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Taking Apart An Airport Extreme Base Station
Farley Mullet writes "As seen on MacSlash, here is a link to page documenting one man's dissection of an Airport Extreme Base Station. It's pretty neat to see what Apple crammed in there, including (gasp!) a chip from AMD!"
It says that the main processor is a mini-PCI card. Does that mean that it could resonably be put in a computer without the base station? My Dell Inspirion 8200 uses a mini-PCI card for wireless, and if I could possibly find drivers for it, i.e. for use in linux, that would be so cool. Imagine upgrading your laptop to 54 Mbps yourself (with no PCI card sticking out the side).
"Men lie."
"Yeah, about sleeping with other women, but never about bioluminescent plankton."
-Dan Brown
Slicing up an Apple just see what's inside.
Kinda seedy, if you ask me....
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
I thought it was common knowledge that AMD is in bed with apple...
the dogs fight together against the wolf (intel)
AFAIK there was a AMD embedded 486 in the original AirPort, and Apple is working with AMD on HyperX pci or some such, and so on and so forth
Buttsex.
That huge heat sink leads me to a good idea of why the 12" pBook is so hot.
And the AMD chips have been in the previous base stations as well. (or so I was told, when I posted this comment on macslash) But it does kind of clear up a great deal of speculation on what Apple and AMD were up to.
I posted this comment on macslash as an AC
AMD makes microcontrollers and all SORTS of different ICs. Gasp!
Also Texas Instruments doesn't just make calculators, either...
That's all folks! Despite the tinkering, the ABS still functions normally.
How many screws did you have left over at the end?
bash$
Publish on a web site that you are voiding their warranty by cracking their product open.
Thanks, though.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
Does Airport really merit its own icon? I fear that we may be DILUTING the value of Slashdot subject icons! SLASHDOT EDITORS, REPENT!
Oh wait, who cares? Looks pretty nifty.
I just took apart my Mac LC & LCII. The both had AMD chips in them, not the processor, but some other chip was labeled with an AMD logo on it.
Also, for more WiFi info, these are some good links...
http://melbourne.wireless.org.au/wiki/?Apple
http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/WirelessLin ks
http://www.gulker.com/2002/10/10.html
I believe that most wireless access points are just PCMCIA wireless cards with some extra software and hardware controlling it, that's why prices of these are coming down so much.
Actually from my recollection it is quite the other way around. AMD started out making a myriad of devices and then shifted focus to the desktop processor industry.
In other terms, they were running around town at night but lately they have settled down. Bully for them, I dig it.
The Apple Airport base stations seem to just work, unlike my experience with Dlink and Linksys products.
A comparable box is the Linksys WRT54G; looking through reviews, people have had lots of problems. You can get it for $120-130 compared to $190-$200 for the Airport; and the Linksys doesn't have a USB port for printer sharing.
A $60-$80 premium to have a solution which is dependable is well worth it for me.
We've all been lied to. All these years apple has been telling us their products "just work" and here we find actual components- complicated components!- and in a simple device!
I don't know what's physically inside their full computer systems, but now for me they are filled only with lies.
Nice to see what's inside those. I was kind of expecting to see just a standard WiFi card in there, in the original base station, exactly like the one he had pictured for comparison, it was actually just a Lucent PCMCIA card. Apple likes to use the least weird parts, a nice break from the proprieatary RAM that they used to use. Maybe this explains what those talks with AMD were as well, just discussing AE design? Most likely. Maybe some HyperTransport in there, but definitely nothing about x86. I hope this little science experiment showed that to you crazies.
- Sherman
There's nothing particularly interesting or shocking about having an AMD chip in the Airport. Also, it's not any kind of i86 chip at all: "The CPU is a AMD Au1500 series RISC-based processor. It is based on the MIPS architecture." Moreover, it has a date of 2000 and "Made in Taiwan" on the chip itself, so what we have here is fairly old technology cranked out by a Taiwanese fab (UMC would be my guess). And absolutely no proof for the "Apple is moving to AMD" rumor. Nothing to see here, folks, move along, move along...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
A cool article that was not tubed! Seriously awesome article, I love things like that, you may not know exactly what you are looking at, but it still looks cool. It is not really surprising to see an AMD chip, I thought they were partners with their flash memory anyway? I do not think apple makes MIPS chips either. Great article.
I hate sigs.
I think I'm hyperventilating
Also Texas Instruments doesn't just make calculators, either...
Right! They make note-storers, homework-doers, and test-cheating devices.
The coolest voice ever.
It is just very weird that the apple articles used to display the AMD logo. Does the AMD chip mutate into Apple too?
AMD is the slut of microprocessor companies. They're making small deals left right and center, because that's the only way they have to dethrone Intel. By picking up the scraps
Say what? Name a microprocessor company that doesn't have a diverse line of semiconductor products. Hell IBM makes PPC chips, helps AMD with their production of Athlon chips, makes embedded chips, makes their own x86 clone, makes POWER chips, DACs, and lord knows what else as they're one of the largest fabs out there. Intel makes/made ethernet chips, 802.11 chips, ARM, bubble memory, x86, etc. Motorola makes chips for cell phones, embedded processors, PPC, 68k (coldfire et.al), DSP, etc. How on earth is AMD any different?
The original airport along with several other base stations that used the same hardware like the Lucent RG1000 were all based on an AMD x86 cpu Before you gasp check your facts. Coincidentally you can buy one of the lucent units for $50 and flash it with apple firmware. Vwalla you have an airport ... though your's won't look like a space ship but a shark's fin.
The Mini-PCI card is based on a Broadcom 11g chipset. Broadcom already has Linux drivers for this chip, but they aren't open source. They are licensed to embedded designers for binary distribution and they aren't available to the general public. This is the same chipset that the Linksys WMP54g pci card uses.
and they don't look anywhere NEAR as pretty.
In other news, Apple has promised a release of a strange add on accessory to their eMac line. With their emphasis on design, the company's CEO, Jobs, has hinted that the strange concaved edged triangular pieces of PCB will be released "in the near future."
Apple lovers took note that the tech company continues to move forward, innovating, but as historically typical, the purpose of the design has yet to be seen, much less be known. But already, rumor sites have taken various opinionated stances, citing definitive and anonymous sources about the purpose of the new add on--miniature PVRs with mpeg4 encoder and tv tuner to an enhanced wireless design custom fit to the odd shaped machine.
What is certain is that no one outside the company knows for sure. But an ex-employee was quickly denounced when he stated that Apple was using the PCB scraps, "klingon rounds" as he called them, that came off the Airport PCB manufacturing line.
Apple has declined to comment, but those that for a decade have pointed to Apple's demise cite that the company is so desperate as to be unable to handle scrap PCB disposal. Others point to the liberal political slant of its CEO, Jobs, and that this may not only be innovative, but environmentally friendly.
Stay tuned....
FWIW, Apple have been using AMD chips through their machines for quite a while. I have dozens of older macs, from early powermacs back through quadras and mac II machines, and there are several AMD chips on some of those boards. They're not doing anything but auxiliary functions such as serial port controllers and the like, but they're there all the same
I don't know about you but those plugs never fall out of a wall socket. compare and contrast to the pissy little european two pin plugs, or even worse those very flimsy US two pin (easy-bend) plugs. The only thing that rivals it is the australian 3 pin power plugs but even they are prone to falling out from time to time. no for me the UK monster 3 pin plug is a great thing.
I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
Well, kinda.
The project hasn't been updated in a couple of months, and it breaks Ethernet bridging, but the idea of running Linux on a sleek little gadget from Apple is still geeky enough to be interesting.
The Airport is great, but to configure it you need to be running OS 9 or X - horrid news for a high school that I was working at a few months ago. Every machine was running OS 8.6, including the one teacher-owned laptop. Every student-owned laptop was Windows-based.
I brought in my laptop (which runs Debian) and gave the Airport Base Station Configurator a try, but to no avail.
So - cool device, but it needs to be easier to configure or modify.
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
... you've gotten to the core of the problem. It's very appeeling .... it will be interesting to see what results stem from this research.
Infuriate left and right
Let us not forget MIPS. Hell, there are probably a dozen MIPS processors within fifty feet of you right this very minute. There's almost certainly one in your microwave over, one in your cell phone, one in your TV, several in your car.
Oh, and they're also in the Origin 2000 and 3000 supercomputers like the kind at Los Alamos.
That's pretty diverse.
Some high-ranking government officials would probably consider the main topic as a terrorist threat with all those words put together like that.
Then they'd figure out that it's a discussion about a computer-related product that didn't involve microsoft...and they'd be CERTAIN that it's a terrorist discussion. After all, they seem to have bought the notion that what's good for microsoft is good for the US of A.
Also, when combined with a Slinky and a box of Grape Nuts [homestarrunner.com] can make a StrongBad Robot.
As soon as I saw a mention of speak & spell, I knew i had to post that link, but, alas...You beat me to it!!!!!!! Argh!!! Oh, woe is me!!
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
We all know it's truly the Gremlins running on the Gremlin wheels that make apple products go (or sprites if u have the sprite model)
This article is a falsification designed to bring about doubt among the ranks of the faithful! Do not stumble down the path of blasphemy!
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
You know, what he was saying is the PCs are cheaper than macs, period, not that the Macs are more expensive.
Before you get pissy, please read what the parent has written, thanks.
(before you get on my case because you didn't read *my* post, I'm typing this on a 12"PB.)
The last time I took apart an apple I found a worm.
The poor guy was put there when Woz left his lunch on the bench 25 years ago. Funny though he spoke with a LISP, a dialect that's a little obscure, so he was hard to understand.
OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
... drats, got Apple on my mind today ...
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
so whats the shock? of one company using other companies chips?
SimonTek
It's so true! UK plugs and the NHS are the two reasons why I'm having trouble persuading myself to emigrate to Canada.
UK plugs are the best in the world:
I think if I ever emigrated I'd get top quality health insurance and change all the plug sockets in my house to British ones :-)
The nation's culinary skills on the otherhand are far from fabulous.. (which is probably why the supermarkets sell so much Italian food nowadays)
also bathroom outlets in the UK -- even for hard-wired appliances such as heaters -- must be connected via an RCD, which will trip as soon as it detects a current leak. Not to mention that any switches need to be of a pull-cord variety with a double-pole switch. You're more likely to be struck by lightning than electrocuted in a properly wired British bathroom.
Also did you know that the reason most British bathrooms & kitchens have separate hot and cold taps was safety legislation to prevent any chance of the hot water being siphoned back into the cold-water supply. They've only change the rules since the introduction of check-return valves (one-way water valves).
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
My brother worked for IBM in one of their plants. They would make just about anything if there was money involved. I was very surprised that even some vehicle equipment sensor and equipment were being made on the assembly line. It was very impressive.
AMD is different, in that they are not a totally isolationist kind of company like Intel. Intel does not share its fab technology with anyone, and has sued every company that has ever made an x86 ISA CPU.
Oh, wait.
Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
...so this guy buys an Apple Airport for his sister, gives it to her as a birthday present, then dismantles it with his handy-dandy toolkit?
Ah, there's nothing like the warm glow that comes from the giving of gifts.
404 Not Found: No such file or resource as '.sig'
I've seen those for years in Macs, same with NEC, TI, etc. Apple have often used AMD chips for their ethernet controllers on previous PowerMacs. There were AMD chips on some Quadra logic boards. Nothing new here or surprising, really.
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
$400 is two week's pay (take home) for some of us technicians though. If you live on your own or with a roomate it can take months to save $400 up.
I just saved up for a month and got a Pentium III 1Ghz CPU for $90, now I have to rummage the house for spare change to get gas to go to work.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Nothing to see here. Move along.
I believe AMD was (and still is) one of the top flash memory vendors around. (Intel happens to be too...)
As someone else said, AMD started in other markets. CPUs are something "new" to them. Even if AMD gets creamed in the CPU market for a few years, they'll still be around. It's not like 3Dfx who had nothing to fall back on other than their 3D accelerator chips - x86 CPUs are just one part of AMD's business, they're involved in a LOT of other areas and always have been, even before they made CPUs.
Even if Apple and AMD were intense competitors, I wouldn't be that surprised to see an AMD chip in an Apple product. Sometimes using the best chip for a job involves buying from your competitor. This was the case with Lucent Microelectronics - Some of their largest customers were intense competitors of theirs in the optical networking business. (Such as Cisco). This was eventually one of the main reasons for spinning the microelectronics division off into Agere. Many years ago I saw a Lucent FPGA on a telephone interface board in a Nortel product. At that time, Lucent was one of the top FPGA and DSP vendors in the world.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
you take home $5 per hour to be a techie? I don't want to sound rude but where do you work? if you are in the US, UK or EU then surely a tech get's more than that. I know there are countries where $5 is a lot of money, but most cleaners in the UK get more than that.
I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
Since I can't get to the site quoted in the article (I think maybe it's been /.'ed), I have a couple questions:
a) Is this a violation of the DMCA? (If he's in a foreign country -- please forgive the question. If he is, then this brings me to:)
b) If a US citizen goes to Canada, buys something for the purpose of reverse engineering it, does that in Canada and posts it on a Canadian website, is s/he violating the DMCA? I'm assuming Canada does not (yet) have any laws on the books like the DMCA, but assuming they don't...
"Sometimes the truth is stupid." - Lawrence, creator of Prime Intellect
On a somewhat irrelevant note, I take home about $140 a week (20 hours though, not 40) being a DEVELOPER! (and mini-sysadmin, and other misc things). Heh, but I am young and unexperienced so I honestly don't feel like I'm getting screwed. And I actually have a bunch of money saved up, money in my wallet, and I haven't even cashed this weeks' check. Amazing what happens when you quit buying junk all of the time :)
It's no hassle to use a plethora of keyboard combos to make up for the patronising one-button mouse. Despite the fact that my hands have FIVE fingers, and multiple-buttons make Web browsing so much more pleasant, I prefer my computer to be treat me like a special-needs child.
Haven't you heard of Freebase? There are also java based airport config programs out there, so you could potentially use any OS, although I haven't really tried.
I open My SparcStation2, GASP an AMD chip. I open my NeXT, GASP MORE AMD chips! Sorry, AMD makes alot more than x86 CPUs.
Yowzers, and didn't that title just set off every keyword monitor at the NSA.
I can actually envision some poor computer at the NSA literally having kittens.
They still make bubble memory? Wow. I thought that technology never really took off.
Lots of Macs have chips from AMD inside them, even my old Mac IIci and Quadra 700 had AMD chips in them.
AMD is not just processors, they do chips for network and other stuff as well...
Anyone have a mirror from before they pulled it?
I've never had a problem with a linksys. Airports are hard to configure with os 9. I haven't ever done it in 10, but it's probobly comparable. They're expensive and really mean to non-apples.
with Linksys waps, otoh, just drop it in, put in the dsl l/p, enable WEP, and set a network name. They play nice with macs and pcs. even with aol. Also, linksys does sell routers with a built in print server. I've never used one, though.
I make $12/hour, but that's not salary, and the company subtracts an hour from each car ride, so I get paid 2 hours less than I'm disposed for work every day. Also, I LOSE money on the driving reimbursement ($0.28/mile - 15 miles each way) because it costs more than that to drive. In the end my net pay is about $220/week.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
That's all folks! Despite the tinkering, the ABS still functions normally. And in response to one of the slashdot smartie-pants, no I did not have have anything left over when I was done.
I've had 2 linksys wireless routers now (although I suppose I could note they ran as bridges on my network). The first failed catastrophically -- it was up, but dead. RMA, and the second one needs to be powercycled ever 12-24 hours on average to keep it running. Not a big deal, since this is usually just about 8 steps away, but it would be irritating if this was an office, or say, a coffee shop. (Where they have a dlink which I was sad to find did not run 802.11a or g, just b)