No Win98 No Cry - no driver no pcmcia response...

Hi All,
I recently purchased a HP laptop, it is my first, however it is too old
to upgrade, and there are many drivers pre-installed for that OS (I
tried to run a live version of Linux but it could not handle it). I am
considering buying a network card, however I have 2 questions:

1, can I connect to a Netgear or D-Link wireless network (802.11g/wi-fi
in other words)
2, if so should I buy a 54 or 108 Mbps card. I have a 108 here and am
trying to hook up to a working n.w however my laptop does not even
recognise the PC card as new hardware.

Anything that anyone could do to help would be very....helpful?!

H

On 6 Dec 2006 09:35:10 -0800, "Dwiz" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed). com>:

>I recently purchased a HP laptop, it is my first, however it is too old
>to upgrade, and there are many drivers pre-installed for that OS (I
>tried to run a live version of Linux but it could not handle it). I am
>considering buying a network card, however I have 2 questions:
>
>1, can I connect to a Netgear or D-Link wireless network (802.11g/wi-fi
>in other words)

Sure, if you know the network security.

>2, if so should I buy a 54 or 108 Mbps card. I have a 108 here and am
>trying to hook up to a working n.w however my laptop does not even
>recognise the PC card as new hardware.

A good standard 54 Mbps "g" card should be fine as long as you choose a
card with Win98 drivers; e.g., Buffalo Wireless-G High Speed Notebook
Adapter WLI-CB-G54S (supports Win98SE, not original Win98).

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

"Dwiz" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
> Hi All,
> I recently purchased a HP laptop, it is my first, however it is too old
> to upgrade, and there are many drivers pre-installed for that OS (I
> tried to run a live version of Linux but it could not handle it). I am
> considering buying a network card, however I have 2 questions:
>
First, I will assume you want wireless. Wired network is a trivial matter on
older laptops.

I went through this with a compaq presario 1245 a while back. It came with a
4 gig drive and 32 meg of ram - ok in 1999, but very much out of date now. I
added 128 meg of ram, only size memory upgrade available.

To get wireless, you must upgrade to win98se, no choice on that.
My copy of win98se is oem, so it will not upgrade the compaq win98. I have
dciscovered a way to do that, mentioned in this ng a few weeks ago. You can
find the message quite easily.
What I did was obtain all the necessary drivers from compaq, and put them on
my network. Then I got out my ethernet pcmcia card and the drivers cd.
Then format the drive and install win98se, install the wired network card
and drivers, and all the device drivers from the network, as well as windows
update.
This is fine, but a couple of things are not quite right. However, close
enough, as I don't need the missing features.
I bought a linksys wireless-g 2.4 ghz pcmcia card wpc54g, and a linksys
wireless router.
Combination works well, and the other machines here co-operate with the
router.
I tried a friends's d-link 'enhanced' card, but it did not work properly
with the older laptop.

I think, simple slower technology for older machines is best.

> 1, can I connect to a Netgear or D-Link wireless network (802.11g/wi-fi
> in other words)

yes, as above

> 2, if so should I buy a 54 or 108 Mbps card. I have a 108 here and am
> trying to hook up to a working n.w however my laptop does not even
> recognise the PC card as new hardware.

Get the slower card. You can't really use the extra speed anyways, so why
pay for it and bring possible problems.

>
> Anything that anyone could do to help would be very....helpful?!
>

Let me know if you need any more assistance.

Stuart

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 09:35:10 -0800, Dwiz wrote:

> Hi All,
> I recently purchased a HP laptop, it is my first, however it is too old
> to upgrade, and there are many drivers pre-installed for that OS (I
> tried to run a live version of Linux but it could not handle it).

Did you try Damn Small Linux or perhaps Slax? Neither has huge system
requirements.

- Nate >>

--

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds,
the pessimist fears this is true."