News

Owners of the Rokland n3 long range USB WiFi adapter for Mac can now try the n3 on Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion using this special beta software package we have created.

Once you have downloaded the file, open it and- if your Mac already has n3 software previously installed- run the uninstaller first to remove old software.

Then, after restarting, run the installer. When complete, you should be able to connect your n3 to your Mac and use it as normal. There have been no changes made to the user interface.

While we are not able to officially support n3 on Mountain Lion yet, please send your feedback and bug reports to us by email

We now have our RC1 (Release Candidate 1) Mac OS Lion driver package available for the Rokland n3. You can click here to download it. The RC1 package is not currently on the CD that ships with the n3, so if you are a potential customer planning to buy the n3 for use with Lion, you will need to download the RC1 package.

We have posted version 2 of our Mac OS Lion beta package for users of the Rokland n3 long range 802.11n wireless USB adapter. This beta may also work with Alfa's AWUS036NH model. This beta package has been tested at our location on multiple Mac OS 10.7 Lion systems but has not yet been introduced to any beta test groups for further testing. Therefore we are not ready to call this a stable release. We are continuing to develop a stable Lion driver, and appreciate feedback from anyone who tries this beta package. At this time we are not able to provide technical support for use of the beta software though, but we will publish any known issues/fixes.

As Apple Inc. makes Macs, iPhones, and iPads, it is normal to wonder whether a wireless USB product that we advertise as Mac compatible will also work on an iPhone or iPad. The answer is no- for two reasons:

1. Operating system- modern Macintosh computers run Mac OS X, and our Mac compatible wireless products generally require at least version 10.3 or 10.4 (also known as Panther and Tiger respectively). The iPhone and iPad run a completely different operating system called “iPhone OS” and software for Mac OS X cannot be used on iPhone OS devices.
   
   
2. USB port power- even if our manufacturers wrote iPhone OS compatible software for their products, it is unlikely any of our current products would ever work with iPhones or iPads because of the power limitations of the USB port option for iPhone/iPad. These devices do not have a USB port themselves, but they do have camera connection kits that have a USB port. However the ports on these emit a very low amount of power- 20 mA to be precise. Long range wireless receivers typically require 350-450 mA to function. A USB port on a standard desktop computer emits 500 mA. Apple has designed the USB port on the camera connection kit to work specifically for file transfer only- 20 mA is not even enough to power a digital camera, but of course digital cameras have their own power supplys to compensate.

Technology changes all the time, and it probably won't be long before these obstacles are overcome. But for now, unfortunately it is not possible to use a long range USB Wi-Fi adapter on an iPad or iPhone.

We now have a Mac OS Lion beta package available for users of the Rokland n3 long range 802.11n wireless USB adapter. This beta may also work with Alfa's AWUS036NH model. This beta package has been tested at our location on multiple Mac OS 10.7 Lion systems as well as a beta test group. Most users in the test group had no issues, but some did. Therefore we are not ready to call this a stable release. We are continuing to develop a stable Lion driver, and appreciate feedback from anyone who tries this beta package. At this time we are not able to provide technical support for use of the beta software though, but we will publish any known issues/fixes.

Our popular n3 wireless USB adapter from Rokland is now just $34.97 with free shipping. The n3 offers 802.11n functionality and an external RP-SMA antenna port for use with both indoor and outdoor external antennas.