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More on getting purportedly unsupported devices to work with Mac OS X
Yesterday's report on the ability to use some purportedly unsupported (Windows-only) OEM devices with Mac OS X prompted response from a number of readers who have had similar success.
In the case of the Dell printer, an alternative driver for a different brand of the same mechanism (manufactured by Samsung) worked to let the device operate in Mac OS X.
MacFixIt reader Aram Fingal also notes that many of the ostensibly Windows-only (and in many cases, cheaper) network adapters -- including PCI wireless cards -- are inherently Mac OS X-compatible without the need for added drivers.
Aram writes:
"I have a great many examples of stuff that has no official Mac support but does, in fact, work. You can quite often look at something you want to buy, search the web, and find that someone has gotten it to work with a Mac. One recent example of this is when I wanted to add wireless (802.11g) to an older G4 tower (Sawtooth). Buying the original AirPort card which this Mac has a slot for would not only have been expensive, it would have meant using the slower 802.11b speed. Since there are many inexpensive PCI wireless cards made for PCs I searched online vendors for one that specified Mac support but did not find any at the time. Then I searched the general web and found someone who claimed that he plugged a Linksys Wireless G PCI card into a Mac and it worked with OS X built-in drivers. I decided to take a chance and, not only did it work, the Mac identified the card as an AirPort Extreme card and everything worked as if it was such."
MacFixIt reader Mike reports success with another Dell printer:
"The Dell 5200 is compatible with the Lexmark T630. While Dell doesn't say anything about Mac compatibility it even shows up in the Mac OS 8/9 choosers and works here with all installed options like full duplex."
If you've purchased a Mac OS X-compatible product that was labeled as supported only by Windows, please drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.
Resources
Aram writes:
Exactly which Linksys Wireless G PCI card model did you get? Linksys has
many listed --old and new.
I think Apple is ripping everyone off by not specifying which third party cards
will work since they no longer sell them. I need an Airport Express equivalent
for a G3 iMac DV SE 500MHz but don't want to spend over $100 on eBay to
get the real thing in used condition. Even 802.11b would be acceptable but
802.11g would be
nice.
Get the eBay AirPort card you can find many new cards on small dog or any-
other Mac reseller you like Apple? BUY APPLE
P.S I am not trying to be rude I have had alot of time with Mac's don't take a
chance & buy a Maybe Card it may work, Just not well or just not for long
though.
Try
http://www.powerbookmedic.com
http://www.macwireless.com/index.php
Any of the Eternet to Wireless-G bridges will work with your iMac. They are in
general OS independent and driver free. Just make sure it has a web interface.
D-Link, LinkSys and NetGear make these devices and street prices are close to
what you would pay for an AirPort card which is Wireless-B.
G4 Titanium running 10.4.2 and Airport 4.2. I first tried a WPC54G v4 and that
didn't work. Then I read on the net that the WPC54GS has the Broadcom chipset
and that they got it to work with their Powerbook and Airport drivers, so I
exchanged the G for the GS and it worked fine. I should note that I removed my
failing internal Airport card first. System Profiler shows the card as Airport
Extreme. I'm still getting used to the antenna sticking out of the PC Card slot,
but it does get much better reception. I can see my neighbors access point now,
which I couldn't with the built in Airport.
OSX, from 10.2 on.
It would be nice to compile a list of known good network adapters; there are
some already, but they are often out of date.
I hope this helps
They seem to have changed the chipset on the belkin cards and the new ones
don't work.
Hi,
I found out that there is an IOExperts 802.11b Driver for OS X (and OS 8 and
9 too) (www.ioexperts.com) for many non-Apple cards which they list on the
site. Their drivers are $19.95 but that and an inexpensive "PC" card sounds
worth a try.
The earlier version Samsung printer drivers would NOT let us use the double-sided printer feature from the Macs.
Samsung has discontinued supporting the CLP-500 Laser Printer, so no new drivers will be forth coming.
Larry Winward
Great help to get our CLP-500 working on Mac, however, the 6100 driver only
worked on USB2 connection (with no access to the printer prefs), whereas
using the 6100 driver via Ethernet the CLP-500 would not print (stating
Ethernet connection busy), but now you could access all printer preferences
and tools directly. Using G4 1GHz DP, Tiger and Panther, both the same
experience, but thanks for the really helpful tip!
it exist : http://www.osxcompatible.free.fr/
Of course, we don't try to do anything fancy on this printer, so maybe Samsung just withdrew support for the Macintosh on these printers, rather than fix whatever problems people encountered? Looking at the ML-1710 again today, it no longer claims Mac compatibility (though it used to do so). Some of their other printers do claim compatibility.
Actually, drivers for those printers are available at Samsungs Global Download Center.
Well, that was useful.
Samsungs Global Download Center URL is http://www.samsung.com/
download/#
http://homepage.mac.com/macinside/PhotoAlbum36.html
one not yet listed.
Merci Jeremy Hourdin for this great site
Radeon X850's or higher to work?
- by brock56 October 22, 2009 9:38 AM PDT
- Great idea: Bypass the need to get an iMac but still enjoy built in webcam functionality by getting a MacMini and purchasing a Dell 2210 screen with bilt in webcam in its stead. Now, can anybody tell me how to get functionality of this webcam in Snow Leopard? MacCam doesn't seem to work but I don't know for sure and there doesn't appear to be info readily at hand if there is a driver to be found to get me up and running!
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