Member Avatar for Thinka

My friend's old G4 needs a wireless card, and he would like to know where he can get a good one (preferably online) for a decent price? The Mac Shop he's been to are charging him something ridiculous apparently.

The specs of the machine:
Processor: 800 MHz G4
Memory: 256 MB SDRAM
Bus Speed: 133 MHz

Anyone with a useful link/tip is very much appreciated, thanks.

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Dani AI

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Short primer (for and following ): the single most important thing is to identify the exact G4 model. Boot the Mac and open Applications → Utilities → System Profiler (Hardware Overview) and copy the Model Name / Model Identifier (examples look like PowerMac3,5 or PowerMac3,6). If it won’t boot, check the label on the case for the model/EMC number. With that identifier you can look up whether the tower has an internal AirPort/AirPort Extreme slot or not. (everymac.com)

What that lookup will tell you: some very early PCI‑based G4s (the 350/400 series) do not support an internal AirPort card, while many later towers do support either the original AirPort (802.11b) or AirPort Extreme (802.11g). The internal Apple slot is model‑specific, it won’t accept modern 802.11n/ac hardware, and older cards can struggle with current router security. If the model supports it, installing an AirPort card is typically a straightforward case‑open/seat‑the‑card task — Apple’s manuals and step‑by‑step videos cover the procedure. (everymac.com)

Options and tradeoffs: (a) hunt a used Apple AirPort / AirPort Extreme card (period‑correct but slower and sometimes pricey); (b) install a third‑party PCI Wi‑Fi card (gives faster speeds but verify PPC / Mac OS X 10.3 driver availability first); (c) use a USB Wi‑Fi dongle (drivers for Tiger/PPC are rare); or (d) the easiest and most future‑proof choice — use the Mac’s Ethernet port with a small travel router / Wi‑Fi‑to‑Ethernet bridge (client/bridge mode) so the tower gets secure WPA2 Wi‑Fi without any Mac drivers. (macpartstore.com)

Recommendation: post the Model Identifier here and someone can confirm the exact AirPort part if you want an internal card. Otherwise, for minimal fuss and best security, get a cheap travel router or Ethernet bridge (client/bridge mode) and plug the Power Mac into Ethernet — quick, inexpensive, and avoids driver/security headaches. If you do use vintage AirPort hardware, do not expose it on your main network with WEP; isolate legacy devices on a separate guest/VLAN. (manuals.plus)

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All 9 Replies

Member Avatar for John A

Um, what kind of Mac is it? "G4" is a only a processor type.

Member Avatar for Thinka

Oh yea, it's an OS X 10.3.9.

Member Avatar for John A

That's the operating system version. What type of Mac is it (iMac, PowerMac, etc.)?

Member Avatar for Thinka

Hey joe, the guy says as far as he knows, it is a "PowerPc G4" Apple computer. He reckons it's older than an iMac and it's not a PowerMac... I haven't seen it yet so unfortunately I can't elaborate on that. Is the above not enough information to know what kind of wireless card it requires?

Member Avatar for John A

>Is the above not enough information to know what kind of wireless card it requires?
No, it's kind of important that you know what kind of a computer you're trying to stick it into. Can you get some sort of description of it? Is it a cube? Is the whole computer contained in the monitor? Or is it a tower?

I found some images on Google. Let me know if they fit the description.
PowerMac G4 Cube
PowerMac G4 Tower

Member Avatar for Thinka

Hey, yeah it's G4 Tower, definitely not any of the other ones.

Member Avatar for John A

In that case, adding airport shouldn't be very difficult at all.

I should have thought of this earlier. Go to Applications/Utilities/System Profiler, and under Hardware Overview there should be "Model name" and "Model identifier". Then underneath the "Hardware" thing in the sidebar, there should be "FireWire". Post all that here; it's important to know the exact model and the type of FireWire connection.

Member Avatar for John A

Actually, on another bit of researching, it looks like it doesn't matter as much as I thought;

Member Avatar for Thinka

Hey, that's a really good website, thank you sir, it's much appreciated.

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