I'm not sure if anyone has posted their experiences connecting a Powerbook 2400 into an Airport wireless network but it can be done. And after more than a bit of trial and error. I am going to blather on and this might get quite long, so be warned.... My system(s) consist of a 7300/upgrade G3 desktop with a bunch of other goodies and my venerable 2400/180 Mhz powerbook. (After soul-searching the heat issue, I decided to leave the processor stock. I did upgrade the RAM to 80 Mb and the HD to 3.1 Gb and replaced the original keyboard with the aftermarket version. (good decision) My son has a Performa 578, with an ethernet PDS, in another section of the house so I had run 10-T ethernet to provide us with a small peer-to-peer, Class "C" network. We have used Timbuktu as our networking application of choice (more on that later) and would argue it is better that sliced bread. We have a few telephone lines in this residence and in the past had picked up the spare twisted pairs which provided me quasi-transferrable internet access from office to bedroom to television room etc. However.... always wired to the telephone and the limitations that bring. Our telephone company has been tantalizing us with the prospect of ADSL for the last 5 months. We meet the physical requirements of the service, (you should be within at least 4 miles of the nearest compatible telephone switching point) we are about 1/2 mile away. Our switcher station had been upgraded, but the problem still remained for the telephone company to provide enough software ports to meet the demand. Hopefully, in the next few months. While we wait, v90 will suffice. In anticipation of this new, improved internet access I installed an xRouter (from our own list mom) to provide our network with on-demand internet access. The Xsense xRouter allows a cable or DSL modem to plug direct into the router providing service and a firewall to this peer network. This new ADSL internet service presented me with a problem of how to get even quasi-access internet around the house without having to try and run even more ethernet cable. And then along came the Airport. It is cool... fast... and man, it is portable. The problem was.... Apple didn't support (and doesn't) anything older than an iBook, the G4's or the new iMac's. Yikes! What to do? I didn't really want to buy an iBook. I was casting covetous glances in the direction of a Lombard but the sheer size was a distraction and it wasn't supported either. However, I still love the true laptop ability of the Duo's and the 2400 (I come from a long line of Duo's: 230, 280 & 2300c) has it has continued to win out on size alone. (That, and divorce court if I buy any more computer toys..... hopefully just kidding) Hmmm.... Pisssmo (said with same inflection as Homer's, "Dooonuts.") Thanks to the internet and the unselfish sharing of all those individuals who take the time to write the tomes of instruction, I have been able to maneuver around the recalcitrant Airport CD installer and get this technology to work and work well. First, the convenience of wireless is not cheap. (We should of taken up something cheap like booze and drugs, instead of computers) You have to buy the Airport base (approximately $279, shop around) and then a PCMCIA wireless card for your 2400. There are a couple of competing products. Lucent have the WaveLAN/IEEE Turbo 11 Mb PC cards. Coincidentally, this is the card that is installed in the Airport. It is the "silver version" of that card. There are three versions: Bronze, Silver and Gold. I don't know the specs on the Bronze version but the Silver and Gold are identical except for the Gold having the addition of128 bit encryption over the silver's 40 bit encryption. At this time, any encryption is a moot point as the instructions for use are to turn off all encryption. Down the road, with software and firmware upgrades it will probably be more of an issue. Don't be confused about card encryption and browser encryption, Netscape and Internet Explorer will still provide the 128 bit encryption for secure site access. The card encryption is to provide security from wireless hits from outside network. Cabletron is another vendor and from what I understand is providing basically just a repackaged Lucent card. Farallon has their own Skyline PCMCIA wirelesscard. It has excellent Mac drivers and software but is only a 2 Mbps card. ($289??) I understand that Farallon has a faster 11 Mb card in the works. Originally, I had the Skyline card but returned it and bought a Lucent Gold. The difference in price between the Silver and Gold was $20 so thought I would go with the higher encryption even though it will probably never be an issue. (I don't normally carry nucleur secrets around with me.... thankfully.) I've seen the Lucent cards at around $160 for the Silver version.)By the time I paid shipping, taxes etc. I had eaten up the better part of a $200 bill. A number of people have bought an additional Airport and took it apart for the Lucent card installed in it. They end up with some spare parts for their Airport) Still a more expensive way to go. If you go will Lucent make sure you go to the Lucent site and get the latest Mac drivers. I think the most recent version is 4.02. Many links are included in Eric's article. In addition check out Macintouch and MacFixit. Read through the postings too as there are gems in there. Don't believe all the early postings as there were quite a few mistakes. Once I got through the lengthy teething process of setting the wireless network up it has worked without a flaw. The Appletalk network aspect was pretty straightword. The more troublesome setup was with the modem access to the internet. I will include a snippet from an esimmons who posted on O'Grady's powerbook site. This is an excellent resource and there is a lot of info in the Message Boards section for all things powerbook . Look under the Airport folder. http://www.ogrady.com. My biggest gripe is that Timbuktu isn't supported or doesn't support this software/hardware. Hopefully, Netopia will get it together. I'm sure they will, as this wireless networking is ready made for Timbuktu! This is where you should start: Eric Belsley's excellent article "Using the Airport without and an Airport-ready Mac" at his MacResource Page. http://216.92.9.149/mrp/features/12_9_1999.shtml Posting from esimmons from a Message Board posting (under the Airport heading) on O'Grady's site: (this posting got me over the v90 modem hurdle. Thanks to esimmons :-))))) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have everything working great... WaveLAN Turbo Silver and BS w/ internet access via 56K modem. I think I know what is causing people so of the issues: When setting up the base station you need to connect BS via Ethernet first using a hub or an X-over cable. To do this set your PB to the same IP subnet as the BS 192.42.249.xxx. The BS is .13 so set your PB to .14. Open the AirPort utility and configure the INTERNET settings to Share Connection using the MODEM. Make all required ISP settings. Click on Update. Once this is done the BS will also configure a new IP subnet on its interfaces - 10.0.1.xxx. It will also start acting as a DHCP server. Set yout TCP/IP control panel to conenct via your WaveLan card and set to use DHCP. Open the AirPort utility and click on the other button. It will come up with the address 10.0.1.1, the new address of the BS. Enter the password and click OK. Now set the Configure TCP/IP setting on the BS to be PPP & enter in your DNS servers and domain. Leave the other settings empty. Clik on update. You should know be able to launce your browser and surf the WEB using your wireless conenction. You can also have other Mac/PCs share this internet conenction via the ethernet port. Hope this helps! Remember, I warned you it might get long.... As a location footnote: I have the Airport base station down in my lower-floor office. Currently, I am surfing "wireless" maybe 40 feet away upstairs. I have done minimal testing re: speeds but it appears the modem is faster than my Global Village modems. Both the Teleport and the PCMCIA modem. Maybe it's just an illusion. I have tested the network to about 150 ft. At that point, I was walking down the road away from my home cradling the 2400 in my arm. Now I live in the north, in the land of ice and snow, and decided that falling on my duff testing the powerbook would be a poor final chapter, so I carefully trudged back into the house. When you connect to the internet I am used to seeing my Global Village "connect" dialogue in the menu bar. There is nothing to tell you the internet status. Now this won't be a problem for cable and DSL users, as you are always on, but for telephone modem access it is a bit strange. I am not sure how long the Airport stays online before it hangs up. Being an old FreePPP user it would hang up after a user-defined inactivity, with the modem in the Base station it doesn't give you those options. I checked my usage online at my internet server. I think it is hanging up after a couple of minutes. It would be nice to have a little more control over these things. I am using IPnetMonitor to check network access. All-in-all, for a first release of a new technology Apple and Lucent have done a stellar job. Posted wireless from the comfort of my couch. I just can't stop grinning....... Rod ------------------------------ Rod Duncan [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------- Duo/2400 List, The friendliest place on the Net! A listserv for users and fans of Mac subportables. FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/DuoListFAQ.shtml> Be sure to visit Mac2400! <http://www.sineware.com/mac2400> X-Router | Share your DSL or cable modem between multiple computers! Dr. Bott | <http://www.drbott.com/prod/MIH120.html> PowerBook Guy is | Click here! Everything PowerBook! | http://www.powerbookguy.com Midwest Mac Parts ][ <http://www.midwestmac.com> After-market parts for Macs. ][ 888-356-1104 ][ MacResQ Reader Specials: 2.5GB Seagate SCSI: $119, 4GB IBM SCSI: $199, Norton Util. 4.0: $29, Mac Parts, Systems & Repairs <http://www.macresq.com>
