- Joined
- Dec 2, 2011
- Messages
- 249
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte Z170X-UD3
- CPU
- i7-6700K
- Graphics
- RX 560
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
A reply to myself and others interested. This card works well. I was going to get the official Dell wireless kit, but since the card uses the MHF4 cables, I rigged up two 12 in. MHF4 cables to 1) a rounded out vent hole between the CPU and the power supply. Then I drilled out the plastic plug where the Dell wifi kit's antenna plug normally goes. I attached a second antenna there. Cosmetically, it is acceptable.As I mentioned in an earlier post, I want to try to add WiFi and BT to the 9020 USFF. Since sleep seems to work well enough for Mrs. Werfel, I have moved on to testing out this wifi card, REKONG macOS Continuity WiFi Upgrade 1.3Gbps AC BCM94360HMB from Amazon. Since it requires three smaller M.2 antenna cables, I haven't tested out its range, but the WiFi shows up in system hardware OOB.
Fit. The REKONG unit does come with an half-mini card adapter that allows it to snap into place. So, the only thing one needs is an antenna solution.
Bluetooth. The BT 4, however, doesn't show up in the hardware and that has me concerned since I assumed that it might be OOB too. But it isn't and like a few others who have used this card over the years, BT is hit or miss. But since this is a very new card and advertised to work for HandOff and Continuity, I'd like to push the envelope.
The guide, https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/broadcom-wifi-bluetooth-guide.242423/#post-1664577, hasn't been updated for Catalina. I have tried to follow RehabMan's BrcmPatchRam instructions at https://github.com/RehabMan/OS-X-BrcmPatchRAM, but still no BT in the hardware report. The daunting "Correctly configured USB" task is probably in my future.
But, again, that BrcmPatchRam method only goes as far as Mojave. So, I have pushed the envelope too far. But thus far the 9020 USFF is a good investment and only has a longer learning curve when adding the missing bits, like WiFi and BT.
P.S. I have tried the attached BrcmPatchRam3 but no BT as of yet.
Bluetooth. I will see if it shows up on the Windows 10 Pro drive that I removed for an SSD. If anyone has some ideas, I will give them a try. What I have read seems dated and only applicable to older versions of OSX.