Turn a $150 Orinoco RG-1100 into a $300 Apple AirPort Base Station, for free: regular reader Ben Finkelstein forwarded a post from a Mac list in which a reader notes that Agere's Orinoco RG-1100 is essentially the same device as the Apple AirPort Base Station, but at half the price. The post offered these instructions (I've cleaned them up), which I am sure void your warranty and put you into a special place in purgatory if the update fails. I warned you!

1. Download the AirPort 2.02 upgrade software (Apple's download page; check for appropriate version; Mac only)
2. Install the software on a machine with an Apple AirPort card.
3. Connect the RG-1100 to the Ethernet network or to the individual machine using a crossover cable (some Macs now auto-sense and don't require a crossover cable).
4. Reset the RG-1100. This puts it in software update mode.
5. Run the AirPort Admin Utility in either OS 9 or X and click Configure.
6. The software recognizes the RG-1100 and prompts to upgrade it to 2.02.
7. Click Continue, walk through configuration screens, and the RG-110 reboots.

The original poster said the unit walks and talks like an AirPort. The RG-1100 lacks an internal modem (the RG-1000 has one, but I don't know if it'll take this update), so you can only use it in an Ethernet-only environnment unlike the Apple Base Station.

You can buy the RG-1100 for $147 from the Gateway Accessory Store, run by Necx, which I've had great dealings with. (I don't get a cut.)