is still apparently scratching their collective heads trying to come up with a decent, universal floppy replacement: CDR, Zip, USB dongle or other flash media, LS120, CDs, etc.

The problem here is that in the PC world, it often seems the pace of hardware development outstripts software development. CDs couldn't boot for far too long, Zip Drives had crappy PC support, USB dongles aren't bad, but USB is just slowly becoming ubiquitous (and the damn things cost too much), LS120 never had good BIOS support (which it needed), etc. etc.

Apple's controlling of the hardware has always ensured the pace of their hardware matched the pace of their software. Which is nice for simplicity (sometimes) but isn't nice on the pocketbook, or ease/speed of repairs.

My bottom line to Jobs is: Put OS X on a normal PC and I might lay down $150 CDN for the first time ever on an OS. 'Till then, no dice. I just can't afford special hardware, and neither can my clients.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[Anonymous Coward]

It's weird, because apple seems to be in the black, and not many other people are.

When apple is in the red again I'll concede they might be making bad decisions, but from where I sit its looking like the score is currently Apple 1 PC 0.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[shepd]

>It's weird, because apple seems to be in the black, and not many other people are.

When you're as small as Apple*, it isn't all that hard to stay in business. Most especially when you control what you own with an iron fist grip.

From where I stand, Acer, A-Open, IBM, Dell, Compaq, PC-Chips and Gateway seem to be doing pretty good. PC 7 -- Apple 1

And Apple can't ever score more than 1.

* By stock value comparison. I didn't look them all up, but here's the top 3: 77.50, 60, 64.9.
And here's Apple's: 14.56.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[Dahan]

Link To an Amiga 1000. Notice the 3.5" floppy with eject button in 1985. :-)

I'm not sure I understand your point... if you mean that the Amiga had floppies with an eject button before Apple had motorized eject floppies, 1985 isn't early enough. The Mac came out in 1984. The Lisa came out in 1983. Both used motorized eject 3.5" drives.

Re:Apple will lose profits not stability

[shepd]

>if you mean that the Amiga had floppies with an eject button before Apple had motorized eject floppies

Yes and no. I had always thought the Mac came out in late 1984, somewhat after their superbowl commercial, and was a rush job at that... but I can't be sure. All I remember about the Mac is what I've read. I just just a tad too young to care at the time.

But, either way, I think what I'm leading up to is that if the 3.5" drive were first used by Macs (which they may have been) Apple again was unable to drive the market (pardon the crappy pun), or the Amiga would have a motorized drive.

Anyways, this is majorly offtopic. :)

Re:Slashdot, News for Nerds. Stuff that matters

[nuggz]

Because OSDN bought them.

Wired and Macs

[CoffeeJedi]

Why is it that almost every other day Wired has an article about Mac-users doing something wacky. I thought maybe it was because alot of Mac users out there were doing really interesting things like the guy who totes all the old Macs around to raves and sets up old school game LANs. But now I wonder... does Wired report every time a Mac user picks his nose? Some of their past stories were a little questionable, but this one is downright stupid. And I love the title "Mac Toters Push Wireless Bounds", wow, look at me, according to Wired I must be pushing the boundaries of my coffee, I'm ADDING SUGAR.
I love my Mac, and I enjoy reading about other Mac users and their quirks, but come on Wired, keep a sense of reality here. Wired is about CULTURE, not technology. The past articles were always about the personalities using Macs to do unique things, but this one reads like a survey review of WiFi cards out of MacAddict.

Re:Wired and Macs

[DLWormwood]

I don't know how closely the website and magazine are tied together anymore, but you should read the colophon of the mag sometime.

Reality Distortion Field? You're soaking in it!

Re:Wired and Macs

[Lovejoy]

There's peanut butter in my CHOCOLATE!
There's chocolate in my PEANUT BUTTER!
I know, let's SUBMIT IT to SLASHDOT.

I have to agree. I am a Mac fanatic and I'm underwhelmed.

Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to apple.

[zerofoo]

I'm the network admin for a school, and Apple tech support REFUSES to talk to you if you've got anything "non-stock" in the machine! What kind of crap is that? I installed a RAID 1 card in my boss's machine, (since he's already had one hard drive failure) and 6 months later his mainboard goes bad....apple wouldn't talk to me until I removed the RAID card and put back the factory hard drive.

Needless to say, that didn't fix the mainboard problem. Then to add insult to injury, Apple wouldn't send me a replacement board (like Dell and Gateway do). I had to take the thing to a local service shop! Apple services it's machines like they are microwaves, or VCRs.....ARRRGH!

Can you imagine Dell or Gateway refusing to troubleshoot problems with you because you've installed a new internal peripheral (i.e network adapter, video card, sound card...etc)?

No wonder corporate america stays away from these things....the support is awful.

-ted

Re:Crappy airport

[pauljlucas]

It is still only 10 base while all the desktop units are gigabit.

First, 802.11b is 11 Mbit, not 10. Second, an Airport card in a desktop G4 is still 11 Mbit.

Who still uses 10bit? No artissts I know. They all hook up with 100 base cable.

OK, so you're really not talking about Gbit, you're talking about 100 Mbit. And wired ethernet, not wireless.

Apple is supposed to be an innovator not the lazy company that lets its technolgy rot as every other manufactuer comes out with their own system that has much greater speed capibility.

Apple isn't in the wireless chipset business. They don't make, research, or innovate their own wireless cards any more than they make, research, or innovate hard disks, flat panel displays, modems, or most of the other commodity hardware they use. They buy/license the hardware and technology from other vendors. By the way, Lucent makes the Airport cards for Apple.

Apple needs to be compatible with other wireless networks where PCs can connect. They can't simply have their own proprietary wireless standard just because it's faster. Apple isn't Microsoft: they can't pull the same kind of crap that MS does with their own proprietary standards.

Apple needs to put out a wireless Gigabit aiport and cards for the extreame [sic] price they are charging.

Wireless gigabit doesn't exist. There is, however, 802.11a and 802.11g that offer more bandwidth. Unforunately, the market hasn't decided which of these two incompatible standards to settle on. 802.11g is slower, but backwards compatible with 802.11b. My bet is that Apple will eventually go with that one. But the market penetration of non-802.11b wireless is currently insignificant.

Extreme price? The Airport card is $99 which is about $40-$50 cheaper than 3rd party 802.11b cards.

You really have no idea what you're talking about.

The external antenna

[thefinite]

I like *not* having an external antenna on my TiPB. My laptop constantly goes in and out of my school bag. I prefer not having to pay extra attention to a little peice of plastic sticking out in these and other such situations.

Besides, there are ways to improve the range of the built-in card (I get great range). This discussion thread gives some interesting info.

Re:The external antenna

[pauljlucas]

I like *not* having an external antenna on my TiPB. My laptop constantly goes in and out of my school bag. I prefer not having to pay extra attention to a little peice of plastic sticking out in these and other such situations.

I agree completely. I had a G3 PowerBook (Lombard, not Pismo, so no internal AirPort slot -- running Linux no less!) with a Lucent card before my TiBook. I love my Lombard: it makes a great Linux laptop. But the Lucent card was a pain to pull in and out and start/stop the drivers.

Having integrated wireless is so nice: you just open the lid and it's on; close the lid and it's off. Nothing to insert or remove; nothing to type, nothing to click.

Also, for the record, the later model TiBooks improved the wireless reception (I have a spanking new 800 MHz model). I get reception virtually as good as my Lombard got (at least for all the places I do wireless). Only once was it slightly worse. But in my house, cafe, and at work, the base station isn't far so it's not an issue.

Re:The external antenna

[Brento]

I like *not* having an external antenna on my TiPB. My laptop constantly goes in and out of my school bag. I prefer not having to pay extra attention to a little peice of plastic sticking out in these and other such situations.

The point is that the range on the TiPB is bad because the internal antenna is enclosed inside a metal Faraday cage (the titanium laptop shell). The integrated wireless nics in Thinkpads, Latitudes, Evos, etc., get much better range because the notebook shell is a metal composite or a plastic. They're not knocking integrated antennas, just integrated antennas that are wrapped in metal, which don't function as well.

Re:The external antenna

[overunderunderdone]

The point is that the range on the TiPB is bad because the internal antenna is enclosed inside a metal Faraday cage

This may still be true, but I just did the "remove-battery - press-on-serial-number" trick mentioned elswhere in this discussion and to my astonishment IT WORKED. I am getting a good connection with my TiBook in a room where previously I got ZERO signal. I'm so pleased right now I'm going to have to leave this discussion altogether. Otherwise I'll be seriously tempted to reply to every single post singing the Hossannas of this little trick.

Re:The external antenna

[wandernotlost]

I like *not* having an external antenna on my TiPB.

I agree completely. It's sooo nice not to have to worry about that silly piece of plastic sticking out. And my range is fine on the 2nd rev. model.

For those who need extra range, the TiBook airport card does have a connector for an external antenna. You can see it by looking through the card slot grate. There's a round black plastic cover over it. Same connector as in other Lucent WaveLAN cards. There's not really a great place to put the wire, though you could easily run it through the fan grate.

Or you just ...

[Tjp($)pjT]

Plug in a Lucent / Orinco / Wavelan / this months brand name ... PCMCIA card and the Apple drivers work with it. And they all have little rubber plugs over the external antenna jacks ... No instability, no problems ... And, the cards are cheaper than the suggested cards if you look around for them. Alas Apple won't give you firmware updates for them (or the ones in the "hack") so you'll need virtual PC (or a real one) in some cases to update to the latest and greatest firmware. Sheessh ... Hack it not was. ohhhh.

Re:Or you just ...

[demon]

No, because Agere Microelectronics (the hardware division of Lucent) opted to NOT produce OS X drivers for the WaveLAN-IEEE/Orinoco. The drivers for the AirPort card will NOT work with it, because the AirPort card interfaces to the system via a completely nonstandard interface (yes, it looks like a PC Card - no, it's not one) and so a PC Card won't work with it. There are open-source drivers that work with them - don't know if they got 128-bit WEP support into the drivers (not that that makes WEP suck less, but...), but of course, they require new tweaks with each new OS X release.

Re:Or you just ...

[Tjp($)pjT]

mea culpa ... I have the sourceforge originated driver installed for OS X. The Apple supplied drivers dies at OS 9. The project is Wireless Driver.

Will it work with the Airport?

[andawyr]

I don't know very much about wireless architectures, and what is compatible with what, but will the EnGenius cards work with the Airport?

I have a TiBook and an Airport, and have found the combination almost useless. As soon as there is a *partial* wall between the laptop and the Airport, the signal fades, and then starts to drop, until it finally won't connect anymore (forget about trying to span floors!). I have to physically reset the Airport to make it work once the signal is 'gone'.

I'm not sure if the Airport is defective or what -it works fine when I have visual contact within 30 feet, but further than that, or introduce any obstructions, and all bets are off.

I've read about an invasive hack for the Airport where you add a 'signal booster', but I'm thinking that sliding in a 3rd party network card is much simpler, assuming that the drivers are stable.

Wi-Fi on the Newt

[Jim McCoy]

Ask and ye shall receive:

Newton wavelan/wi-fi drivers

That's the way it works...

[qurob]

HP won't help you because you're out of warranty, IBM won't help you because they didn't make the printer OR your modem, USR says everything is fine, AOL won't help you unless you reinstall Windows from scratch and THEN install AOL 8.0...

It's called PASSING THE BUCK

boosts reception for incoming network packets

[pete-classic]

The EnGenius pumps out 200 milliwatts of radio signal, compared with the 30- to 100-milliwatt range of most 802.11b cards, and similarly boosts reception for incoming network packets.[emphasis mine]

Huh? Can anyone explain this? Seems flat out wrong to me, but what do I know?

-Peter

Re:boosts reception for incoming network packets

[Anonymous Coward]

>Can anyone explain this? Seems flat out wrong to me, but what do I know?

An improved input stage with better foreign signal rejection would appear to boost the incoming signal, by the card's electronics point of view, although not by the users point of view.

Re:boosts reception for incoming network packets

[Anonymous Coward]

The card is more sensitive to the reception of signals. Think of it this way, if you clean your ears out with a cue tip, you'll hear better.

Re:What's with all the Apple stories?

[stratjakt]

Check out this hack!

I put a PC card in my Windows laptop!

(That's just to highlight the true idiocy of this story)

Though, most missed the one point here: You can get equal or better results without pissing away 4x the cash on the "Jobs Approved" model.

Try This

[thefinite]

Link

I posted this link in another comment above, but thought you'd be sure to see it. It basically describes a hardware problem in the TiPB that makes the internal antenna not stay in proper contact. This simple proceedure supposedly greatly improves things. Hope it works.

Re:Try This

[andawyr]

Yeah, I found the link after I posted my note - go figure.

I read the article - trust me, I'll be trying the 'press the strip' trick when I get home tonite.

Thanks!

Re:Try This

[aukestrel]

It can also depend on the construction of your house. I live in a ca. 1890's brick house with plaster and lath construction and it's my understanding that the chicken wire used in plaster-and-lath construction can affect the signal adversely. Newer houses use/d drywall construction that doesn't have any wire in it, so if it's an old house, that could be part of the problem.

Re:Try This

[andawyr]

Naw, no dice.

House is 3 years old. Not a shred of chicken wire in the walls. Our base station for the phone sits between the living room and the Airport, but it's an older phone (900Mzh).

I really do think it's the TiBook, after reading the thread on MacWorld....tonite will tell.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[Archfeld]

Dell does refuse to trouble shoot anything but an authorized configuration, meaning what they shipped, or someother setup that they support explicitly. It is a corporate standard, no touchie the insides....of course us server monkies never RTFM or follow the rules :)Although I've had real good luck with Dell support, their phone people are sharp and quite helpful.

Re:OS X - switchers

[barfarf]

I suppose that I don't have as much an issue with the wi-fi "hacking", per se, as much as I have an issue with it being "news"...

Both Ellen and Apple must be doing _something_ right - Ellen apparently has a bit of a following:

http://www.ellenfeiss.net/
http://ellenfeiss.gl oriousnoise.com/
http://www.wemakedotcoms.com/ell en/

Besides, I can't tell you the number of times I've had to "hack" something on linux to make it work with something that wasn't designed to work with it anyhow - wireless cards included.

Use the lucent cards?

[sahmed]

Just get a lucent Orinoco card. Stick it in an apple and it shows up as an Airport Card. The airport is simply the lucent cards without the antenna.

The lucent cards also come with a jack for an external antenna.

How is sticking a pcmcia card a hack, or even newsworthy?

Range in TiPB

[pavera]

my business partner has an airport card in his Ti, we have a wireless net at our office,
he gets much better range than I do with my laptop and a prism chipset wnic. He can wander all around outside our building, and he never drops his connection, I on the other hand am lucky if I get reception on both floors inside the building (the ap is on the top floor, and generally on the bottom floor I don't connect, he does. So I haven't seen these problems with airport cards not getting good reception.

Re:OS X - switchers

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for the pointers to the fan sites. I found this gem at one of them:

she'd just taken some benadryll and so she was kind of out of it, and she tells this made-up story about a PC "eating" her paper (or something like that) and her getting a mac and not having any problems with it, yadayada.

Right on about the drug thing, evidently (albeit over the counter).

AC

I've got one, but...

[RAZOR]

... where do u find small antennas for this thing? It doesn't make sense to walk around with laptop and antenna that is more cumbersome than ethernet!!!

I've been looking all over ebay and google for them, and still can't find anything...

Any ideas???

Re:I've got one, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Maxrad has a nifty 5 dBi Magmount Omni. It's less than 5" high.

Not sure how much range one needs, but...

[SamTheButcher]

I have one of the TiBooks in question (well, an 800...) and my WAP is connected to my cable modem in the basement. I have no problem connecting on the main floor or the top floor of our house. I didn't have any trouble testing (to my surprise) the free wireless service at DIA one day while catching a plane. (E-mail didn't work, but browsing and AIM did) The notebook didn't have any problem getting signal from the WLAN at my local car dealership (but I couldn't get an IP address, which was fine, I was just playing around to see if they had a WLAN, anyway).

So I'm not sure why these "hacks" would be needed, but I'm apparently not as much of a power user as articles like this would suggest are out there.

Re:Not sure how much range one needs, but...

[Vhalkyrie]

I have a TiBook 800 as well. The range smokes my old Armada with a PCMCIA Wi-Fi. I get complete coverage in my house, upstairs and downstairs, and out on my backyard patio. My Armada barely picks up the signal on the patio. With the TiBook, I can walk almost into my neighbor's yard before I drop signal. I just wanted coverage in my house and the backyard...which I got, most comfortably.

Re:Not sure how much range one needs, but...

[DinkyDoorknob]

guess they fixed something with the 800. i have a previous gen 667, and it sometimes doesn't get reception in the same frickin room (small room, at that) as my airport. in fact, i'm on my way to the hardware store to get a torx wrench and open the box up -- i'm wondering if the card is somehow installed incorrrectly.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[scarpa]

That's how everyone does it.

It's not that they are calling the new hardware a 'hack' or even saying it caused the problem, it's just that they need to have everything removed in order to verify it is Apple hardware that is causing the problem.

Why in the hell are you complaining about tech support anyway? It sucks across the board.

is this possible with the white iBook?

[dTaylorSingletary]

I've wanted to get a wireless card for my white iBook for awhile, but find the $99 Airport cards a bit steep. Is it possible to install any other manufacturer's cards internally within the iBook, as described in this TiBook-related article? I'm not yet familar with the innards of my iBook, so am unsure if it is a standard slot, or Apple-hardware only.

d. Taylor Singletary
music

Re:is this possible with the white iBook?

[peel]

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: It's more of a software driver issue than anything else. If you're concerned with the price then check out the orinoco silver card here which supposedly works fine with os 9 and you can get a driver for it for use with os x here. That site has a lot of other info for you. You could also look on ebay for a used airport card as your case works fine with airport. I am also not even using an apple access point but a Linksys 4 port router with access point. Hope this helps. -peel

--
Of course you don't know! You don't know because only I know. If you knew and I didn't know, then you'd be teaching me instead of me teaching you--and for a student to be teaching his teacher is presumptuous and rude. Do I make myself clear? -Mr. Turkentine

Re:is this possible with the white iBook?

[sfgoth]

Is it possible to install any other manufacturer's cards internally within the iBook?

No. Don't try, or you will fry something.

The Apple AirPort card is a Lucent PCMCIA card, but with a different voltage feed, and pins swapped around.

It's not impossible to get a Lucent card to work in the AirPort slot, but it requires hacking up the inside of the card. It's not worth it. It's not possible at all to get other cards to work in the slot.

Just buy the Apple card. Think of the $50 extra it will cost you as the cost of having great antennas built into the screen. I'm typing this on a white iBook over AirPort, and I get amazing range.

-pmb

Re:is this possible with the white iBook?

[dTaylorSingletary]

Thank you both for the prompt answers. I figured as much. Woe to those who trim prices on big purchases with regret.

This fix just worked for me!!!!!!

[DJ FirBee]

I just powered down and did this fix. First time I have ever got 4 bars in my living room.

Thanks pafischer!! and Thank You Slashdot.

This rocks.

Re:This fix just worked for me!!!!!!

[word munger]

Me too--Awesome--tho only 3 bars in my LR. Better than 1 or 0 I got before. And WAY cheaper than a new card with a bulky antenna.

you're..... what??!

[commodoresloat]

Is there a HOWTO somewhere on this sugar in the coffee thing? Will it work with my system? I tried it once but I got stuck because my espresso machine only has one mouse button.

Umm. FCC limits you to 100mw for 802.11b

[Vakara]

Unless you are doing point-to-point or frequency hopping. The spec sheet for the card ( from www.engeniustech.com ) says it's using DSSS, so it's not frequency hopping. How are they able to claim FCC compliance with this thing?

very good, now it's nap time

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing this post was by a 10-year-old or less.

It would be fascinating to find out how someone who is barely literate can navigate all the way to slashdot
and actually post something that is almost on topic.

must be a fuckin' prodigy

Automatic power control

[Andy Dodd]

A lot of radio devices nowadays (Some WLAN cards included) support automatic power control - Power is automatically reduced to the minimum needed for communication.

The RF portion is probably in the 20-40% range. Either way, it's a difference of maybe 2 watts consumption vs. 1 watt consumption at the worst, which is a tiny fraction of the power consumed by most laptops these days...

Re:HAHAHHA!

[johnnyp123]

Done. not even a hack, nitwit.
i'm not sure if you were joking, but, yeah, usb, multiple buttons, and a scroll wheel all work in OS X.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[rworne]

Apple has what are called "user seriviceable parts".

These parts include: optical drives, RAM, hard drives, keyboards, mice and monitors.

Other parts such as motherboards are considered far beyond the realm of user serviceability, and require taking the machine in to a tech. While there are those of us who are capable of performing such a task, I am sure that there are many more users that cannot. If I were a manufacturer who was supplying warranties on these products, I would not want users with unknown capabilities messing with delicate ESD-sensitive components on which that I would be liable for future repairs.

Apple has been more than willing to help me with crapped-out parts, but these parts were items such as a dead Superdrive and iBook power adapter. Such parts that are allowed to be replaced can be done so easily, and save Apple a lot of cash and effort and by sending the replacements via overnight, save me a crapload of time.

Re:Crappy airport

[ptomblin]

The Airport card is $99 which is about $40-$50 cheaper than 3rd party 802.11b cards.

I don't know where you're shopping for 3rd party 802.11b cards, but all the ones I've seen are either similar price to the Airport card (but support 128bit WEP) or much, much cheaper (and only do 40bit WEP like the Airport).

Bzzt... Wrong...

[Andy Dodd]

If the company spent the time and money to modify the Prism2/2.5/3 reference designs for 200 mW transmit, there's a good chance they improved receive sensitivity too.

Not sure about the Engenius card listed in this article, but it is a close relative of the Demarctech ReliaWave 200 mW card, which has a receive sensitivity spec that's significantly better (-96 dBm) than even Orinoco cards, which are one of the best ones receive-wise. FAR better than average Prism2 cards, which suck.

And you're also wrong about the antenna position - Look at the pictures in the article, the antenna is on the end of the card, it is NOT inside the box.

Lastly, the article mentions availability of an external antenna option for these cards - Not an option for the internal AirPort card.

These three things added up equals a solution that will blow away the internal AirPort configuration away.

Oops, forgot linkage...

[Andy Dodd]

Info on the Demarctech card:

http://www.demarctech.com/products/reliawave-rwz /r eliawave-rwz-200mw-prism2-5-pcmcia-card.html

They get pretty good reviews on the NetStumbler forums.

Re:is this possible with the white iBook? -Sorry

[peel]

In trying to be helpful I was also stupid. I didn't read the original post clearly and missed the word internally. The other poster is correct. You can only use it in a pc slot. Which of course the iBook is lacking. Plain and simple. I am an idiot. -peel

Better frontend

[Andy Dodd]

Not all receive preamps are created equal.

Some are noisier than others. For example, you can make a cheapo preamp using a MiniCircuits MMIC for $10, it has a NF of 3-5 dB

Some of MCL's units are better, in the 2.5 dB range - A full preamp unit might cost $20 to make

You can get a 2.4 GHz preamp with a 0.5 dB nF for $100 or so.

And there are parts worse than the MCL units - Even a 5 dB NF MCL unit put in front of an Orinoco will yield significant improvements.

So in short, the people who made this card upgraded the receiver performance to match the transmitter. (This is why there is a point to those 500 mW external amps - All of them include pretty nice recieve preamps too.)

Re:Now if I could only...

[Anonymous Coward]

Then get a haircut and get a real job.

NetStumbler.com

[Andy Dodd]

The forums there have some excellent antenna discussions.

I know www.fab-corp.com has some "blade" antennas that will stick on the back of a laptop, but I'm sure these suffer from some pretty nasty pattern distortion due to the display occluding half the antenna pattern. Still, they're not too cumbersome and should be an improvement.

There are a few small "desktop" antennas available at www.fab-corp.com and www.hdcom.com (I think that second URL is correct...)

Also, even a homebrew quarter-wave "toothpick" antenna (see the NS forums) is a pretty good improvement over the internal antenna of an Orinoco or similar card. Probably wouldn't be too hard to devise a way to clip it or stick it to the back of the upper edge of a laptop's display casing.

Re:Crappy airport

[pauljlucas]

... all the ones I've seen are either similar price to the Airport card

The point is that they're not extremely overpriced as the original poster claimed.

(but support 128bit WEP) ...

Go read Apple's specs: AirPort supports 128bit WEP.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[Lucky_Sal_]

I've had Apple overnight a HD on one occasion and on another occasion, a keyboard (coffee spill disaster). They didn't even ask for the damaged items back. All under warranty, free of charge. Apple support is O.K. in my book.

Slashdot subverted

[goon america]

Now that the whole Slashdot crew has TiBooks, be prepared to see a lot more trivial stories like this about them.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the KGB has discovered that if you hold your Powerbook sideways, you get this cool portrait view with the picture on its side. Also, check out a way to flip the fn and ctrl keys. Neat!

P.S. I have one, too.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually Gateway refused to help me troubleshoot my computer after I added a cd-burner, a DVD drive, more ram, a new hard drive, an ethernet card, a new video card, and a new sound card. BUt that was like 4 years ago, they probably are better now.

Cisco LEAP?

[dadragon]

My University uses Cisco LEAP to keep unauthorised people off their wireless network. PCs work with Cisco cards, and MacOS X 10.[12] work with internal Airport cards.

When it asks for your password, just use , and it works. Can you do this with a cheap card and drivers?

Re:Cisco LEAP?

[Anonymous Coward]

That should say username/password with angle brackets around it. I forgot that HTML uses angle brackets to denote HTML tags.

Re:Cisco LEAP?

[Lovejoy]

WirelessDriver, (not the best name in the world) the open source driver mentioned in the article, can do it.

I just did it, IT WORKS!

[overunderunderdone]

I just did this and it WORKS. In my basement office I get ZERO reception, maybe one bars flickers on for a second or two every few days (I use an ethernet cable when I'm down here). After doing this little trick I'm getting three bars and a workable connection (four bars if I adjust my position - I'll have to move my desk)

From the threads on Ars it looks like you could get even better reception if you could do the same thing to the antenna on the other side. It does seem (just playing around with it right now) that it favors the side with the battery. It seems I get better reception if I rotate the book so that the side with the battery (where I just adjusted the antenna) I get better reception than if the other side (with the DVD drive) is facing the base station.

Re:I just did it, IT WORKS!

[Large Green Mallard]

As a fellow powerbook G4 user, I feel your pain at needing to use an Ethernet cable. Here you have a laptop which in my case, is worth about two months salary.. and if you want to connect it to a network you have two choices. Choice 1 is to use Airport.. which depending on which direction you're facaing and what elevation you're at, will drive you insane.. or Choice 2, to use an Ethernet cable. The downside of using an Ethernet cable, is that they're almost impossible to remove. Great planning Apple. I really think the Ethernet ports in these should have been mounted upside down.. would have made things so much easier.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[clmensch]

My tibook's firewire port went dead, as have many others. When I took it to the Genius Bar at the NYC Soho Apple store, the "Genius" tried to tell me that software (specifically Fruit Menu) was causing my problem. Obviously, the problem was still there when she boot into OS9, so she conceded that it was the hardware. Genius indeed.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[Sharkyfour]

I used to work for a school system as a technician, and I had no trouble getting replacement parts, including motherboards, from Apple. Our school district signed up with AppleOrder and AppleService which allowed us to login to their website, pick which part we needed, select if it was under warranty or not (and enter serial # so they could confirm it), and Airborne Express would be there the next morning with the replacement part. It was really very quick and easy, and was much better than dealing with Gateway when we needed a fix under warranty. I'm not sure what cost, if any, there was to use it, but considering I had to order parts twice a week from them, it really was handy.

Re:An Important Question

[Anonymous Coward]

How about those OpenStep 4.2 cd images?

Enough of this! It isn't that bad!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can say as a first hand user of the TiBook that the 802.11 reception is nowhere near as bad as the rumors claim. The the signal is on par with my Orinoco Gold 802.11 PC cards in other laptops. Here is the deal: this rumor seems to be the result of the fact that some of the units shipped with a loose connection to the AirPort antenna -- not the result of the titanium case, time/space anomalies, sun spots, or fairies.

The problem is easily fixed, in most cases, by opening up the battery compartment by the "approximately 5 cm long plastic strip" and pressing "the side wall of the powerbook against the frame." See the posts on MacNet by webdiva at http://www.macnet2.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=1095 for the specifics.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

You need a better backpack

[Wee]

I like *not* having an external antenna on my TiPB. My laptop constantly goes in and out of my school bag. I prefer not having to pay extra attention to a little peice of plastic sticking out in these and other such situations.

You need a better backpack bag. I have a Thinkpad with a Lucent card that sticks out, and I have never had an issue once I found my Tumi backpack. That bag absolutely rocks. It's the best made. Tough as iron, pockets sized to fit CDs/media, a handle on the top, a "file cabinet" pocket for docs and loose papers, and really comfortable straps.

The actual compartment that holds the laptop has a foam liner (which is removeable if you want to carry normal stuff) that protects the sides and bottom. There's about five inches in between the laptop and the top of the bag, so the Lucent card sticks up in the air and is nicely protected.

If you need a more general purpose backpack which also carries a laptop, then check out Tumi's other models.

-B

Re:You need a better backpack

[TitaniumFox]

(Ob:NotPaidAdvert)

One can try looking at booq, also. They make a nice (albeit pricy) laptop/notebook backpack. It's the only one I could find that would fit my Sony GRX570 and its huge footprint. (the 16.1" screen is nice, though)

I hump one of these around on campus and have been pretty pleased with it. Our campus has started going wireless, so occasionally I'll pack my laptop and my 8dB omni and sit ...where ever the heck I want. The antenna sticks out of the pack, so I look like an RTO.

Lots of interesting/ed looks.

"colophon"

[Lovejoy]

It's not every day that I learn a new word on Slashdot. Had to open up Sherlock and look that baby up.

Now that I think about it (rubs chin, looks wistfully into the distance) this is the first time I've learned a new word on Slashdot.

Re:"colophon"

[DLWormwood]

Had to open up Sherlock and look that baby up.

I had to look it up too when I first saw that word. I don't think I've seen any other magazine visibly use the term in bold print like that.

Re:"colophon"

[Anonymous Coward]

There's also a colophon in the back of every O'Reilly book, which is where I first came across the term.

Isn't that a great word - "colophon"? Just rolls off the tongue.

Re:"colophon"

[Anonymous Coward]

colophon: Device one uses to talk to their colon.

D00d, YOU RULE!!

[Bobartig]

I can't believe that's all it took to improve my airport signal. Not that my apt is huge, but now I get 4 bars strength everywhere inside, instead of 0-2 in the bedroom. This little "part" must have come loose in like EVERY tibook ever made. I'm speechless, stupified. I used to work for Apple, they've got fleets of Ti's out there, and noone's ever mentioned this. Must be a new "discovery". Any rate, thanks for pointing it out!

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple will not ship your parts. This is the way it has always been. You either take it to the repair center, and the guy fixes it, or you work at the repair center, you order the parts, and you fix it, or you bid on what you need off ebay, and you fix it. And as for your tech support b.s. I have never had any rep ask me what i've installed in my system. Ever. But, it makes sense to me that they would want you to remove these other items. Thats what I would do. Its logical. Something is wrong. You remove all the variables and add them back in. So you unplug the raid / hd. Big deal. I love that you say they have no customer service, because those cheap bastards dell and gateway pass their support off on customers, maybe you want to install your fucking motherboard, but i know my mom doesn't want to. Unless you live in buttfuck arkansas on a ranch, there are apple tech centers all over. So you drop it off for a day or two, they fix *everything* that is messed up, and all is good. I've had macs since 95, and of all my computers, I've only had to bring in my lap top once. fuck you.

Re:An Important Question

[Anonymous Coward]

All of the above

The "Ultimate Wardriving Machine"

[cjsnell]

WiReD says the TiBook may become the "Ultimate Wardriving Machine". As an owner of a TiBook/667, let me tell you why this laptop isn't going to be the ultimate wardriving machine, at least not without a lot of work:

1) Lack of decent OS X wardriving software -- Yes, there is MacStumbler but it does not support the WirelessDriver Project yet. On top of that, it's been a while since the last release of MacStumbler. Is it still being actively developed?

2) Lack of (free) GPS hardware support and lack of GPS integration into MacStumbler.

3) Suitability for in-care use -- Let's face it, the TiBook is fragile as hell. The outer casing is easily dented. Secondly, it's not a small laptop and doesn't fit easily on the dashboard or even on the passenger seat of my Honda. To solve this, we need to come up with some kind of padded mount.

Re:The "Ultimate Wardriving Machine"

[DinkyDoorknob]

points 1 and 2 i see, but i've never gotten the argument that the TiBook is fragile. i take mine literally everywhere (half the reason i got it is that it's so light for a full-screen laptop), i'm not particularly gentle with it, and to date is has no dents or scratches (knock on wood).

padded mount? sounds dirty.

Re:The "Ultimate Wardriving Machine"

[cjsnell]

Holy Cow, I complain about lack of free GPS support and two hours later, look what I find on VersionTracker! So, I guess the next step is to merge the GPS code from this into MacStumbler.

Still not a hack

[Anonymous Coward]

Darwin's device driver framework is well documented, and the networking comes from FreeBSD 3.2.

So while 'porting an open-source Prism driver from Berkeley Unix to OS X' is an admirable task, it is not even close to being a hack, by any definition.

Sure, slashdot might post driver development news regularly, but that doesn't make it any less mundane.

Re:OS X - switchers

[Anonymous Coward]

Both Ellen and Apple must be doing _something_ right - Ellen apparently has a bit of a following:

She's reasonably cute, and was born with a twat.
End of story.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[Anonymous Coward]

fuck you.

Mods, mod parent to +5 insightful, for that comment alone.

Re:An Important Question

[Anonymous Coward]

one and two, please!

,
faeryman

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[dwater]

My experience of Apple's support is also less than satisfactory.

On the other hand, I needed support on Microsoft Office/X and saw that you get two free calls to Microsoft for free with each product (or something like that). So I called Microsoft and I found the support I received to be excellent.

And, if you know me, you will know how hard it is for me to say anything positive about Microsoft...

Re:HAHAHHA!

[andrewlong]

Thats the point installing a wireless card is not a hack, just like installing a usb mouse is not a hack.

GUI rant

[dwater]

You don't like 'classic'? Well, I'm not sure I ever used it, but I sure don't like the GUI that comes with OS X (Aqua? I get confused by the names).

It only supposed point and click to get focus. Windows with focus have to be at the front of the window stack etc etc.

Sucks bug time.

Even Windows allows you to change this, but the stupid single menu at the top of the screen makes it difficult for OS X (though I expect there are ways around it).

Still, I prefer the look and feel of OS X to any MS Windows I've used, but I'd prefer if I could just move the mouse over a window to get focus (without clicking or moving windows to the front of the window stack) like on X-Windows.

Paid by Apple (not a troll)

[The Pi-Guy]

Would it ever be normal for this to appear on /.? "Oh, I just stuck a card in my iBook and after I ported drivers to it's nice... open source... UNIX... core *pauses to watch geeks salivate*, I got it slashdotted." If it weren't Apple, this wouldn't happen. And why are there now 8 different "Apple" topics? And the Aqua theme?? Thank you.

This is not a troll. Or at least it wasn't intended that way. It's just an (admittedly off-topic) observation.

Do your worst, mods.
--j

Re:An Important Question

[Anonymous Coward]

I fucking love all of them! although I am a bit partial to numbers 2 and 3.

-- the guy who sat with you and bob and watched you stuff those godawful squids in your mouth at the sushi restaurant

but the Far^H^H^H...

[Anonymous Coward]

...but the [Panel Antenna Case] that is the Titanium PowerBook keeps the [signal nice and strong over long distances.]

[All you have to do is face mecca (any handy open access point) whenever war driving (at least 5 times a day).]

I'm still waiting for the neon yagi antanna case mods to appear...

Re:An Important Question

[Anonymous Coward]

All of them dammit!

Why did I have to find out about this on slashdot?

[zerofoo]

Thanks for the info. I'll look into it.

One has to wonder why no one at Apple told me about this?

-ted

My PowerBook has the best recption. Seriously.

[rf600r]

I have used several wintel laptops with several WiFi cards. (Cisco, D-Link, Lynsys) My TiPowerBook with the Airport card has the *best* range of any other combination. Not sure if I just bought one with the "problem" fixed.

Regardless, I can go just about anywhere on my property in and out of the house with a good signal. Luck me?

Don't try to tell me Gateway is better.

[EvilFrog]

I've been having a horrible time with Gateway's technical support. My laptop keeps shutting off at random points on startup. They keep insisting that there's a conflict, and that I should reinstall Windows. I'm not going to do that for three reasons: 1) It was like this out of the box. 2) My problem occurs and random points, and often before the bios even loads. 3) I've already reinstalled Windows, dammit!

And the warranty being voided by modifications is reasonably standard. Do you honestly think Gateway would give me support if I put Red Hat on there?

Re:Don't try to tell me Gateway is better.

[Wyatt Earp]

We've had terrible experiances recently with Gateway desktops.

Had a bunch come with USB keyboards which blue screen as soon as you'd use the keyboards.

Play WMP, QT, Real on it, computer reboots it's self. That happened with NT4 SP6, Win2K all SPs, WinXP Home and Pro.

Gateway said it was a motherboard issue. Got all new MoBos for 12 machines, switched them out, and same thing happens.

Solution

Never buy Gateway again.

Re:Bzzt... Wrong...

[Anonymous Coward]

Engenius Tech EL-2511CD PLUS Card ($89.00) specifications:
http://www.engeniustech.com/produ ct/art/Spec%20-%2 02511%20CD+.pdf

11 Mbps -87dbm
5.5 Mbps -90dbm
2 Mbps -93dbm
1 Mbps -95dbm

Demarc Tech Relia-Wave ($159.95) specifications:
http://www.demarctech.com/product s/reliawave-rwz/r eliawave-rwz-200mw-prism2-5-pcmcia-card.html

Sensitivity:
11Mb -91dBm
5.5Mb -93dBm
2Mb -95dBm
1Mb -96dBm

So it would appear that the Relia-Wave is a better card due to the greater sensitivity (which is quite important). Perhaps it would now be a time for someone to formally review these cards, putting them head-to-head, and comparing how the open-source Mac drivers work with them.

But in the end, I believe the Engenius card might be a better choice due to the greatly lower price.

Re:Anything non-stock is a "hack" according to app

[Wyatt Earp]

Talking to the wrong people.

I'm netadmin/desktop support dude in a private K12 and I've never had a problem with Apple, even with non-Apple hardware.

Stuff like...

"Yea, I've thrown a couple 120 gig Maxtor IDEs in there and oddles of third party RAM, oh and I'm running a Beta of 10.2 in the box."

"Alright sir, none of that should be doing anything odd, lets trouble shoot the motherboard."

"You don't want me to jerk the other stuff?"

"Naw."

Apple has sent me power supplies, motherboards, Powerbook cases, all sorts of parts. Heck if it's an issue in the first month, they have a local service place come out and try to fix it, or replace it with the same machine from thier stock.

Re:An Important Question

[blackula]

hey, seriously, where can i get openstep i386 cd images?