1st time post, airport powerbook g4 problem

hi guys im really sorry if this has been posted before but i have had my power book g4 15" for over a year now, i love it to bits it goes everywhere with me, but when i purchased it, i asked for it to be airport ready, when i go into system profile it says that there is an airport card but it never seems to be on. the little slot at the side of the laptop is empty. for me to have a wireless network do i need to purchase any thing other than a base station.

thankyou sorry for the dumb questions

Use the finder to go to applications, then select internet connect. You should see airport in the menu of that window. If you select airport a new window should come up and allow you to turn airport on and also put the icon in the toolbar.

EDIT: Thanks Tech, for wording it better than i did!

As sonofapplepm said, you can turn the AirPort card on or off using the Internet Connect app. You might also click the "Show status in menu bar" option so you don't have to open Internet Connect all the time.

The AirPort card uses power, so it's nice to turn it off when you're running on battery and not using a wireless network.

To use AirPort, you'll need a Mac with an AirPort card (which you seem to have) and an 802.11b or 802.11g access point (AKA base station) that is connected to the internet somehow.

so will the airport card work with wi-fi then in lets say an airport or a cyber cafe?

also can an airport express supply internet to a pc and a mac?
:headphone

Yes, you can use any wifi as long as it's not password protected or you have the password. When you want to join a wifi you can click on the icon in the toolbar and it should list the available networks.

I believe that any wifi enabled computer would be able to use the airport express. The airport express supports up to ten users.