$18 USB 802.11g Adapter for Tiger &
Leopard
From David Snedigar:
Hi Dan - I've been a follower of your site for years, but never sent
anything in. This discovery I really felt I needed to share with the
Mac community though, because my Googling didn't turn up any
responses from your site - nor any Mac-centric site for that
matter - so I assume this is not a widely known solution in the Mac
community. I cannot claim to have discovered it by any means, but I'm
certainly going to help spread the word any way I can to help my fellow
Mac users. Bear with me for a bit of the back story if you
would....
I had a Mac mini G4
upstairs that my wife uses that was connected to an older Belkin
Wireless B USB adapter that worked flawlessly under Tiger. One day I
decided it would be my Leopard guinea pig before checking to see
if the Belkin adapter had a compatible driver. Needless to say, it
hasn't had a connection for over a month now - and my wife hasn't been
happy.
I searched and searched for possible driver solutions to no avail.
That adapter is dead under 10.5. So on to something new. I didn't want
to spend much though - the most economical thing I could find was
a thread about using a Ralink driver to enable the use of a newer
D-Link USB adapter. Some of your readers might be interested in
that as well.
At first I was leaning toward finding a non-USB solution that
wouldn't be so sensitive to OS updates - so I looked for a wireless
ethernet adapter (a.k.a. "Wireless Game Adapter") as well as an older
AirPort Hub that could be used in bridge or client mode. The game
adapters were still going for $40+ on eBay, $60+ retail. So I ended up
with an older
D-Link DWL-900AP+ that operates in client and bridge modes as well
for about $15. I could never get it to connect properly to my Buffalo
router - which I love - so it's going back to eBay probably.
I kept searching online for economical solutions to no avail. People
kept recommending Quickertek.com,
who's cheapest USB wireless G solution is almost $70! I know OWC also offers one
at about $60 now. Surely there must be something else out there! Or so
I thought. More reading and subsequent pulling of hair after my wife's
complaints about lack of access to her computer brought me to drive to
the local MicroCenter today
to just cave and buy one of the damn D-Link USB adapters, install it
with the Ralink drivers, and call it a day.
When I got there, I found the ones they had started at $50 - and
when I saw beside it a virtually generic
"TrendNet" TEW-424UB USB 2.0 wireless G adapter on sale for a mere
$7.99 (after mail-in rebate) - I just couldn't bring myself to cave.
And that TrendNet name rang a bell from my research. I thought this was
one of the 3rd party adapters that was also based on the same Ralink
chip! So I happily bought the much cheaper one and hurried home
- which is when I found out I was mistaken about the chip it was based
on.
As it turns out - it was a happy mistake. :)
Oh yes, I still went through all the pain of installing all the
wrong Ralink drivers and uninstalling them, checking everything 2 and 3
times, and still not have it working. Then I read a post that this
model was based on a Zydus (sp?) chipset, and there were entirely
different drivers that I had to try - which I did. (I'm relating this
to you so that others don't have to repeat my own mistakes.) That's
when I decided to check the system profiler to see that it was even
being recognized. It was - as a Realtek RTL8187B.
Okay - back to Google. I quickly located several discussions about
it and it's compatibility with Leopard in, of all places, a Hackintosh
forum.
I quickly found a link to Realtek's download site in the course of
one discussion and downloaded the latest available driver, which was
for the RTL8187L - version 1.4.7 - hoping that last letter didn't
matter. I got it installed, and it launched - but it just hung. It
never fully launched. So I ran the uninstaller script, then went back
and read this thread:
<http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=68287>
In that thread, a wonderful soul appropriately named "Christian"
posted a link to a version 1.5.0 driver that Realtek had sent him via
email. So I downloaded and installed that, rebooted - and
Eureka! - Leopard could see the USB adapter, and the driver
could as well! I got a wireless signal, but no IP yet - but it was at
least making some connection!
I still had to add the adapter's MAC address to my routers list of
approved MAC addresses, set up a profile in the Realtek USB WLAN Client
Utility app that automatically launches on startup, setup the WEP key
in a new profile in that utility, then setup a new Network profile in
the Network prefs - add a new profile and your adapter should show up
as "Ethernet Adapter (en2)." You can change the name to "USB Wireless"
or whatever you want though. That was it!
One caveat!!! So far, it appears to not be working
under 10.5.2. I'm only running 10.5.1 here - so I'm holding off on an
upgrade until an updated driver is available. There's more discussion
about the problems with it under 10.5.2 on the Insanely Mac forums as
well.
So again - the product people want to look for is the TrendNet "54
Mbps 802.11g Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter" - model TEW-424UB. The specific
version info on the label on the back says "TEW-424UB/A H/W:3.1R" on
mine. I got mine from MicroCenter. They are normally $24.99 but were on
sale for $19.99 before a $12 mail-in rebate - so $7.99 after. I plan to
go buy more for future upgrade tomorrow!
I've uploaded a copy of that driver here for anyone who wants
it:
<http://www.mediafire.com/?a9e9quldzkx>
I've emailed Realtek and asked them to post it ASAP - so hopefully
they will - as I think this will quickly become a popular solution for
those in a similar situation.
So I have to thank PC users trying to be Mac users on the cheap for
this solution! :) Hey - I'll take it wherever I can get
it!
Thanks for your time - and the great service you continue to provide
for the Mac community.
David Snedigar
David,
Thanks for sharing your exciting discovery, as well as
your disappointment with the Belkin and D-Link solutions you've tried.
I've found several online sources offering the TrendNet TEW-424UB, but
none as low as your $7.99 after mail-in rebate price:
Even without a rebate, that's a cheap way to give
802.11g WiFi access to any Mac with USB and Mac OS X 10.4 or
later, although older Macs with USB 1.1 won't be able to take full
advantage of it's speed. Thanks for making sure others can access the
new driver.
Dan
AirPort Flaw in Last Gen iBook G4
Dear Dan.
First of all, I should say that I've been a Mac freak for over 20
years and a frequent reader of this board. So please don't dismiss this
as an idle rant.
It's only the problem with my iBook G4 (1.33, late
revision) which has driven me to Mac rage.
There is an issue with this particular late revision iBook. After
some time, the machine experiences kernel panic. The only cure apparent
to the user is to turn AirPort off.
The problem - very well documented if you Google it - is the
connection between the AirPort card and the Main Logic Board.
Individually, both parts may be fault-free. Yet if you take your iBook
to Apple, they will advise replacing one or the other or both. An $800
plus repair.
After this condition afflicted my iBook, I did some research. There
are thousands of iBooks, all over the world, falling over with this
problem right now. And it appears that Apple is in denial. A thread
about this very topic was pulled from the Apple Support forum just in
December.
In fact, there is a work around. And a way around an $800 dollar
repair bill.
The first is to remove the AirPort card - even though there's
nothing wrong with it - and use a USB WiFi antenna instead. You'll have
a kernel panic-free iBook again, although USB Bluetooth is a rather hit
and miss. (In this 2005 model, AirPort and Bluetooth were
integrated.)
The total solution - if you're brave enough to try this at home - is
to improve the connection between the two components with a piece of
paper inserted under the connector, acting as a pressure pad.
This repair is detailed on the French site, 'Applintosh'. The
original article is here: <http://www.applintosh.net/readarticle.php?article_id=1>
Here's a URL for
the article in English with Google translate.
There's also
a video of the repair on AOL.
My beef is obviously that I was given disinformation by Apple
Support and my local Apple Store. Either I paid up or threw away I
machine I bought new only just over two years ago as an uneconomic
repair.
Well, I'm sitting here typing an email to you with the same machine.
Since I installed a piece of folded paper, it hasn't missed a beat.
Kind regards,
John
John,
Thanks for writing. I hadn't heard of this issue, and
you're right about Apple - they tend to pull forum postings about
problems they don't want to acknowledge. And don't expect Apple to
propose a third-party solution, like removing the AirPort card and
buying a USB WiFi adapter. There's more money to be made from an $800
repair.
We'll post this in the mailbag with links from the 12"
1.33 GHz and 14" 1.42 GHz G4 iBooks. Thanks for bringing it to our
attention.
Dan
SuperDrives Failing on MacBooks
From Werner Verwey:
Hi Dan
I'm what can only be described as a religious Low End Mac reader.
Every week I check your site almost daily for new articles posted. I've
recently come across a rather annoying problem on my MacBook Core Duo (2006).
I was happily writing a MP3 CD for my car this Saturday evening. Tested
it in the car, and everything was working as expected. On Sunday
afternoon when I wanted to write a DVD home movie I just finished
editing in iMovie, the trouble started. Desperately I started looking
around the Net trying to figure out what could be wrong. Armed only
with the buzzing sound the drive made every time before it ejected even
new clean DVD (4.7 GB Verbatim) (tried about 5 of them from a pack I
already used successfully). I came across the
Apple Discussion Forums where "manacle" described the sound
best:
"It will accept the disk in the drive, whereupon I
will hear a slight ticking like a watch running 3x normal speed; this
ticking persists until the disk is ejected. About five seconds after
the disk is loaded, I hear a loud buzzing sound that lasts for about
one second and stops. Another five seconds, another buzz. And again.
And then the disk is ejected."
Looking around at the discussion forum, I was amazed at just how
many people out there are complaining about this. It seems the
MacBook's drives are failing at a phenomenal rate. My MacBook is out of
warranty, and I will have to replace the drive. This just after having
ordered 2 gig's of RAM and Leopard to upgrade my MB. I'm sure you and
all the readers share my frustration, as we have all experienced a
break down somewhere along the line. Would I be able to use any
external USB DVD writer in the meantime with my MB. This seem easier
than replacing the internal drive, plus I'm not sure I want to replace
the drive myself as I feel this is a design flaw (clearly evident
from the
user discussion forum), and Apple needs to step up.
Do you mind posing a article on this and seeing how big of a problem
it really is.
Regards,
Werner
Werner,
I hear your pain. Optical drives should last for
years, and your email is the first I've heard of this problem. We'll
post it in the mailbag and see what other readers have to report.
Yes, you can use an external SuperDrive - as long as
it's not Apple's drive for the MacBook Air, which requires a special
USB 2.0 port with more power than the USB 2.0 specification
requires.
Dan
DVD-RAM Drive for the MacBook?
From Greg Battaglia:
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your great article on DVD-RAM [What Is DVD-RAM and Why Would I Want It?].
As you probably know, a company called Fastmac.com makes a replacement drive for the
Intel Mac mini, MacBook Pro, iMac, and a bunch of older Macs. The
drive, for ~ $150, burns to DVD-RAM at 5x. It also burns to all other
formats, except latest high-def media. However, as I write this, I am
awaiting FastMac's reply to the question: Why don't they offer a
DVD-RAM drive for the MacBook? Any thoughts or advice on this?
Greg Battaglia
Greg,
While vendors such as Sony and Toshiba offer DVD-RAM
in their notebook computers, I don't know that anyone makes a
slot-loading, slimline, low power SuperDrive with DVD-RAM write support
that can fit inside a MacBook or 15" MacBook Pro. If someone did, I'm
sure FastMac, MCE, Other World Computing, and others would offer
it.
Dan
Which Is the Quietest MacBook?
From Clive Stuart:
Hello Dan, I would love some advice on which Mac notebook appears to
be the most quiet.
I detest fan noise and that is why I am still happily chugging along
on my Pismo PowerBook.
The only noise from it is a barely audible hard drive. The fan has
never come on . . . ever !
I am most interested in a MacBook. Have you any advice on which have
the coolest chips or seem to be extra quiet?
Thanks and best regards.
Clive
Clive,
I don't have much hands on experience with MacBooks.
I'm sure the MacBook Air
is the quietest of the bunch, especially the flash drive model, but I
don't know how the various MacBook and MacBook Pro models compare. I'll
post this in the mailbag in hopes readers will share their
findings.
Dan
Booting an Aluminum PowerBook into Mac OS 9?
Greetings,
Sorry for the nag, but you are the most appropriate person I could
contact. So I recently bought a 15" PowerBook g4 1.5 GHz. I
thought I could boot to OS 9 with it (this has always been a
mystery for me, thinking every PowerPC-based Mac can do it - and it was
before I found your site). So now I am stuck with the Classic
environment, which is worse than SheepShaver. Is there any kind of
unsupported, warranty-voiding, might-render-the-computer-useless
firmware hack which would allow me to use OS 9 natively?
My other question is a marginal one: Shouldn't my PowerBook have the
cooling fans (on both sides)? The right fan always stays silent, and
Istat Pro reports 0 rpm, but I've read somewhere that some PB G4's have
only one fan. I would take a look myself, but I think it's better to
only take the computer apart when it's inevitable.
Thank you in advance,
Snepp Sándor
Snepp,
I don't have a 15" aluminum PowerBook G4, so I had to
look it up on
iFixit. It has two fans, one on the right and one on the left. On
my old titanium PowerBook, the right side always ran warmer than the
left side, but I have no experience with aluminum model.
As far as booting into the Classic Mac OS, you can
only do that with computers designed for it. All of the titanium
PowerBooks can boot into Mac OS 9.something, but none of the aluminum
ones can. There is no way to modify them to change this.
I've been using the Classic Mac OS since 1986 and Mac
OS X regularly since January 2002. I have to say that it was a bumpy
transition, but Classic Mode has always worked very well for me. (I'm
using it right now, as I'm still hopelessly wed to Claris Home Page for
writing and editing HTML.) I love the way it integrates so smoothly
with OS X, allowing me to cut and paste between apps on either
operating system. By comparison, I find SheepShaver horribly
restricting, since it emulates a Mac inside a window.
Anyhow, if you want to boot into Mac OS 9, you'll need
an older computer, such as the 800 MHz to 1 GHz titanium
PowerBooks.
Dan
Expansion Slots and Low End Macs
From Robert:
Hi, Dan.
Just a couple of nits to pick.
In your response to Trevor
Howard you decry the lack of an affordable, easily upgradeable Mac
for the Low End crowd, and mention some of your favorites from the past
as comparison. Maybe the fog of time has dimmed your memories, but
fortunately, the web, and your own site, can clear away some of the
mist. For instance the PowerMac 9600 from 1997 started
out at $3700 for the single 200 MHz processor model, the add another
thousand for the dual 200 MHz model. Not what you would call low end,
especially 11 years ago. How about the 7600? According to your profile,
in 1995, that sweet machine sold for $2800, one dollar more than the
standard configuration Mac Pro goes for today. The IIci? Are you kidding me? $6,700! In
1989? And what?! $8,800 if I wanted a 40 MB hard drive?! Just for a
little perspective, you could buy a brand new car for less than that in
1989!
The $2,799 for a Mac Pro would just about cover a down payment on a
car now. I think that the problem isn't with Apple, it's with you. Any
way you slice it, the Mac Pro is better than any of the computers you
mentioned. Is it as small as the IIci? No, but I'd like to see you put
four hard drives into that little case. Will it lie on it's belly like
a 7500? No, but so what? And yes, the Mac Pro is about 7 lb. heavier
than a 9600, but it does have handles!
All kidding aside, I did notice one more thing about the machines
you pointed out in your reply. All of them were High End Macs. None of
them were the low to mid range machines. In fact, the mid to low end
machines that Apple did make over the years are the ones you like to
brand as "Road Apples", or the "Worst Macs Ever". Maybe Apple is right
to avoid that market after all.
Thanks for the great website,
Robert
Robert,
Thanks for writing.
When I said, "One of the great joys of using Macs used
to be their expandability," I was referring to the fact that most
desktop Macs used to have expansion slots. The first four (128K, 512K,
512Ke, and Plus) didn't, the Classic and Classic II didn't, but even
the low cost LC did (yes, $2,400
was considered low cost in 1990). It was pretty much a given that there
would be something you'd want to add to your Mac - ethernet, a video
card, whatever. Even the Cube, which had very limited expansion, let
you replace the video card.
I made no claim that the Mac IIci was a low-end
computer in its day, only that it - like the Power Mac 9600 - was an
example of how expandable Macs used to be. Computers were a lot more
expensive back then. For instance, Dell was selling its high-end System
325 with a 25 MHz 386, 1 MB of RAM, and a 40 MB hard drive for $5,399
in October 1989, FPU not included. Computers have dropped in price,
going against the trend of inflation that impacts car prices, among
other things.
The PC world is replete with low-end computers with
expansion slots. Apple has included expansion slots on low-end Macs
from 1987, when the Macintosh SE was introduced, right through the end of the Performa era in
1998. And even after that, Apple sold Power Macs with PCI expansion
slots for less than the cheapest Mac Pro configuration offered today:
$1,999 for the 233 MHz
beige G3 in 1997, $1,599 for the 300 MHz blue & white G3 of
1999 and the 350 MHz Yikes
G4 introduced later that year, $1,699 for the 466 MHz Digital Audio G4 and
733 MHz Quicksilver G4
(both from 2001), the same for the 867 MHz dual processor Mirror Drive
Door in 2002, $1,999 for the 1.6 GHz Power Mac G5 in 2003
and the dual 1.8 GHz G5
in 2004. Ditto for the 2.0
GHz dual G5 of 2005. It was only with the introduction of the
Mac Pro in 2006 that Apple made
it impossible to buy a Mac with expansion slots for under US$2,000.
While the rest of the industry has been making
computers with expansion slots more affordable, Apple has been on an
upward trend since 2001.
Dan
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
