But when I ran the robocopy routine, which copies a folder of files from a ripped DVD, the connection locked up when the copy got to a 1 GB VOB file. I was able to get the FAT-formatted disk to be recognized and mapped to my Vista SP1 test system. The Wireless Security controls apply to both radios.Īnother area where I wasn’t able to complete testing was measuring the performance of the USB drive sharing feature. ![]() And finally, if you want separate wireless security settings for each radio, you’ll need to choose another product. I also found that the Extreme doesn’t support automatic wireless security setup via Wi-Fi Protected Setup, which is surprising given Apple’s focus on ease of use. So good luck if you’re trying to use a 128 Bit WEP key with the Extreme. Note also that I could only enter thirteen characters, even when I tried the $ Hex Escape character. Despite repeated attempts, I could not get the Extreme to allow WEP-only connections and my client insisted on connecting via WPA2 / AES. This then exposed WEP, which was marked as a "Transitional Security Network".īut even then, WEP testing was not to be. I finally found an obscure discussion group post that revealed that I needed to press the Control key while clicking the Wireless Security dropdown in the Windows version of the utility or the Apple key in the Mac OS version. But even that didn’t come up with an obvious solution right away. When a search in Apple’s Support database also didn’t come back with anything obvious, I finally turned to Google. And a search through the PDF User Guide didn’t yield even a single hit. Speaking of WEP, I wasn’t able to even find it among the Wireless Security options. No matter what I tried, I could not force the Extreme to allow only WPA/TKIP connections, nor could I get it to allow WEP only. When it came time to check to see if the Extreme dropped to 11g rates when using WEP or WPA/TKIP, I ended up not being able to run the tests. While I still think hogging bandwidth in 2.4 GHz isn’t a neighborly thing to do, there are some cases when it might be helpful. Perhaps its time for Apple to take a similar path. ![]() Even Intel has backed off on the no-40 MHz-for-you-in-2.4 GHz policy in its original 4965 AGN 11n adapters, allowing it to be enabled in the newer 51 AGNs. You also shouldn’t bother trying to find the setting to enable 40 MHz channel width mode in the 2.4 GHz band-Apple still has it locked out. But two antenna connections per radio says that it’s a dual-stream-only design. Since Marvell keeps details on its devices to itself and its customers, I don’t know anything about these devices. I didn’t take the shield off the radio module, so was only able to see the two Marvell 88W8366 devices visible in the photo. A glance at the bottom of the board revealed a Pericom PI7C9X20303UL PCIe Packet Switch, which I assume helps connect the new radio module to the CPU. Note the big ol’ button-cell battery, I guess to keep info alive in RAM. RAM has been increased from 64 to 128 MB, but flash stayed the same at 16 MB. ![]() But Apple’s case design still allows only one WAN and three LAN ports to be exposed, none of which support jumbo frames. The switch is now a Marvell 88E6350R 7 Port Gigabit. The new processor is a Marvell 88F6281 1.2 GHz "Kirkwood", which is a popular choice in current-generation NASes, instead of the 88F5181 in the previous model. This is actually an entirely new board, with an all-Marvell design (processor, switch, radios) and more RAM. Once I got the main board freed from the thermal tape that bonds it to the heat sink blocks, which, in turn, sit on a combination RF shield / heatsink that covers the top of the router, the view shown in Figure 4 was revealed.įigure 2: New Airport Extreme Simultaneous board The previous article showed that the previous Extreme used two Atheros single-chip N radios: an AR9220 dual-band, 2×2 for 5 GHz and an AR9223 single-band, 2×2 for 2.4 GHz on a mini-PCI module. I was also wrong in my guess that Apple just slipped a new radio module into the old dual-radio Extreme. And since three-stream routers require three transmit and receive chains, the new Extreme won’t be getting a three-stream upgrade sometime in the future.įigure 1: Inside the new Airport Extreme Simultaneous Figure 1 shows only four antennas, which makes two per radio. So I broke down and bought the new MC340LL/A model to see for myself and ended up disappointed on multiple counts.Īs soon as I cracked the case, I knew that my three-stream guess was wrong. But my curiousity about whether Apple was performing a stealth seeding of three-stream routers in the the wild got the better of me. Well, it turns out that Apple never even responded to my review request this time. Introduction Update : Added link to follow-up article
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |