Upgrading Silver to Gold (Lucent/Agere/Proxim WaveLAN/ORiNOCO)

The WaveLAN/ORiNOCO Silver PC Card and Gold PC Card are identical
hardware-wise. I opened up one of each (Lucent:ORiNOCO brand) and the
only differences were the manufacturing dates on the chips. The chip
model numbers were identical. There are no jumpers, resistors,
trace-cuts or other differences in manufacture.

An Apple iceBook (Dual USB iBook) will upgrade a Silver to a Gold. I
did it this morning:

Download the latest AirPort software package from Apple. (I used
version 3.1.1 on Mac OS X. From the net I know that version 2.0.2 also
works (Mac OS 9?) so I assume any version in-between would work, too)

Turn off the iBook

Take out the AirPort card, if any.

Insert the ORiNOCO Silver into the AirPort connector (this will prevent
the keyboard from laying flat but causes no damage).

Turn on the iBook.

Install the AirPort software. (Do the required re-boot.)

The iBook can now connect to a network (like mine) that requires
128-bit WEP!

Turn off the iBook.

Take out the ORiNOCO card.

Put in the AirPort card, if any. (Yes, the iBook and AirPort card
worked as before. No damage was done.)

I put the "upgraded" Silver card into a PC laptop that had been using an
ORiNOCO Gold card and was able to connect to my 128-bit WEP network.

There is also PC software that will convert a Silver to Gold


"John Wasser" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:EeydnbvklfgR0sqiU-(E-Mail Removed)...
> The WaveLAN/ORiNOCO Silver PC Card and Gold PC Card are identical
> hardware-wise. I opened up one of each (Lucent:ORiNOCO brand) and the
> only differences were the manufacturing dates on the chips. The chip
> model numbers were identical. There are no jumpers, resistors,
> trace-cuts or other differences in manufacture.
>
> An Apple iceBook (Dual USB iBook) will upgrade a Silver to a Gold. I
> did it this morning:
>
> Download the latest AirPort software package from Apple. (I used
> version 3.1.1 on Mac OS X. From the net I know that version 2.0.2 also
> works (Mac OS 9?) so I assume any version in-between would work, too)
>
> Turn off the iBook
>
> Take out the AirPort card, if any.
>
> Insert the ORiNOCO Silver into the AirPort connector (this will prevent
> the keyboard from laying flat but causes no damage).
>
> Turn on the iBook.
>
> Install the AirPort software. (Do the required re-boot.)
>
> The iBook can now connect to a network (like mine) that requires
> 128-bit WEP!
>
> Turn off the iBook.
>
> Take out the ORiNOCO card.
>
> Put in the AirPort card, if any. (Yes, the iBook and AirPort card
> worked as before. No damage was done.)
>
> I put the "upgraded" Silver card into a PC laptop that had been using an
> ORiNOCO Gold card and was able to connect to my 128-bit WEP network.
>

Is there?

Got a link?

Scott

"Arthur Hardy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:md56b.1295$(E-Mail Removed)...
> There is also PC software that will convert a Silver to Gold
>
>
> "John Wasser" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:EeydnbvklfgR0sqiU-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > The WaveLAN/ORiNOCO Silver PC Card and Gold PC Card are identical
> > hardware-wise. I opened up one of each (Lucent:ORiNOCO brand) and the
> > only differences were the manufacturing dates on the chips. The chip
> > model numbers were identical. There are no jumpers, resistors,
> > trace-cuts or other differences in manufacture.
> >
> > An Apple iceBook (Dual USB iBook) will upgrade a Silver to a Gold. I
> > did it this morning:
> >
> > Download the latest AirPort software package from Apple. (I used
> > version 3.1.1 on Mac OS X. From the net I know that version 2.0.2 also
> > works (Mac OS 9?) so I assume any version in-between would work, too)
> >
> > Turn off the iBook
> >
> > Take out the AirPort card, if any.
> >
> > Insert the ORiNOCO Silver into the AirPort connector (this will prevent
> > the keyboard from laying flat but causes no damage).
> >
> > Turn on the iBook.
> >
> > Install the AirPort software. (Do the required re-boot.)
> >
> > The iBook can now connect to a network (like mine) that requires
> > 128-bit WEP!
> >
> > Turn off the iBook.
> >
> > Take out the ORiNOCO card.
> >
> > Put in the AirPort card, if any. (Yes, the iBook and AirPort card
> > worked as before. No damage was done.)
> >
> > I put the "upgraded" Silver card into a PC laptop that had been using an
> > ORiNOCO Gold card and was able to connect to my 128-bit WEP network.
> >
>
>

Scott <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Is there?

> Got a link?

This appeared a while ago.

John Roland Elliott <JohnRolandElliott-no-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> http://www.nextechwireless.net/suppo...ldwindows.html

> I don't see why this is not actionable, i.e., why they wouldn't be sued by
> Proxim. I don't think their alchemy worked anyway.

The name has changed so many times... maybe Proxim will catch on in another
year, but then the name of the card will have changed again.

On the Nextechwirless site, it looks like they were just rearranging some
files, and broke it. The old page has a "/faqs" inserted in the path, but
shows no screen shots. If I modify the html and insert the same "/faqs" as
in the changed link to the page, then the images show up.

http://www.nextechwireless.net/suppo...ldwindows.html
changed to
http://www.nextechwireless.net/suppo...ldwindows.html

In that page source,
src="http://www.nextechwireless.net/support/images/orinocoproperties.jpg"
needs to change to
src="http://www.nextechwireless.net/support/faqs/images/orinocoproperties.jpg"

for each of several jpg references.



Just tracking down the old drivers for this card was a chore. I've since
found the web page http://www.uglybugger.org/source-enterasys2orinoco.php3
which is more on target... not changing the feature, just loading the newer
drivers. But it refers to "old" drivers, without links. That might take
some shopping.