|
|
|
|
| Welcome, Guest | Home | Search | Login | Register | |
| Author | Wireless in OS 9 (Read 47861 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
wove
1024 MB  Posts: 1363 
|
on: June 09, 2024, 15:49
When running OS 9 on my Gigabit Ethernet Airport does not connect to my network. The same is true with OS X. I assumed this was the age of the Airport card, just being too old to connect to a wireless network based using new standards. I installed Morph OS (a modern Amiga like clone) on the G4 Mac Mini and surprised to see that wireless networking works just fine in Morph OS. Which I guess means the problem with Airport wireless networking in OS 9,, is a software problem, not a hardware problem. I was wondering if anyone had taken a closer look at the drivers and software for early airport implementations. I did have a wired connection setup for my "play space", but I reconfigured my network when I picked up the TimeCapsule and I lost the wired network in the play space. The TimeCapsule uses wireless AC, which has much much better coverage than the wireless N, so I no longer needed to have any wireless extenders, which I had been using for the wired connection in the play space. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
cballero
|
1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #1 on: June 11, 2024, 01:48
|
Wove, I recall Airport being limited to 11 Mbps with the Airport Extreme going faster in OS X, so your Gigabit Ethernet Airport must be from the Extreme OS X-only category. Still, I'm thinking that it should still be backward compatible at lower speeds? Found a few PDFs on Airport 1.1 used in OS 9 that might help shed a little more light: (thanks to the WayBack) Airport Fact Sheet Airport FAQ Designing Airport Networks AirPort Wireless Networking: A Technical Overview
|
•_indigo_•
|
4 MB Posts: 4 System 7 Newcomer!
Reply #2 on: September 23, 2024, 21:14
|
I just got my iMac G4 connected to my home network using a basic Airport card (my model doesn't support the Extreme card), and to do this I had to get a vintage router that was capable of setting up 802.11b signal at 2.4Ghz, with WEP security. Anything other than that and the Airport card couldn't connect. With the wrong signal or frequency it simply couldn't see the network, and with the wrong security it said that it didn't understand the protocol I was connecting to.
|
lauland
|
512 MB Posts: 674 Symtes 7 Mewconer!
Reply #3 on: September 24, 2024, 00:11
|
Yeah, that was what I was going to suggest. I actually have two wifi routers, a modern one, and an older one that can do the older protocols like WEP (that I only turn on for when I need to connect one of my old machines...otherwise WEP and WPA1 are too easily hacked).
|
Knezzen
|
Administrator 512 MB  Posts: 608 Village idiot
Reply #4 on: September 24, 2024, 13:10
|
The "Gigabit Ethernet" as in PowerBook G4 Titanium had the original AirPort card, which is a 802.11b card. It's capable of 11Mbit transfer speed and WEP and WPA (not WPA-2) encryptions. It only supports 64bit WEP in Mac OS 9 though, since Apple didn't update the driver to support anything else. The Mac Mini uses the first generation of "AirPort Extreme" cards which is a 802.11g card. It's capable of 54Mbit transfer speed and WEP, WPA and WPA-2 encryption. It came out on the market in 2003 with the original AluBooks and never got OS9 drivers. So that explains why MorphOS have working WiFi on your Mac Mini but OS9 wont even see the card. No matter what hardware, it's always a driver issue if the hardware is electrical compatible with the computer otherwise. Would be cool to get more WiFi support in Mac OS 9 and earlier for sure.
|
lauland
|
512 MB Posts: 674 Symtes 7 Mewconer!
Reply #5 on: September 25, 2024, 03:04
|
@Knezzen "No matter what hardware, it's always a driver issue if the hardware is electrical compatible with the computer otherwise." That is amazingly well said! I'm going to have to quote you as that explains so many "incompatibilities" so well... (Just think of all the wonderful USB devices that no drivers exist for our beloved Macs!) Weren't the first generation AirPorts actually re-branded cards built by some other company? If so, if a newer driver exists for similar hardware, but not the "AirPort", maybe it could be hacked? (Assuming such a thing exists...and would support newer protocols/authentication). ---- @wove MorphOS is pretty cool, especially to an old Amiga hacker like me. I'm only using the timing out demo version...haven't been able to justify paying for it yet. I did port a bunch of my code to it that I'd been running on AROS...and it didn't work! I cursed MorphOS for a while until I realized it was a big vs little endian thing (tried it on a real m68k Amiga and it crashed there too). (AROS on Intel is little, MorphOS on PowerPC is big). And THAT in turn helped fix the same code on the System 7/8/9 Macs! Let me know if you do anything interesting on MorphOS!
Last Edit: September 25, 2024, 03:11 by lauland
|
ClassicHasClass
|
32 MB Posts: 39
Reply #6 on: September 25, 2024, 20:12
|
For my TiBook G4 I velcroed one of the Netgear game adapter WiFi boxes to it (they connect with Ethernet, and Classilla can be used to set the SSID). To keep it self-contained, since it would take 12V, I wired the power terminals into the FireWire port. No drivers needed.
|
Bolkonskij
|
Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #7 on: September 27, 2024, 11:35
|
I'm using a kind of the same solution with my Pismo sporting OS 9. It's a little white wifi bridge box that connects through the ethernet port. Since it comes with the regular USB cable/adapter solution, you can power it from the USB port on the Pismo! No power outlet needed. I bought two of them years ago. Both work fine, connections get managed through a web interface and they were just 30 bucks a piece or so. If you want, I can look up the exact model for you.
|
wove
|
1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #8 on: September 27, 2024, 13:33
|
I too use a similar device, but the model I have is powered off the mains. It does maintain its settings, so I can move it from outlet to outlet to get a quick ethernet connection whereever I plop myself down in the house. It is very useful with older machines, but is also handy for Linux installs where the built in wireless is not supported hardware.
|
Bolkonskij
|
Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #9 on: September 28, 2024, 12:15
|
Absolutely! Yeah, mine does save the setting as well. Just in case somebody pops into this thread looking for the info (register and say "hi" :-) ) here's what I'm using: TP Link, Model: TL-WR802N Actually just sending this from my PowerBook Pismo :-)
|
|
Pages: [1]
|
| ||||||||||
|
© 2021 System7Today.com. |
