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m4v3r1ck

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2011
2,606
554
The Netherlands
Guys, you are leaping and jumping to conclusions. I don't have the USB dongle from china. I made my own and will be making more. Similar to the China one, but done differently.



Connected externally via USB and fully functioning in 10.10.



Only caveat is that you have to cycle the internal USB off. Working on that.


Very excited to see your first results MVC! Please keep us updated on your progress building a solid working solution for a lot of Mac owners.

~ Cheers
 

128keaton

macrumors 68020
Jan 13, 2013
2,029
419
Guys, you are leaping and jumping to conclusions. I don't have the USB dongle from china. I made my own and will be making more. Similar to the China one, but done differently.

Connected externally via USB and fully functioning in 10.10.

Only caveat is that you have to cycle the internal USB off. Working on that.
uh. Awesome. Will we be getting and price soon along with some photos?
 

0970373

Suspended
Mar 15, 2008
2,727
1,412
Not getting handoff or airdrop working between MBA '11 and iPhone 5. Anyone had any luck with MBA '11?

My MBA11 doesn't even have the "Enable Continuity" option available for some reason. It did yesterday but then I had to reinstall everything when I tried to enable trim and all the madness that ensured from that. I fixed that problem, reinstalled Yosemite, updated to DP3 and the option is now missing.

I think I have to reinstall everything again.
 

GreyOS

macrumors 68040
Apr 12, 2012
3,358
1,694
My MBA11 doesn't even have the "Enable Continuity" option available for some reason. It did yesterday but then I had to reinstall everything when I tried to enable trim and all the madness that ensured from that. I fixed that problem, reinstalled Yosemite, updated to DP3 and the option is now missing.

I think I have to reinstall everything again.
Don't bother, it was removed in DP 3 on MBA 2011
 

UncleSchnitty

macrumors 6502a
Oct 26, 2007
851
14
Ahhh..I see. Thanks.
Yeah it was removed in DP3 but right now it also looks like another requirement is wifi ac (along with bluetooth 4.0 LE). This might just be in the DP and may be changed by the time the actual release happens.
 

0970373

Suspended
Mar 15, 2008
2,727
1,412
Yeah it was removed in DP3 but right now it also looks like another requirement is wifi ac (along with bluetooth 4.0 LE). This might just be in the DP and may be changed by the time the actual release happens.

SMS seems to be working in the MBA so that's a step in the right direction.
 

CaneCollegeboy

macrumors regular
Sep 19, 2003
207
66
my guess is this
with
this

We have already figured out that if you put a newer card(one with BTLE4.0) into an older machine it works perfectly sometimes you need an adapter most of the time you don't it depends on the machine you put it in, how old it is

Does that work? ideally buy both parts then what would be needed in order for that to work?
 

Apple_Robert

Contributor
Sep 21, 2012
35,647
52,437
In a van down by the river
Guys, you are leaping and jumping to conclusions. I don't have the USB dongle from china. I made my own and will be making more. Similar to the China one, but done differently.

Connected externally via USB and fully functioning in 10.10.

Only caveat is that you have to cycle the internal USB off. Working on that.

That would be awesome to have. :)
 

CaneCollegeboy

macrumors regular
Sep 19, 2003
207
66
No, the apple card is not an m2 connector like I though. It's propitiatary. I have gotten everything to work on my MacPro and Air.

Bummer. Just wondering if its even possible/realistic to replace the wifi bluetooth card in a mid 2010 macbook pro or an old mid 2007 imac to get wifi ac/4.0 and thus get the machines to work with handoff/continuity
 

UncleSchnitty

macrumors 6502a
Oct 26, 2007
851
14
You can definitely do it pretty easily, it just takes some research. I can check it out for you a little later today if you want
 

UncleSchnitty

macrumors 6502a
Oct 26, 2007
851
14
If it not too much trouble, thank you in advance.
ok, so looking at the iMac first (I have to do more research on the macbook pro because there have been mixed success stories) It looks like all you would need is
1xThis
and
2xthese
Based off of iFixit's teardown the card is the same mPcie card as the macPros(the wifi card has the square sticker with two antenna wires coming off it). Then the BT card is found by following those antenna you'll see the blue antenna attached to it.

Basically the mac pro adapter and card has both BT and wifi in it so that goes in the mPCIE slot where the old card was. Then you would plug in the USB cable it comes with where the old BT cables came from. Lastly attach the 2 original antennas to the wifi card and then use the 2 extra cables you purchased to fill the 4 slots. And you're good to go.
Heres the tear down so you can see what I'm referencing


BXVfBMAlXCqtevgg.huge

**Edit** I checked on the MacBook Pro and it looks like the reason why people can't get them going with continuity and handoff is there is no wifi ac/bt4.0 card that fits in non retina MBPs. Sucks but hopefully they will remove the wifi ac requirement because it really serves no purpose. sorry I don't have a better answer for you.
 
Last edited:

MacVidCards

Suspended
Nov 17, 2008
6,096
1,056
Hollywood, CA
Based off of iFixit's teardown the card is the same mPcie card as the macPros(the wifi card has the square sticker with two antenna wires coming off it). Then the BT card is found by following those antenna you'll see the blue antenna attached to it.

Basically the mac pro adapter and card has both BT and wifi in it so that goes in the mPCIE slot where the old card was. Then you would plug in the USB cable it comes with where the old BT cables came from. Lastly attach the 2 original antennas to the wifi card and then use the 2 extra cables you purchased to fill the 4 slots. And you're good to go.
Heres the tear down so you can see what I'm referencing



**Edit** I checked on the MacBook Pro and it looks like the reason why people can't get them going with continuity and handoff is there is no wifi ac/bt4.0 card that fits in non retina MBPs. Sucks but hopefully they will remove the wifi ac requirement because it really serves no purpose. sorry I don't have a better answer for you.

An important next step in all of this is going to be to figure out which iMacs that use Mini PCIE have the USB component present and which don't.

The 2008 Mac Pro has USB present so it natively has BT. The 2009-12 Mac Pro no longer have USB present in Mini PCIE so they need connection to USB to make BT work.

I have seen 1 iMac post that mentioned BT working and one mentioning that BT didn't work. Wish I had bookmarked them as between those 2 we would know 2 specific iMacs.

So some iMacs will need additional BT jumper and some will not. Ideally you could stretch the antennae to reach the card and avoid one of the extra antennas.

We have designed and built some USB dongles that will offer perfect BT 4.0 for machines that can't use internal cards.

One other concern with the adapter cards that may or may not be important is that they are both longer and taller than existing cards. Again, keeping a database of what works in what iMac will help this cause.
 

maxout25

macrumors newbie
Jul 26, 2014
10
0
Massachusetts
Still Not Working

Hi Guys, can someone help me? I have an iPhone 5 running iOS 8, and a late 2013 MBP w/retina running OS X Yosemite. Whenever I try to pair them over BT this message comes up below comes up. Does anyone else have this problem or know how to fix it?
 

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Stratus Fear

macrumors 6502a
Jan 21, 2008
696
433
Atlanta, GA
I have seen 1 iMac post that mentioned BT working and one mentioning that BT didn't work. Wish I had bookmarked them as between those 2 we would know 2 specific iMacs.



So some iMacs will need additional BT jumper and some will not. Ideally you could stretch the antennae to reach the card and avoid one of the extra antennas.



We have designed and built some USB dongles that will offer perfect BT 4.0 for machines that can't use internal cards.



One other concern with the adapter cards that may or may not be important is that they are both longer and taller than existing cards. Again, keeping a database of what works in what iMac will help this cause.


I may have been the one that mentioned an iMac. I popped an Intel miniPCIe card into a mid 2007 iMac (7,1) to test the USB capability and while the wifi didn't work (naturally) the BT showed up on the USB bus. I have yet to buy an adapter but it should definitely work based on that.
 

ArmCortexA8

macrumors 65816
Feb 18, 2010
1,085
213
Terra Australis
Here's mine and yes it has the LMP Version - 0x6 - Mid 2011 and cannot enable System Preferences for these setting, and not in FaceTime either - NOTE: I am using the public beta, not the developer beta.
 

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CaneCollegeboy

macrumors regular
Sep 19, 2003
207
66
ok, so looking at the iMac first (I have to do more research on the macbook pro because there have been mixed success stories) It looks like all you would need is
1xThis
and
2xthese
Based off of iFixit's teardown the card is the same mPcie card as the macPros(the wifi card has the square sticker with two antenna wires coming off it). Then the BT card is found by following those antenna you'll see the blue antenna attached to it.

Basically the mac pro adapter and card has both BT and wifi in it so that goes in the mPCIE slot where the old card was. Then you would plug in the USB cable it comes with where the old BT cables came from. Lastly attach the 2 original antennas to the wifi card and then use the 2 extra cables you purchased to fill the 4 slots. And you're good to go.
Heres the tear down so you can see what I'm referencing


Image
**Edit** I checked on the MacBook Pro and it looks like the reason why people can't get them going with continuity and handoff is there is no wifi ac/bt4.0 card that fits in non retina MBPs. Sucks but hopefully they will remove the wifi ac requirement because it really serves no purpose. sorry I don't have a better answer for you.

Wow thank you so much. So basically buy those two parts and install them in the mid 2007 imac and everything should in theory work. Im surprised the the older iMac can be updated but the 2010 powerbook cant so far.
 

Stratus Fear

macrumors 6502a
Jan 21, 2008
696
433
Atlanta, GA
For anyone still rocking a mid-2007 iMac as I am:

I ordered the miniPCIe adapter and BCM94360CD from osxwifi and it does work. Handoff works, Continuity seems like it should work once either iOS 8 or Yosemite gets another update (DP6 + beta 5 problem).

Two problems:

1) The single mounting post for the miniPCIe card is on the wrong side in the motherboard. I didn't realize this before ordering. Osxwifi appears to have a card with a mounting hole on the appropriate side, but then the wireless adapter mounts in the opposite direction, such that the antenna wires would then be too short. I have the card held in place with packing tape as a temporary solution until I figure out something more permanent.

2) The fourth antenna. I forgot to order one, but you'd need to find somewhere to put it. It might be mountable behind the LCD, but I haven't even gotten that far yet. As I recall from when I installed an SSD and fixed my optical drive, there are areas of foil shielding on the rear inside of the whole iMac enclosure. You can probably cut some away (so that it doesn't shield the antenna) and mount the antenna with adhesive to the back of the case on the inside. The 802.11ac does work just fine with 2 antennas for wifi, and runs in 2x2 mode (867mbps) instead of 3x3 (1.3gbps).
 
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