Mac USB & FireWire

USB Cards for PCI Macs

This page was first posted in 1999. It is outdated and will no longer be updated. It is here for historical purposes only, as it predates USB 2.0 by some time. USB PCI 2.0 cards you may want to consider are the Sonnet Allegro USB 2.0, XLR8 USB 1.1 DualPort ($5.00!), and the 5 port ADS USBX-2000 and DLX-180, which has 2 USB 2.0 ports and two FireWire 400 ports. These should all support Macs as far back as the Blue & White Power Mac G3 (and possibly older Macs as well) and Mac OS versions as far back as 8.6. They only provide USB 1.1 speed under Mac OS 8.6 through 9.2.2, and all but the XLR8 provide full USB 2.0 speed with every version of OS X.

These cards let you add USB ports to PCI Power Macs and clones. Specifications are virtually identical: two USB ports, 500 mA power to each port, requires PCI Mac or clone with Mac OS 8.1 or later (8.6 or later recommended for best USB support).

All cards ship with Mac drivers or work with Apple's drivers. In cases where the card doesn't claim Mac compatibility, I am relying on feedback from Mac owners who have installed and use the cards.

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