> Is an Airport base station necessary for the Airport card to be > detected? I do not yet have one.
Airport is simply Apple's registered trademark for its implementation of the internationally standardized 802.11. There are at least four variations: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n. 802.11a is so very old that most later cards support only 802.11b and 802.11g, the so-called 802.11b/g cards. The newest card also supports 802.11n. However, when Broadcom redesigned its card for 802.11n, it made it an 802.11a/b/g/n card. I believe the earliest airport cards, the ones which are a "shortie" PCMCIA card, are 802.11a, only, and that is probably why one might think these can only work with an Apple Airport "access point", as by that time, everyone (Cisco, and a great many others) had already moved beyond 802.11a and were supporting 802.11b and 802.11n, but NOT 802.11a. 802.11a is a poor design, which is undoubtedly why later "adopters" eschewed Apple's preferred 802.11a, and went immediately with 802.11b or b and n. Most WiFi USB dongles are 802.11b/n, and some of these are so highly integrated that these can be made using only one LSI chip (Realtek), whereas before, these required at least two chips (protocol chip and a transmitter/receiver chip, as in the formerly ubiquitous ZyDas products). -- -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "G-Group" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to g3-5-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
