Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › Leopard 10.5 › Support for a USB LAN 10/100 Adapter
6,235 reads · 2008-01-25 – 2008-02-26
Note Leopard 10.5 AMD OSx86 NVIDIA GeForce AHCI / SATA

Support for a USB LAN 10/100 Adapter

I bought it 2 years ago to get ethernet onto a VERY old P2 system, anyways just sits and I never use it, so I put it in my WindowsXP and it reads it as a Realtek_RTL8150_USB_10_100_Fast_Ethernet_Adapter, but it is a generic CompUSA adapter…

Primary Author
@nicknowsky Published 2008-01-25
Collection
Leopard 10.5
Archival Footprint
6,235 historical reads · 5 curated field notes (from 6 dispatches) · 2008-01-25 – 2008-02-26
Credited Voices (4)
@cgsheen (2)@bcw (2)@nicknowsky@ace_ram

I bought it 2 years ago to get ethernet onto a VERY old P2 system, anyways just sits and I never use it, so I put it in my WindowsXP and it reads it as a Realtek_RTL8150_USB_10_100_Fast_Ethernet_Adapter, but it is a generic CompUSA adapter really. SPECS:
AMD Athlon X2 4000 Brisbane oc'd 2.5ghz
Biostar GF7025-M2 (AM2) Mobo
1GB PC4200 DDR2
NVIDIA GeForce 7025 (north) / nForce 630a (south) CHIPSETS
Foxconn Geforce 8400GS PCIe
Realtek ALC662 6-Channel HD Audio
Realtek RTL8201N - 10/100 PHY

I am running Jas 10.4 but Im about to run Leo today, but natively I dont get LAN or Audio and ANY osx build 10.4 or 10.5, but I was figuring it would be easier to get the little USB thumb adapter to work, than my onboard LAN, I cant get anything to work right, just the basic installation

Synthesized Community Field Notes

5 technical responses curated from 6 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @ace_ram 2008-02-25

Im using an airlink 101 usb to ethernet adapter right now, and it works right out of the box! Sad thing for my onboard LAN though, chipset is realtek 8201CL(mcp61) and so far it only gives me an IP of 169…

Field Note #2 @cgsheen 2008-02-25

I have a few Airlink101 AWLL3026 USB 802.11g wireless adapters. They use the ZyDas chip apparently and they have an OS X Installer package on their website (all their other stuff is mostly Windows only for drivers). Works perfectly with 10.5.1 and 10.5.2. I've disabled the RTL8201 on all my installs and use one of these or install a cheap RTL8169 based PCI network card (airlink101 and trendnet use the RTL8139 for their 10/100 cards and the RTL8169 for their gigabit cards)

Field Note #3 @bcw 2008-02-26

Will this NIC work?
<a href="dpb olvw.net/fl115kjspjr69FGB79D687BB7FGE?sid=Newegg+Affiliate&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FProduct.aspx%3FItem%3DN82E16833164125%26nm_mc%3DAFC-C8Junction%26cm_mmc%3DAFC-C8Junction-_-Network%2B-%2BInterface%2BCards-_-Hawking%2BTechnology-_-33164125&cjsku=N82E16833164125" target="_blank" onmouseover="window.status='new egg.com';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=' ';return true;">
HAWKING HGA32T PCI Gigabit Ethernet Adapter</a>
<img src="ftj cfx.com/d3106ax0pvtEHNOJFHLEGFJJFNOM" width="1" height="1" border="0"/>
It uses RTL8169 chip, and supports Mac OS X. Looks like it comes with the driver. Can I just install the original for Leopard 10.5.2 AMD or I have to patch the driver somehow before install it? I tried to installed a driver for my sound card ESI Juli@. I download the OS X driver from its website and install it without problem. But then after reboot I got kernel panic. I wasn't sure if it's gonna work and I just want to experiment. Obviously it doesn't work.

My question is: if I want to install driver for a hardware, what is the correct way to do it for a hackintosh? I probably won't use my ESI sound card but I do need to use this realtek 8169 NIC since my onboard one in nforce, which gives me trouble all the time.

Field Note #4 @cgsheen 2008-02-26

Yup, it should work just fine. So should this one:
<a href="dpb olvw.net/3t121kjspjr69FGB79D687BB7FGE?sid=Newegg+Affiliate&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FProduct.aspx%3FItem%3DN82E16833156139%26nm_mc%3DAFC-C8Junction%26cm_mmc%3DAFC-C8Junction-_-Network%2B-%2BInterface%2BCards-_-Trendnet-_-33156139&cjsku=N82E16833156139" target="_blank" onmouseover="window.status='new egg.com';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=' ';return true;">
TRENDnet TEG-PCITXR PCI Copper Gigabit Network Adapter</a>
<img src="awlt ovhc.com/55108ax0pvtEHNOJFHLEGFJJFNOM" width="1" height="1" border="0"/>
or this one:
<a href="shop4.out post.com/product/3887837?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG">Link</a>
(I've used several of these... They go on sale at Fry's (in store) for about $5.00...)

or this one if you don't need gigabit (it's a 10/100 RTL8139):
<a href="shop4.out post.com/product/4278294?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG">Link</a>
(this one is on sale <b>in store</b> for $2.00)

The RTL8169 will be supported natively (there's already a "driver" in 10.5.1 and 10.5.2 for the RTL8169 AND the RTL8139) so you shouldn't have to install anything else.

Field Note #5 @bcw 2008-02-26

Thanks cgsheen. I'm gonna order one and reinstall my system. Too bad there's no Fry's around, otherwise the $2.00 one would be a no-brainer.

Sources & Contributor Provenance (4 credited usernames · Thread #96)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@cgsheenContributor22008-02-25 → 2008-02-26
@bcwContributor22008-02-26
@nicknowskyPrimary Author12008-01-25
@ace_ramContributor12008-02-25