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[UnexpectedBomb]

Time to fire up those G4 AlBooks and iBooks, people 

I am VERY excited to introduce the first-ever AirPort Extreme driver for Mac OS 9. At long last, you can toss aside that travel router and take your favorite unsupported OS 9-booting G4 machine truly WIRELESS with an internal AirPort Extreme card, exactly the way God intended.

SPEED AND SECURITY

Developed and tested on my FW800 MDD, this driver has three components: a system extension (the actual driver), a control panel (UI for connecting to networks), and a control strip (optional but awesome), all based heavily on Apple's original AirPort stack design. True 802.11g speeds have been achieved and documented, reaching up to 1.5 MB/s up and 2 MB/s down, which are comparable to speeds under OS X Tiger with the same hardware and roughly 2.5-3x faster than Apple's original 802.11b AirPort stack.

And perhaps most importantly, it supports WPA2 security, allowing you to connect Mac OS 9 to modern wireless networks securely for the first time.

INSTALLATION

1) Install the AirPort Extreme Driver system extension to your Extensions folder
2) Install the AirPort Extreme control panel to your Control Panels folder
3) Install the AirPort Extreme control strip to your Control Strip Modules folder (optional but you totally should)
4) Reboot
5) Open the TCP/IP control panel, select the "AirPort Extreme" configuration under Connect via, quit to save it
6) Open the AirPort Extreme control panel, select your WPA2 wireless network from the dropdown, enter your password when prompted (also supports unsecured open network connections)

COMPATIBILITY

Confirmed working on the FW800 MDD, and EXPECTED to work on the following:

eMac G4 1.25GHz (USB 2.0)
eMac G4 1.42GHz (2005)
iMac G4 15-inch 1.0GHz
iMac G4 17/20-inch 1.25GHz
Mac mini G4 (Early 2005)
iBook G4 (2003-2004, Radeon 9200)
Al PowerBook G4 12-inch 867MHz
Al PowerBook G4 12-inch 1.0-1.5GHz
Al PowerBook G4 17-inch 1.0GHz
Al PowerBook G4 15/17-inch (Radeon)

Please help me out by confirming this driver works on machines from this list so that I can update my Expected Compatibility table on the repo. Every documented instance of confirmed compatibility is very helpful. General feedback is always appreciated as well. NOW GO ENJOY!

Download the three AirPort Extreme components here:
https://github.com/UnexpectedBomb/MacOS9-Airport-Extreme/releases/tag/v1.0b219

[IIO]

https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/List_of_AirPort_Cards

https://de.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+AirPort+Extreme+Modell+A1143+Teardown/438

[ceratophyllum]

Working on my 14" iBook G4. This is so much nicer than ethernet-wifi bridge.  Now I will have to find something new to do with the Raspberry Pi that has been freed from this job.

[UnexpectedBomb]

Working on my 14" iBook G4. This is so much nicer than ethernet-wifi bridge.  Now I will have to find something new to do with the Raspberry Pi that has been freed from this job.

Awesome! Glad it's helpful, thank you for the confirmation. To be clear, which specific model is your G4 iBook? (either PowerBook6,3 / 6,5 / 6,7)

[ceratophyllum]

PowerBook6,5 256MB with Radeon 9200

I also tested the 14" Powerbook6,5 with 512MB RAM and it works too.

 I'm not sure if these macs originally came with the A1026 card: both of mine were pretty badly stripped down, "for-parts" laptops that had clearly been messed with quite a bit before I got them.  I pulled one of my A1026 Airport Extreme cards out of an Airport "Base Station". (Why can't Apple call things by normal names like "router" and wifi card?) The A1026 card in the 12" ibook I found laying around in a drawer. I forgot what mac it came from....

[UnexpectedBomb]

PowerBook6,5 256MB with Radeon 9200

I also tested the 14" Powerbook6,5 with 512MB RAM and it works too.

 I'm not sure if these macs originally came with the A1026 card: both of mine were pretty badly stripped down, "for-parts" laptops that had clearly been messed with quite a bit before I got them.  I pulled one of my A1026 Airport Extreme cards out of an Airport "Base Station". (Why can't Apple call things by normal names like "router" and wifi card?) The A1026 card in the 12" ibook I found laying around in a drawer. I forgot what mac it came from....

Excellent. This is very helpful information! And I know what you mean... Apple can't sully their reputation by using the same vernacular as the unwashed masses 

[Smithwicks]

I would love to dual-boot my 12" 1.5 PBG4 with Sorbet Leopard and OS 9, perhaps the time has finally drawn near! Unfortunately my first attempt to get the special unsupported iso to boot didn't work, but that was about a year and a half ago. Guess it's time to give it another try! 

[Mat]

Any chance we could get WPA2 for Airport 1 as well?

[UnexpectedBomb]

Any chance we could get WPA2 for Airport 1 as well?

Sadly there's no chance. Apple's original 802.11b AirPort card is not capable of WPA2 encryption, it's a hardware limitation.

[smilesdavis]

Apple AirPort 802.11b card (Lucent/Agere Hermes I wireless chipset) (1999–2003)
AirPort 4.2 +WPA2 (2005)

1. Reverse-engineer the original AirPort hardware interface. Determine the exact connector pinout, voltages, bus timing, interrupt handling and original driver initialization sequence.
2. Build a prototype card interface. Use a small FPGA to respond like the original Lucent Hermes controller, initially without any wireless hardware.
3. Make Mac OS 9 recognize the prototype. Verify card initialization, network enumeration, transmit/receive buffers and TCP/IP networking.
4. Integrate a WPA2-capable radio. Connect an ESP32-C3 or similar wireless controller. Implement Ethernet-frame transfer and appropriate MAC-address handling.
5. Implement network configuration. Initially store SSID and WPA2 password in the card's flash. Later develop a Mac OS 9 configuration utility. The original AirPort menu could remain usable for connection status if emulation works.
6. Miniaturize the hardware. Design a replacement PCB fitting the original AirPort location, using the existing antenna where electrically compatible.

[UnexpectedBomb]

Apple AirPort 802.11b card (Lucent/Agere Hermes I wireless chipset) (1999–2003)
AirPort 4.2 +WPA2 (2005)

1. Reverse-engineer the original AirPort hardware interface. Determine the exact connector pinout, voltages, bus timing, interrupt handling and original driver initialization sequence.
2. Build a prototype card interface. Use a small FPGA to respond like the original Lucent Hermes controller, initially without any wireless hardware.
3. Make Mac OS 9 recognize the prototype. Verify card initialization, network enumeration, transmit/receive buffers and TCP/IP networking.
4. Integrate a WPA2-capable radio. Connect an ESP32-C3 or similar wireless controller. Implement Ethernet-frame transfer and appropriate MAC-address handling.
5. Implement network configuration. Initially store SSID and WPA2 password in the card's flash. Later develop a Mac OS 9 configuration utility. The original AirPort menu could remain usable for connection status if emulation works.
6. Miniaturize the hardware. Design a replacement PCB fitting the original AirPort location, using the existing antenna where electrically compatible.

This is a very interesting thought experiment. Sounds like a lot of work  I suppose it really could be done theoretically.


--COMPATIBILITY UPDATE--

I have now added support for the Broadcom BCM4318 chip, and have also confirmed this driver works with Linksys WPC54G v1.x CardBus cards as well as Linksys WPM54GS v1.x PCI cards. (It likely works with WPM54G v1.x cards as well.) I confirmed it works on the following additional machines:

MDD FW400 (via PCI)
PowerBook G4 Titanium 667 DVI (via CardBus)
PowerBook G3 Wallstreet (via CardBus... hilarious, but it really does work!)

[knobsnswitches]

I saw on Github the Powerbook G4 12" 867 was listed as Unconfirmed...I have got Mac OS 9 installed and booting, but the Airport Extreme Control Panel just reports "The Airport Extreme Driver is not running, Status not available". The extension is definitely installed.

[knobsnswitches]

I saw on Github the Powerbook G4 12" 867 was listed as Unconfirmed...I have got Mac OS 9 installed and booting, but the Airport Extreme Control Panel just reports "The Airport Extreme Driver is not running, Status not available". The extension is definitely installed.

Forgot to mention, that's model ID PowerBook6,1 to be clear.

[UnexpectedBomb]

I saw on Github the Powerbook G4 12" 867 was listed as Unconfirmed...I have got Mac OS 9 installed and booting, but the Airport Extreme Control Panel just reports "The Airport Extreme Driver is not running, Status not available". The extension is definitely installed.

Forgot to mention, that's model ID PowerBook6,1 to be clear.

Did you make sure to select "AirPort Extreme" in the TCP/IP control panel?

[knobsnswitches]

Did you make sure to select "AirPort Extreme" in the TCP/IP control panel?

....um, no. How embarassing.

867 12" PowerBook works!

[UnexpectedBomb]

Did you make sure to select "AirPort Extreme" in the TCP/IP control panel?

....um, no. How embarassing.

867 12" PowerBook works!

   BOOM! Super excited that it works for you. I will add that machine to the compatibility list! Thank you!

[knobsnswitches]

Thanks so much for this bit of software. Very cool. UnexpectedBomb has new software all over the place!

now i just have to figure out if getting sound working on the 12" 867 is possible...

[UnexpectedBomb]

Thanks so much for this bit of software. Very cool. UnexpectedBomb has new software all over the place!

now i just have to figure out if getting sound working on the 12" 867 is possible...

My pleasure. I'm just doing the stuff that Apple should have done, haha.

I think fixing the sound on that laptop is definitely possible. I fixed a similar issue on the G4 Mac Mini; from my understanding of the issue on the 12" 867, the solution could be even simpler, since that PowerBook's "Snapper" audio driver is already alive and working. However, I'd need to get my hands on actual hardware to really put it through its paces for a true solution. I'm always offering to take anyone's unsupported G4 laptop (no desktops, I hope nobody EVER ships me an eMac, haha) on loan if they're willing to ship it to me so I can work out a fix for whatever ails it. If you want it fixed badly enough, that offer is open to you as well if you don't want to take a stab at it yourself. DM me if so.