Old Laptop Without CD Drive Onto My Network (newbie question)

Hi guys
I have a wireless network at home which consists of a linksys 54g broadband
router and wireless PCMCIA and everything works fine.
I have just an old IBM ThinkPad 560Z for my 10 year old to practice on.
This machine has no cd drive or floppy.
I have bought a new wireless card for this machine but cannot get the
drivers onto the machine from the cd supplied with it..(Also it doesn't have
a network connection)

now my question is

Could I buy a PCMCIA 10/100 network card and hard wire it to the router and
then be able to access the cd from the D drive on my main computer, which
would allow me to load the driver to activate the wireless card.(the network
card could then be permanently removed)?

the laptop runs win 98


Cheers

Mark

PS Another Question
could this laptop( p2 300mmx) with 128mb Ram and 6G hard drive run Windows
XP?

In article <%uVRb.31543$(E-Mail Removed)>,
"Mark Downey" (E-Mail Removed) says...
> Hi guys
> I have a wireless network at home which consists of a linksys 54g broadband
> router and wireless PCMCIA and everything works fine.
> I have just an old IBM ThinkPad 560Z for my 10 year old to practice on.
> This machine has no cd drive or floppy.
> I have bought a new wireless card for this machine but cannot get the
> drivers onto the machine from the cd supplied with it..(Also it doesn't have
> a network connection)
>
> now my question is
>
> Could I buy a PCMCIA 10/100 network card and hard wire it to the router and
> then be able to access the cd from the D drive on my main computer, which
> would allow me to load the driver to activate the wireless card.(the network
> card could then be permanently removed)?

Only if it already has drivers for the network connection. An
alternative would be to see if it has the drivers for laplink on the
serial or parallel port. You might find the only way to do it is to
stick the hard disk in a desktop machine and copy stuff that way.
>
> PS Another Question
> could this laptop( p2 300mmx) with 128mb Ram and 6G hard drive run Windows
> XP?
>
As long as you don't expect it to be fast it should handle it fine,
especially if you trim down XP by disabling unused services, use the
Classic desktop, disable animation and transparency ...

"Mark Downey" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:%uVRb.31543$(E-Mail Removed):

> Hi guys
> I have a wireless network at home which consists of a linksys
> 54g broadband router and wireless PCMCIA and everything works
> fine. I have just an old IBM ThinkPad 560Z for my 10 year old to
> practice on. This machine has no cd drive or floppy.
> I have bought a new wireless card for this machine but cannot
> get the drivers onto the machine from the cd supplied with
> it..(Also it doesn't have a network connection)
>
> now my question is
>
> Could I buy a PCMCIA 10/100 network card and hard wire it to the
> router and then be able to access the cd from the D drive on my
> main computer, which would allow me to load the driver to
> activate the wireless card.(the network card could then be
> permanently removed)?
>
> the laptop runs win 98
>
I agree with Rob's response. Tricky because adding a network card,
USB floppy or USB CD-ROM drive all require you to load a driver...
see recursive :-)

Win98SE has a built-in 'laplink'-type capability - assuming that
option has been installed.

The 560Z laptop has a built-in modem, so it would be possible to
dial-up and use the Internet to transfer the drivers - e.g. via
email or ftp or via an intermediate web storage site.

>
> PS Another Question
> could this laptop( p2 300mmx) with 128mb Ram and 6G hard drive
> run Windows
> XP?
Yes, provided you cut down the clutter as Rob suggests and aren't
too ambitious in the size of the concurrent workload you expect to
run. Unfortunately you are already at the max memory, so that's not
an upgrade option.

--
BRG
===
http://www.brgservices.co.uk/

Hi guys

i think i might have a solution

ive got a usb 64mb pen drive
i just checked the installation cd for the wireless nic and its only 9mb for
the drivers and utility progs.
so i will dra them across to this drive and give it a go tomorrow


cheers

mark


"BRG" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns947EE4D1BA529BRGxxx@194.168.222.40...
> "Mark Downey" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> news:%uVRb.31543$(E-Mail Removed):
>
> > Hi guys
> > I have a wireless network at home which consists of a linksys
> > 54g broadband router and wireless PCMCIA and everything works
> > fine. I have just an old IBM ThinkPad 560Z for my 10 year old to
> > practice on. This machine has no cd drive or floppy.
> > I have bought a new wireless card for this machine but cannot
> > get the drivers onto the machine from the cd supplied with
> > it..(Also it doesn't have a network connection)
> >
> > now my question is
> >
> > Could I buy a PCMCIA 10/100 network card and hard wire it to the
> > router and then be able to access the cd from the D drive on my
> > main computer, which would allow me to load the driver to
> > activate the wireless card.(the network card could then be
> > permanently removed)?
> >
> > the laptop runs win 98
> >
> I agree with Rob's response. Tricky because adding a network card,
> USB floppy or USB CD-ROM drive all require you to load a driver...
> see recursive :-)
>
> Win98SE has a built-in 'laplink'-type capability - assuming that
> option has been installed.
>
> The 560Z laptop has a built-in modem, so it would be possible to
> dial-up and use the Internet to transfer the drivers - e.g. via
> email or ftp or via an intermediate web storage site.
>
> >
> > PS Another Question
> > could this laptop( p2 300mmx) with 128mb Ram and 6G hard drive
> > run Windows
> > XP?
> Yes, provided you cut down the clutter as Rob suggests and aren't
> too ambitious in the size of the concurrent workload you expect to
> run. Unfortunately you are already at the max memory, so that's not
> an upgrade option.
>
> --
> BRG
> ===
> http://www.brgservices.co.uk/

In article <6yeSb.34725$(E-Mail Removed)>,
"Mark Downey" (E-Mail Removed) says...
> Hi guys
>
> i think i might have a solution
>
> ive got a usb 64mb pen drive
> i just checked the installation cd for the wireless nic and its only 9mb for
> the drivers and utility progs.
> so i will dra them across to this drive and give it a go tomorrow
>
Doesn't Win98 need drivers for USB storage?

Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Wed, 28 Jan
2004 21:45:45 -0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk Rob Morley
<(E-Mail Removed)> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>> PS Another Question
>> could this laptop( p2 300mmx) with 128mb Ram and 6G hard drive run Windows
>> XP?
>>
>As long as you don't expect it to be fast it should handle it fine,
>especially if you trim down XP by disabling unused services, use the
>Classic desktop, disable animation and transparency ...

And turn off System Restore and as much file caching as you can - XP ate my
15Gb drive in about three months.

deKay
--
+ Lofi Gaming - www.lofi-gaming.org.uk
|- ugvm Magazine - www.ugvm.org.uk
|- My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that
|- HENSHIN-A-GOGO, BABY!

Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Thu, 29 Jan
2004 21:03:17 -0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk "Mark Downey"
<(E-Mail Removed)> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>Hi guys
>
>i think i might have a solution
>
>ive got a usb 64mb pen drive
>i just checked the installation cd for the wireless nic and its only 9mbfor
>the drivers and utility progs.

But you will need to install the drivers for your USB drive first, so you
can't do this.


deKay
--
+ Lofi Gaming - www.lofi-gaming.org.uk
|- ugvm Magazine - www.ugvm.org.uk
|- My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that
|- HENSHIN-A-GOGO, BABY!

just recieved the machine and you guys are correct .

what can i do next.

direct cable connection using serial or parrallel port to download drivers

mark



"deKay" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Thu, 29 Jan
2004 21:03:17 -0000, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk "Mark Downey"
<(E-Mail Removed)> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>Hi guys
>
>i think i might have a solution
>
>ive got a usb 64mb pen drive
>i just checked the installation cd for the wireless nic and its only 9mb
for
>the drivers and utility progs.

But you will need to install the drivers for your USB drive first, so you
can't do this.


deKay
--
+ Lofi Gaming - www.lofi-gaming.org.uk
|- ugvm Magazine - www.ugvm.org.uk
|- My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that
|- HENSHIN-A-GOGO, BABY!

In article <UOBSb.36816$(E-Mail Removed)>,
"Mark Downey" (E-Mail Removed) says...
> just recieved the machine and you guys are correct .
>
> what can i do next.
>
> direct cable connection using serial or parrallel port to download drivers
>
If it's been installed, or the CAB files are on the disk. Otherwise
it's transplant time. I think you can pick up 2.5"-to-3.5" adapters for
about a fiver if you look hard enough.

cheers rob

mark


"Rob Morley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) .com...
> In article <UOBSb.36816$(E-Mail Removed)>,
> "Mark Downey" (E-Mail Removed) says...
> > just recieved the machine and you guys are correct .
> >
> > what can i do next.
> >
> > direct cable connection using serial or parrallel port to download
drivers
> >
> If it's been installed, or the CAB files are on the disk. Otherwise
> it's transplant time. I think you can pick up 2.5"-to-3.5" adapters for
> about a fiver if you look hard enough.