Odds and Ends: Tip for getting a cheap Belkin wireless card to work in older PowerBooks

Tip for getting a cheap Belking wireless card to work in older PowerBooks MacFixIt reader Martin HOlley has a tip for getting a relatively cheap wireless access card to work with older PowerBooks that do not support AirPort Extreme:

He writes:

"I don't know if other people have had problems getting the Belkin F5D7010 wireless card to work with a mac, but thought I would pass this along. I have a 500mhz TiBook running 10.2.8, which does not work with the Airport Extreme card. Online I found that the Belkin F5D7010 PC Card is Mac compatable (and only US$19.99 right now at a national computer store, along with a US$9.99 belkin wireless router). The card came with no Mac drivers and no information for mac setup. Airport 3.04 and 3.1 would not recognize it.

"Belkin's tech support and web site were no help with this issue. But the PowerBook saw the card as a RaLink Technology RT2500 (the real maker of the card) instead of a Belkin card. Went to their site (http://www.ralinktech.com) and, yes they have a Mac driver. Installed thatand now works like a charm. A few hours of frustration dealing with the card, but for an older powerbook a US$30 802.11g wireless network is hard to beat."

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