Comments on: Airport Extreme vs. Linux

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:10:51 +0000

I use linux on my mac with Parallels. Then it works fine. I’m running ubuntu, so I can use my mac when I want and linux when I want, and it solves the driver problem.
In my opinion the airport extreme sucks at this point. I’ve switched back to my netgear and want to return the piece of junk. I can’t even get a signal in the next room. I’m not newbie here either, it just can’t compare on signal strength. The printer didn’t really work either; not immediately, I’m sure I could mess with it, but why – its a Mac, I paid more so I didn’t have to mess with it.

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:22:00 +0000

As of 2007 drivers are available for the broadcom chipset. I believe that it has been reverse engineered, without any specs from broadcom. They should be included with recent distros.

By: What linux should i get for my g3 ibook - Computer Forum

What linux should i get for my g3 ibook - Computer Forum — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:48:47 +0000

[...] one blog seen on the Airport Extreme regarding the typical laxk of drivers available for Linux. Airport Extreme vs. Linux … Fortunately HP provides one page with a [...]

By: fadumpt

fadumpt — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:21:39 +0000

without reading any comments….I don’t think signing a petition for this is going to matter. From what I’ve read, Broadcom can’t release the source for this card because of military frequency restrictions. So instead, we can all be happy using the drivers that are now reverse engineered and built in to the 2.6.17 kernel. Instructions and information can be found here–>http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/?go=home

By: Andalong Dudigual

Andalong Dudigual — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 06:34:08 +0000

whew man, IMHO I can sugest that you can yellow dog linux, I know I bought it too, as a mac user its tempting to go for it since YDL attempts to appeal to mac users, problem is its crap and is always old. check out other distros like Debian which work on all macs, (PPC, Intel, and even 68k) dont require you to pay 30 some odd dollars, and is much more conigurable to your needs and personal taste. not to mention much much faster and more powerfull, once you get the swing of things try building a system without
kde or gnome, (fluxbox and blackbox are beautifull and super fast).
PS in response to some of the other replys, there are still quite a few truly great apps for linux that run slow as hell on apple X11, this warants that dual boot. I prefer OSX but sometimes you need Linux too.

By: Rackatack

Rackatack — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:32:21 +0000

There is another site where some drivers might be found.
The site is in french … but it should work
http://www.brest-wireless.net/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=345
this one is in english
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-409194.html

have fun

By: matthew

matthew — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 06:06:40 +0000

if you want to get airport extreme working with linux on your pb.

By: djchem

djchem — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 16:12:12 +0000

The latest version of YDL 4.1 supposedly contains experimental drivers for the Airport Extreme. This is taken from their hardware support page.

“Wireless: While the 802.11b and 802.11g protocols (including the original Airport) are supported, Apple’s Airport Extreme is not. However, a beta driver is included with YDL v4.1.”

It looks like YDL is finally going to get loaded onto my powerbook.

By: Fedora Core 5—and Airport Extreme on Linux? | K-Squared Ramblings

Fedora Core 5—and Airport Extreme on Linux? | K-Squared Ramblings — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:56:52 +0000

[...] This is the chipset used in Apple’s Airport Extreme wireless networking interface, which is what you’ll find in just about every wireless-capable Mac made over the last few years. Until recently, there were no Linux drivers because Broadcom would neither write their own nor release specifications for others to write them. The project at Berlios has apparently reverse-engineered the chip to produce an open-source driver, with its first usable version in December [...]

By: Joao

Joao — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 02:01:46 +0000

Hi there,

I have a G4 Powerbook 12”. I have both Debian and OSX installed in my laptop. There are several things, you can do in Linux, and not in OSX. If you are going to configure servers (e.g. RADIUS, Apache, firewall scripts, network traffic control, several gateway definitions…) OSX won’t let you be flexible. You have to stick to already implemented solutions which are not allways what you need.

PS: try to get ethereal run in OSX, and you’ll see the troubles you have to get it correctly installed

By: Etienne

Etienne — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 08:55:36 +0000

Hi,
googling this morning on broadcom, I found this fresh and interesting thread: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/linux/kernel/594747
enjoy !

> why would you want to run linux?
Sometimes to be open is not enough. I like to be free
And apt give me far more binaries than fink.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 04:45:26 +0000

Now Paul, you may have noticed that keit(h)? said nearly the same thing earlier on, but without insulting everyone else who had posted on this page. He also got answers for his trouble.

At an early age, someone should have told you that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

By: paul

paul — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 14:21:49 +0000

you are all idiots. why would you want to run linux? i thoguht it would be a good idea, so i put yellow dog on my computer. after about a week, i realized that i wanted back my beautiful aqua interface. i know you feel special by now using anything mainstream, but it is a stupid and unproductive OS. everything yellow dog could do, osX could do better. and hey! the airport cards work too!

By: Kelson

Kelson — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 21:46:55 +0000

Apple seems to take a pragmatic approach to open source. If they can make use of it, they'll do so, and they'll honor at least the letter of their obligations (and, depending on which team, possibly more). They've been very open with the BSD-based Darwin core of OS X, and a few months ago they opened up Webkit, the basis for Safari. But they have no motivation on things like Airport Extreme. Apple wants a chipset that works with Mac OS. Whether the spec is open is irrelevant to them. I seriously doubt that they chose Broadcom specifically because Broadcom was opposed to providing open drivers or specs. As for Ogg and the iPod, there has to be more than just a lack of reasons against it, there has to be a reason for it that matters to Apple. Supporting MP3 was necessary because it was a defacto standard. Supporting a format that could include DRM was necessary for the iTunes store. And if WMA-based downloads ever outstrip iTMS sales, I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple negotiate a deal to license WMA. But Ogg Vorbis? It's an alternative to MP3, not to AAC or WMA, and its main selling point is that it's not patent encumbered. (Contrast to PNG, which can actually deliver features GIF can't---like full color and multilevel transparency.) Apple's already paid the licenses for MP3, so they have no reason to implement Ogg unless they see a consumer demand for it. And their target audience---Windows users and Mac users---is likely to use CD ripping software that has paid the MP3 tax, and won't have a huge library of Ogg files.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 21:13:09 +0000

I have a iBook 12″ with an aiport extreme card.

I love apple hardware, it really is nice quality. But I dont think I will buy another apple product again.
They are just not open to open source. Their iPod wont play ogg, this iBook is har getting to work properly under linux, there arent any drivers for the airport card.
I hate it when tech companies make “fake” bounderies. There are no good reason why the iPod cant play ogg, and there arent any real reason that they dont use a wireless chipset with open source drivers.