ibook g3 touch pad

hi im completely new to mac and know very litle about them except they work and do their job better than pc's. ok my beef is im going to purchase my first mac at then end of next month used from a good buddy of mine for $200 and the touch pad dosnt work. is there a way to fix it? he is however giving me a mouse with it so i can still use it. he got it from a pawn shop for around the same price. everything else as far as i can tell works fine on it. except its kinda slow. also can i intsall an airport card on it or is that only g4 i books? if i cant would i be able to buy a mac compatible usb wifi device?

As for the airport card, you can pick one up on eBay. I am pretty positive you need the original airport card and not the airport extreme. There should be a photo diagram underneath your keyboard. Pop that up by finding the two sliding pieces, one on each side of the top of the keyboard.
It should run you $60 - $80 on eBay.
As for the trackpad, you could use ifixit.com. They should show you how to replace the data cable. I assume it is broken. I do not know why else it wouldn't work. The site makes taking apart iBooks pretty simple. It should show you how to put in the airport card as well. You can buy replacement parts from that site but it kind of expensive.
If not, a USB mouse will work.
Bryan

ditto bryphotoguy, ifixit is the right place to go for a trackpad and instructions for how to do it. The G3 does use the original Airport which is only "B" speed. There is a USB adaptor from afterthemac.com that works pretty well.

Great site... thanks for the post... although just FYI t3, I just got 2GB ram from NewEgg.com for $109 opposed to the $300 from iFixit and $350 from Apple. Just a thought if you need some hardware, search around you'll find it cheaper elsewhere... and just use that site to tell you how to repair it.

awesome thanks for all your help its much appreciated!