Check your local CompUSA to see if they still have any Sony Wireless LAN Access Point and PC Card bundles. Sony still sells them for $280, but CompUSA has them for $29.88. They even have printed price tags beneath them at this price, so this is not just a special, but rather an inventory clear out. the CUSA SKU is 282074.
The cards are rebadged Lucent/Orinoco cards. I haven't been able to assess whether or not these are 40-bit or 128-bit cards, but I think they're 40-bit.
Sony has discontinued support for these, but that doesn't matter - you can use the FreeBase utility to reflash them using either an Apple Airport (Graphite) base station firmware or the latest Orinoco RG-1000 (possibly the AP-500 also) firmware. Then you've got an Airport you can configure and control from a Mac, or a RG-1000 you can configure and run from a PC. I've tried both and can confirm that this works. I won't link to the firmware in this forum, but you can find them easily online. The hardware in all of these access points is the same. They are very nice access points with modems built in and with support for AOL users under the new firmware, however their range is not on par with the more recent offerings available.
The Access Points are easily opened as well, which means you can just harvest the wireless PC Card inside or drill a small hole in the back to add an external antenna to increase their range.
I hope this deal hasn't been posted before; I searched but didn't see it. I know Overstock currently has the similar PCWA-A200 base stations for $140, but I think this is a slightly better deal since these are new and not refurbished and $100 less.
-Conrad
The cards are rebadged Lucent/Orinoco cards. I haven't been able to assess whether or not these are 40-bit or 128-bit cards, but I think they're 40-bit.
Sony has discontinued support for these, but that doesn't matter - you can use the FreeBase utility to reflash them using either an Apple Airport (Graphite) base station firmware or the latest Orinoco RG-1000 (possibly the AP-500 also) firmware. Then you've got an Airport you can configure and control from a Mac, or a RG-1000 you can configure and run from a PC. I've tried both and can confirm that this works. I won't link to the firmware in this forum, but you can find them easily online. The hardware in all of these access points is the same. They are very nice access points with modems built in and with support for AOL users under the new firmware, however their range is not on par with the more recent offerings available.
The Access Points are easily opened as well, which means you can just harvest the wireless PC Card inside or drill a small hole in the back to add an external antenna to increase their range.
I hope this deal hasn't been posted before; I searched but didn't see it. I know Overstock currently has the similar PCWA-A200 base stations for $140, but I think this is a slightly better deal since these are new and not refurbished and $100 less.
-Conrad