usb wireless adaptor

in addition to some fairly new PC's I also have an old PC that runs W-98 but not the SE version. it does serve me some useful purposes and I would like to get it on-line. the PC does not have an Ethernet card in it. I do have a broadband connection and a working wireless router on my newer equipment. can I use a wireless usb adapter on this old PC and expect to connect through Wi-Fi?

thanks,

JS



JerseySax

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:17:56 -0400, "JerseySax" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <TY6Gg.611$%(E-Mail Removed)>:

>in addition to some fairly new PC's I also have an old PC that runs W-98 but not the SE version. it does serve me some useful purposes and I would like to get it on-line. the PC does not have an Ethernet card in it. I do have a broadband connection and a working wireless router on my newer equipment. can I use a wireless usb adapter on this old PC and expect to connect through Wi-Fi?

No -- Win98 classic doesn't support USB. Get a cheap Ethernet NIC.

--
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>

thanks for your reply. but I have to ask this: when you say "No -- Win98 classic doesn't support USB" to what degree are you speaking? I have 2 working USB ports on the machine. do you mean this type of adapter won't work on the USB due to the version of Windows? I once had this same machine working with a cable modem feeding the USB port and it was fine. I just don't want to go that way because currently, my modem is feeding an up to date system through the Ethernet port. I don't want to retrogress. I realize that if I add a NIC to the old PC, I can use it as the main entry and have the router wirelessly feed the other systems. just looking at the options.

again, thanks for your input.
--
"John Navas" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:17:56 -0400, "JerseySax" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <TY6Gg.611$%(E-Mail Removed)>:

>in addition to some fairly new PC's I also have an old PC that runs W-98 but not the SE version. it does serve me some useful purposes and I would like to get it on-line. the PC does not have an Ethernet card in it. I do have a broadband connection and a working wireless router on my newer equipment. can I use a wireless usb adapter on this old PC and expect to connect through Wi-Fi?

No -- Win98 classic doesn't support USB. Get a cheap Ethernet NIC.

--
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>

John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>No -- Win98 classic doesn't support USB. Get a cheap Ethernet NIC.

Ummm... would you believe partial USB support in 95 and 98?
See the chart at:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/usbwin98.mspx

As I vaguely recall, MS added a bunch of functions to the USB driver
in Windoze 98SE. It also went from USB 1.0 to 1.1. If the wireless
driver expects to find those functions, and they're not there, then it
probably won't work. That means that the wireless device driver will
probably need to written specifically for the older Windoze 98
version. This might be possible with older (probably 802.11b only)
USB devices, but I don't know of any offhand. About the only way I
know to be sure is to try it.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 23:17:01 -0400, "JerseySax" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <OA9Gg.302$(E-Mail Removed)>:

> thanks for your reply. but I have to ask this: when you say "No --
> Win98 classic doesn't support USB" to what degree are you speaking?

Oops -- I misspoke -- that comment applies to the original version of
Windows *95*, not 98 -- sorry.

p.s. Please configure your Ouchlook Express to hard wrap lines to no
more than 80 characters -- longer lines don't wrap properly in many
newsreaders.

--
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>

Thanks to all for the informative responses. I might buy one and give it a try. I suppose I can always retun it f it doesn't work.

Any other responses will be graciously accepted.

--
"Jeff Liebermann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
John Navas <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

>No -- Win98 classic doesn't support USB. Get a cheap Ethernet NIC.

Ummm... would you believe partial USB support in 95 and 98?
See the chart at:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/usbwin98.mspx

As I vaguely recall, MS added a bunch of functions to the USB driver
in Windoze 98SE. It also went from USB 1.0 to 1.1. If the wireless
driver expects to find those functions, and they're not there, then it
probably won't work. That means that the wireless device driver will
probably need to written specifically for the older Windoze 98
version. This might be possible with older (probably 802.11b only)
USB devices, but I don't know of any offhand. About the only way I
know to be sure is to try it.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Win 98 Classic/First Edition/etc doesn't NATIVELY support USB... Many
manufacterers made computers with USB ports (non standard of course) and
then included their own drivers to make them work....

If you have USB ports on your machine with the first version of win98, then
you fit into the above category of vendor supplied extensions to the OS to
make their box work, but they are NOT standard implementations for other
stuff to work...


"JerseySax" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:OA9Gg.302$(E-Mail Removed)...
thanks for your reply. but I have to ask this: when you say "No -- Win98
classic doesn't support USB" to what degree are you speaking? I have 2
working USB ports on the machine. do you mean this type of adapter won't
work on the USB due to the version of Windows? I once had this same machine
working with a cable modem feeding the USB port and it was fine. I just
don't want to go that way because currently, my modem is feeding an up to
date system through the Ethernet port. I don't want to retrogress. I realize
that if I add a NIC to the old PC, I can use it as the main entry and have
the router wirelessly feed the other systems. just looking at the options.

again, thanks for your input.
--
"John Navas" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:17:56 -0400, "JerseySax" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in <TY6Gg.611$%(E-Mail Removed)>:

>in addition to some fairly new PC's I also have an old PC that runs W-98
>but not the SE version. it does serve me some useful purposes and I would
>like to get it on-line. the PC does not have an Ethernet card in it. I do
>have a broadband connection and a working wireless router on my newer
>equipment. can I use a wireless usb adapter on this old PC and expect to
>connect through Wi-Fi?

No -- Win98 classic doesn't support USB. Get a cheap Ethernet NIC.

--
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>

Peter Pan wrote:
> Win 98 Classic/First Edition/etc doesn't NATIVELY support USB... Many
> manufacterers made computers with USB ports (non standard of course) and
> then included their own drivers to make them work....
>
> If you have USB ports on your machine with the first version of win98, then
> you fit into the above category of vendor supplied extensions to the OS to
> make their box work, but they are NOT standard implementations for other
> stuff to work...
>
>
> "JerseySax" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:OA9Gg.302$(E-Mail Removed)...
> thanks for your reply. but I have to ask this: when you say "No -- Win98
> classic doesn't support USB" to what degree are you speaking? I have 2
> working USB ports on the machine. do you mean this type of adapter won't
> work on the USB due to the version of Windows? I once had this same machine
> working with a cable modem feeding the USB port and it was fine. I just
> don't want to go that way because currently, my modem is feeding an up to
> date system through the Ethernet port. I don't want to retrogress. I realize
> that if I add a NIC to the old PC, I can use it as the main entry and have
> the router wirelessly feed the other systems. just looking at the options.
>
> again, thanks for your input.

Even the OEM Windows 95 OSR2, obtained with my new Pentium II 233MHz
computer in 1997 had native support for USB by MicroSoft.
The MicroSoft CD front mentioned "MicroSoft Windows 95 with USB support".
The Windows 98 upgrade I bought June '98 also mentions Universal Serial
Bus in the manual.
But Windows 98 SE support is better and more reliable.