USB adapter for Gigabit Ethernet

On Mar 6, 2007, at 11:33 AM, Maurice van Peursem wrote:

> I'm considering using a Mac Mini G4 as fileserver. However, I need
> more speed than 100 Mbps. For a few bucks you can get a USB adapter
> for gigabit Ethernet, but does that work with a Mac?

Belkin's F5D5055 claims MacOS X compatibility. However, a comment on
the NewEgg site for that product notes that the drivers don't work
with some Macs.

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=281799

Additionally, other devices are supported by some 3rd party drivers.
You can find more information at the Sustainable Softworks website:

http://www.sustworks.com/site/news_usb_ethernet.html

> And do I get a speed of 20 MByte/s? That would be sufficient for me.

USB2 maxes out at 480 Mb/s, so you wouldn't get the full 1000Mb off
your connection, but it should be quite zippy. I would expect
throughput to exceed your 20 MB/s mark. You'd want to be very careful
about not putting any other devices on the same USB controller (no
idea if the mini has multiple USB controllers on it), as they would
drastically decrease the available bandwidth for networking.

--Nik

Don't forget that if you just need to connect your Mini and some other device, you can use IP over Firewire to extend your network to the Mini.... (and get 400Mbit/s networking)

Mike