I sometimes get urges to do small hardware or software hacks so I try and find projects that are not too difficult while providing some improvement in a devices capabilities. I’ve been feeding this “geek tech-hunger” for many years. :-)
The latest project: 
This past weekend I replaced the internal PCIe wireless card in my Acer Aspire One Netbook with a new one purchased for less then $20 dollars off Ebay. The new card is an Intel Pro 4965AGN Mini-PCI Express providing 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N capabilities and operates on both the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz bands. The Atheros card, which comes in the Aspire One, only provided 802.11 b/g in the 2.4Ghz band.
I performed this upgrade to get the added capabilities but also to have a card which is more widely compatible with out-of-the-box supported by almost all operating systems.
The card swap-out took about 20 minutes. There are a number of guides on the web describing how to do this so I’m not going to include any instruction here (Google-it). Fedora 11 Linux recognized the new card immediately and all it’s new capabilities are available. This new card does open up the possibility of installing a version of Apple OS X (Hackintos) on the Aspire One. Apple doesn’t support Atheros Wifi cards but support for the new Intel card in already in OS X.
Of course Apple doesn’t approve OS X being install on any non-Apple computer and I am satisfied with Fedora. ;-)
Good grief. I get woozy just reading about “geekery” on this level. Oh, well, it’s nice to know that I know an expert. It won’t really rub off on me, of course; still, it’s comforting to know your guys are out there and thriving.
That would be something, running OS X on the Aspire One. :-)
@Anita: What can I say, “Hello my name is Earl and I’m a geek!” Like well cut diamonds most of us have more then one facet–in my case perhaps Cubic Zirconia. ;-)
@Ove: I’ve seen videos of it OS X running on an Aspire One. I suspect I’ll give it a try a little later. :-)
so you installed it … is it better in terms of range?
@kevin – Range is about the same but where the original card was only 802.11 b/g this new card is 802.11 a/b/g/n using both 2.4 and 5.0 Ghz bands.
I am intersted in doing this upgrade on my Aspire One (A150L) with the Intel 4965AGN. I have one question, though.
At least in my model of the Aspire One, there are just two antenna cables in the enclosure – a black and a white one. As far as I can see on the Intel page for this wireless card, there are three antenna connectors on the card.
How did you solve this? Or does your model have three antenna cables in the enclosure? Or is the Intel page wrong?
Thanks
@ernst: Yes, there are only two antenna cables in the enclosure of the Aspire One. You can either purchase a generic laptop antenna cable on the Internet and install that into the Aspire One enclosure (I believe there are instructions or this if you search google) or you can only connect two cables. With only two cable connected the range on one of the bands will be a bit shorter but it will still work. At the moment I am only using two antennas and everything is working okay.
Nice,
Just what I was looking for information to see if the upgrade work fine before I tare this unit part again. I am looking to install the Intel Wifi 5100 Wireless N 802.11N.I see it only requires two wire connections for the antenna.
You’d probably get a better/longer range connection with a third wire/antenna but it seems to work fine with just the two original ones as well.
Sorry if this is an older thread. I have an asus G1SN and it has the Intel Pro Wifi 4965AGN card already installed. I have been having trouble getting this to work on my computer through kalyway (My computer is a hackintosh.) Do you know of anyway to get this working. Or is there a driver? Thank you in advance for a reply!
Hi Earl, this thread is form last year, do you think intel has made an improvment or successor of wi-fi card Intel 4965AGN ready to be installed in Acer aspire one A150L?
thanks
simon
Hi Simon,
I haven’t been keeping up on the latest cards by Intel so to be honest I don’t know. I’ve been happy with the 4965AGN.
AFAIK, the 5100 and 5300 are the successors. They work nicely on Linux, fit into the Aspire One A150 and also support 802.11n.
hi, would they work also on windows? they have two antenna connectors.
Sure, drivers for Windows come with the card, that is not the magic.
I do not think that two antennas play a role; merely that there are three connectors / 2 antennas supported by this card and the Aspire One A150 only has one antenna built-in; but I simply left the second antenna / third connector unconnected – also works.
As I was suffering form loss of connection after my change of wifi router all evidence pointed to the Atheros card to be at fault. So after reading your thread as other I got hold of a Intel 4965AGN and followed the simple install.
Now the problem is I know jack about Linux and don’t know how to update the driver for the card. Can some one please either point me to a url or tell me how it is done?
Hi After upgrading to a new wifi router I experienced zero connections from the Atheros card. Googling the problem I found that its the card not the router. Following this post and other I have up graded to a Intel 4965 AGN . The physical instal was no problem. The problem is my ignorance about Linux as I don’t know how to add the drivers. The system sees the card in the systems info networks tab ok.
Any help most appreciated