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pudge (1)

pudge
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Journal of pudge (1)

Wednesday April 17, 2002
11:59 AM

AirPort(tm) Saga

[ #4272 ]

So I have five Apple laptops of different models in my home currently. Four have internal AirPort, one has a WaveLAN PC Card. All work great, except for the most expensive one, the TiBook. In some spots in my home its signal strength is horribly weak.

I can use the WaveLAN PC Card under Mac OS 9, but there is no software to easily switch between the two cards. The Orinoco software which I thought would work (just let it handle the PC card, and let AirPort software handle the internal card!) won't, because the Orinoco driver now has a "feature" where it can work with the internal AirPort card. Hm. Maybe I'll see if I can disable that feature.

Anyone know about antennas for 802.11 cards, or better yet, internal AirPort cards?


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  • I thought the 2nd gen TiBooks had an antennae all the way around the edge of the box and not just in one spot in previous models. Are you sure it's an antenna problem?

    Jarkko and I both have had odd little airport problems with the iBooks lately where flipping it off then on again seems to do the trick.

    • Apparently, they've improved it, but it still sucks. I don't know it is the antenna, but I am quite sure it is the nature of the TiBook. Most of the people I know with TiBooks, who I've discussed it with, have such problems (including Simon [perl.org]).
  • Did you open the TiBook up to double-check that someone actually connected the antenna wire? (Or that if they did it was still connected?) The TiBooks run hot, and repeated heating and cooling will tend to make loose connectors disconnect.
    • It's connected, I'm sure. I normally have a connection that is just fine in the house, but there are some dead spots in the house, and the range outside is very poor. It's just a weak signal, which is what most people seem to have.
  • As you probably know, an AirPort actually just uses a Lucent Wavelan card inside. If you unscrew the case and then take the cover off (totally ruining the really nice design) you can plug a standard "pig tail adaptor" into it. And from there a standard antenna.

    I've got a really big omnidirectional antenna connected to mine that looks a lot like a light sabre. It allows me to use my laptop (with it's buffalo card) in the pub next door or the cafe across the street. No more connection problems. Securit

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