A Mac and a wireless network...

[Marksels]

Im tyrying to hook a Mac upto my DSL with all my other computer with a wireless adapter. Now i was told by the sale man that for a mac any USB Wireless adapter would work. So i decided to pick up one of the Linksys Wireless USB Adapter (WUSB11) even though it doesnt say Mac on the box (as all the others dont either) I thought i could find drivers else were. What i find is that Linksys has no mac drivers on their even though ive seen Linksys products be said as mac compatible (or im to assume). Now what i want to know is, has anyone have any expereince with Macs? were can i find these drivers? or do i have a incompatible device and in wich im never EVER gona ask a sales men again (i never have liked to but i had to as i have no clue about macs, this is a favor for my sister). Thanks.

 

[Tallgeese]

I could not find mention of Mac compatibility ANYWHERE about this NIC. Sorry, the device will most likely not work.

You need to return to the store where you bought it--NIC and receipt in hand--and ask to speak to a manager immediately. In a calm, firm voice, let that person know about the shoddy advice you received, who gave you the advice, and then wait to see the manager's reaction.

He should apologize immediately, refund your money, then apologize some more. You should be gracious and accept the apologies.

NOTE: For everone tuning in, this is a good object lesson on how WE ALL (as consumers) should treat people in stores. I'm horrified at some of the audacious (and childish) behavior posted in some AT threads (especially in "Hot Deals," of which I am a regular). Respect goes both ways, and if you expect to be treated with respect, you should also demonstrate you are capable of reciprocating. I''m not making excuses for idiot store managers, clerks, or salepeople (especially the numbnuts originally mentioned in this thread), but go in with a chip on your shoulder and you should fully expect to meet someone else with a chip on their shoulder.

All that being said, I have been and continue to be completely APPALLED at some of the patently WRONG (at best) or insidiously LYING (at worst) information I have overhead sales associates telling customers in stores.

Finally Mark, here is a tidbit that will kill two birds with one stone...the mnemonic I use to remember the OSI Model of Networking:

Layer 1 = Please = Physical
Layer 2 = Do = Datalink
Layer 3 = Not = Network
Layer 4 = Take = Transport
Layer 5 = Sales = Session
Layer 6 = Persons' = Presentation
Layer 7 = Advice = Application

 

[gaidin123]

Well as far as wireless and macs go, Apple was the first to really push the 802.11B network equipment into the hands of consumers. If you have one of the semi-recent macs you can just go get yourself an Airport card and everything should work automagically. If your mac is a laptop you have a ton of solutions. Just go check out www.macmall.com and navigate to their wireless adapters area. It looks like the Orinoco, DLink, and Cisco ones are all Mac and PC compatible.

Gaidin

Edit: Orinoco has drivers for Mac OS 8.x and 9.x (didn't see OS X but perhaps they're natively supported in it?) on their site.

 

[Tallgeese]

<< Edit: Orinoco has drivers for Mac OS 8.x and 9.x (didn't see OS X but perhaps they're natively supported in it?) on their site. >>

Airport = Orinoco (rebadged)

 

[gaidin123]

<< Airport = Orinoco (rebadged) >>



That's what I thought. I remember a sys admin telling me that when the airport base stations first came out and wireless cards were in such low supply and cost so much, they actually bought a bunch of airport base stations and ripped the cards out of them! That's hard to imagine now with cards being around $50-60.

Gaidin

 

[Marksels]

Ok, now ive been thinking and asked a few people and from what i understand, since OS X is based on Unix it should run pretty much all things Unix? Basicaly, since its Unix based and has a terminal and stuff, shouldnt i beable to use the Linux drivers? If so then can someone translate this for me


INSTALLING:
1) Untar the linux-wlan-ng package
2) Cd into the linux-wlan-ng-<version> directory
3) Run 'make config' and make sure you select the USB option.
NOTE: the pcmcia, plx, and pci versions of the driver built from this
tree have not been tested at all. If you want to use a non-usb
device, I recommend you use version 0.1.10.
4) Run 'make all'
5) As root, run 'make install'

RUNNING:
1) Make sure your kernel usb support is running
2) Plug in the Prism2.x USB device
3) Run 'modprobe prism2_usb' to load the driver into memory.
4) Run 'ifconfig wlan0 up' to initialize the MAC
5) Run 'wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=<your ssid> authtype=opensystem'
to enable the MAC in Infrastructure Station mode.
6) Run 'ifconfig wlan0 <your IP address>'

Can someone translate that? I tried doing as that says with my VERY VERY limited (never realy used Unix before) knoledge of this OS. But it just tells me that the "make" command isnt real or am i missing something because of my limited knowledge of this OS?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Will Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 for the Alpha architecture drivers work for Tru64 (Compaq's UNIX for the Alpha)? If you dont know the answer is no.

Drivers are OS and sometimes kernel specific. Trying to use a Linux driver on Darwin would be like trying to fit the square peg into the round hole. Yeah, you can get it to fit eventually, but at that point you have a round peg.

The kernel for linux is totally different from the MACH kernel used in Darwin. So you would basically have to rewrite the entire thing to get it to work. That would be way too much trouble, especially if you dont have much skill in C.

Your best bet is to take the POS back, talk to the manager about how his sales people should understand what they are talking about, or tell the customer they dont know an answer (I would much rather hear that the sales person doesnt know rather than a blatant lie or a mistake). Return the product (I have had good experiences with this one, opened and all), and get yourself a wireless network card that will work with a Mac.

 

[Eug]

<< Im tyrying to hook a Mac upto my DSL with all my other computer with a wireless adapter. Now i was told by the sale man that for a mac any USB Wireless adapter would work. So i decided to pick up one of the Linksys Wireless USB Adapter (WUSB11) even though it doesnt say Mac on the box (as all the others dont either) I thought i could find drivers else were. What i find is that Linksys has no mac drivers on their even though ive seen Linksys products be said as mac compatible (or im to assume). Now what i want to know is, has anyone have any expereince with Macs? were can i find these drivers? or do i have a incompatible device and in wich im never EVER gona ask a sales men again (i never have liked to but i had to as i have no clue about macs, this is a favor for my sister). Thanks. >>


Hmmm. Last I checked there were NO USB wireless adapters available for Mac OS X. That was a couple of months ago, but nonetheless I've heard nothing since. Also, the Linksys USB one most definitely does NOT support Macs. (Some Linksys products do support Macs - unfortunately, the USB thingy isn't one of them.)

Which Mac is it anyway?

Remember, sales people usually know nothing, and they commissions for selling you stuff.

Proxim has one that supports Mac OS 9, but that doesn't help you if you're running OS X.

 

[Marksels]

Eug, one of those blue and white G3, a couple years old so its not airport ready unfortunately.

Also do any of you know of a PCI based one that can work under OS X? Cause im starting to think there is no wireless adapter that would work with OS X other than Airport.