Wireless Home Networking - Index of

The current AirPort Extreme card is a mini-PCI Card (well, it’s the same size
and shape but designed to fit only in AirPort slots in Macs). It fits inside an
Apple computer, such as several recent PowerBook G4s, iBooks, and iMacs,
but doesn’t fit in the original AirPort slot in older Macs — and isn’t required
for any of Macs built since 2005 (all of which already have Wi-Fi built in). The
AirPort Extreme card has a retail price of $49. The AirPort Extreme card is Wi-
Fi certified to be compliant with 802.11g, so it connects to any Wi-Fi certified
802.11b or 802.11g access point, including (but not limited to) the Apple
AirPort Extreme base stations.
Some recent Intel-based Macs were shipped with 802.11n capable AirPort
Extreme cards installed but without the software that turned on the 802.11n
functionality. In other words, these Macs were sold as 802.11a/b/g compatible,
even though their hardware could support 802.11n as well. In order to
turn on this functionality, Apple requires you to download a small software
firmware patch for the card. You can get this file (called the AirPort Extreme
802.11n Enabler for Mac) in two ways:
� Pay Apple $1.99 and download it from the Apple Online Store (http://
store.apple.com).
� Buy an AirPort Extreme base station with Gigabit Ethernet (Apple’s
802.11n Wi-Fi router) — the software patch is included for free in the box.
If you have a MacBook Pro with Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac Pro with AirPort
Extreme option, or iMac with Intel Core 2 Duo (except the 17-inch 1.83GHz
iMac), you may want to upgrade to 802.11n. You can check if you already
have the Enabler file by opening the Network Utility (found in the Utilities
folder in your Mac’s Applications folder) and viewing the Info tab: If the en1
Network Interface is described as 802.11a/b/g/n, you don’t need the Enabler;
if it just says 802.11a/b/g/, you do.
Apple AirPort Extreme–ready computers
Apple has been including Wi-Fi capability as a standard feature of all its computers
for a few years — so any Mac laptop or desktop purchased since midto-late
2005 has at least 802.11g Wi-Fi capability built in. The only exceptions
are the MacPro desktop machines, which are most often used in business
environments (where wired Ethernet connections are common); these computers
have the AirPort capability as an option in some configurations.
A number of Apple computers (since mid-to-late 2006) have been capable of
supporting 802.11n as well, including the following:
� iMac with Intel Core 2 Duo (except the 17-inch 1.83 GHz iMac)
� MacBook with Intel Core 2 Duo
Chapter 8: Setting Up a Wireless Mac Network
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