When I bought my MacBook Air earlier this year, one of my concerns was the absence of an integral wired ethernet port. Most of the time I don’t need one; we have excellent wireless at work and home; and most hotels we visit have wireless as well. I did recall that many hotels only have wired ethernet though, and wondered if I should get the $29 Apple USB Ethernet Adapter for those rare instances. Being lazy, I never got around to it. This is one of those times procrastination paid off.
While cleaning the house recently I discovered that I already have two USB Ethernet adaptors for older gear. We have a 3COM Audrey and a Netgear EA-101C Audrey Ethernet adaptor just collecting dust now. I also have a 3COM 3C460B USB Adaptor for my old Fujitsu Lifebook B142L (Win98 notebook). Neither gadget worked by simply plugging them into my MacBook Air, but a quick web search and I’d found this informative website by Sustainable Softworks that details the different USB ethernet adaptors that work with Mac OS X and links to drivers that work with them. Neither driver worked with the Netgear Audrey ethernet adaptor, but the Pegasus driver works great with my 3COM adaptor.
I am quite pleased to discover that older gear works with my new laptop and I don’t have to spend more money duplicating devices. Sure, the Apple USB Ethernet adaptor is smaller and prettier; but as rarely as I need one of these I can save a few bucks.
I was also pleased to find that my MacBook Air works fine with just about every USB connected optical drive I have tried (Sony DRX-710UL DVD/CD and LaCie d2 Lightscribe DVD/CD used most often). Great for the rare install of DVD/CD based software or burning of a disc from the Air.
Post a Comment