I bet it has a phone line modem. If that is all you have, then that is what you need to work with. But you say you have a serial port, so I guess that is as good as it gets.
Why can't you use the serial port?
Or better yet, why can't you find an Ethernet port for the PCMCIA?
-- Rick
Well, poo.
Yes.
Because none of the other (currently working) computers I have handy are equipped with serial or IRDA ports, so the Libretto has nobody to talk with but me, and I don't feel like installing drivers by typing in each line of code...
The eldest non-working box I have that has a serial port runs XP (when it runs), and I'm not certain the serial null-modem trick will work between t hem even assuming I can revive the box.
Yes, I know.
To plug a thumb drive into the Libretto so I can install drivers for the Linksys PCM100 PCMCIA-Ethernet card I literally just found, for starters. T he Libretto recognizes it as a network card but can't find plug n pray driv ers internally and wants me to supply them via the floppy drive I don't hav e.
Grrrr.
I'd rather stick with the thumb drive transfer technique for a while, for that matter (if it's at all doable); I also need to find out if any availa ble antivirus software will run on this near-antique before exposing it to the Internet. It has no antivirus installed.
Mark L. Fergerson
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No. See OP.
Because I have nothing handy that works, and has a serial port, to do the null-modem trick with.
I was just given a bag of old computer stuff that contained a Linksys PCM 100 PCMCIA Ethernet card. Naturally, the Libretto does recognize it as an Ethernet card (yay!) but can't find plug n pray drivers internally and want s me to provide them via the PCMCIA floppy drive accessory I don't have one of (boo).
Mark L. Fergerson
Here's a crazy thought... you could plug a USB-to-serial adapter into a working modern PC.
The null-modem "trick" has worked since at least 1969. It's so obscure that I can still walk into the local computer store, in 2015, and buy null-modem cables and adapters.
No, your goal is to get the Ethernet card drivers into the Libretto. You're getting hung up on the steps again.
I used to be partial to F-Prot, but there are several choices. Try
Matt Roberds
My period example: for many years I had used, oh, IE6 and Firefox 3, or something like that. With IE of course dominating on speed (due to Windows integration), and FF being tolerable. Eventually, IE8 and FF 4+ came along, and both were equally slow.
Trying to remember what sort of machine I even had, at the time. Was it the Duron (1.6GHz, 133MHz FSB, 1.1GB RAM)? Somewhere in those days, the OS would've been Win98SE or XP.
I don't recall that migrating the OS was all that slow. For adding an entire abstraction layer and removing all user-space rights to the hardware, they did a darn good job, not only keeping things reasonably optimized, but stable as well.
A similar problem plagues browsers today; with a diverse rainforest of standards and VMs to implement, it's difficult for an instance to occupy less than 50MB at all, and most are in the 300+ range, give or take tabs. Chrome sand-boxes tabs and plugins in separate tasks, leading to monstrous memory thrashing for users that have the habit of leaving tabs open. Firefox seems to just start at 300MB, and go up slowly from there.
Tim
-- Seven Transistor Labs, LLC Electrical Engineering Consultation and Contract Design Website: http://seventransistorlabs.com
At least 3 people have given you the answer. I also offered to snail mail a suitable card if you can't find one. Do try to read the replies to your question.
Find a PCMCIA Type I or II to Compact Flash adapter. There's no active devices inside, therefore no drivers required. Put your drivers on a less than 2GB CF card. The CF card emulates a hard disk drive, which should be recongnized by Plug-n-Pray.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
You can buy a USB serial port nearly anywhere. You can order one from a US supplier on eBay and have it in two days. This will be a tough row to hoe anyway. It works, I know, I have done this a long time back. But good luck finding info on setting it up.
Ok, so the problem is you have a PC that is deaf, dumb and blind and you want to teach it braille? Sorry, Anne Sullivan passed away some time back.
-- Rick
I can't help you with your objective.
But, if you just want to get the job done, here's a clue. There's a DOS program called laplink. It does file transfer over serial or parallel ports.
The unique thing about the laplink is that it can push the install to the other machine and install itself.
The one I used is ll5.exe Not sure exactly where I saved it 25 years ago. Costs $50 if you wanted to buy it today.
If you can locate a copy of ll5.exe, that should do what you want to transfer the drivers over serial interface.
Well, the issue is whether they require you to *add* a "driver" that isn't already present in the OS. E.g., the keyboard and mouse require drivers -- but, those are already built in! Likewise, a
*disk* is a viable choice.
The ECP or serial port can be used for data transfer. But, only the serial port will already have some preinstalled software present.
Is any other (non-OS) software present on the machine?
How about the *youngest*/newest *working* box? :>
The null modem "trick" will almost always work -- even if you have to resort to throttling the bit rate down to something ridiculous due to improper handshaking signals.
Let's get past the "starters". Assume you have *whatever* driver(s) on the disk for *whatever* hardware you've added.
*NOW*, what do you want to do with the machine?E.g., one answer is: "retrieve some software/files that were present on the machine that I need to access/preserve"
Another is: "have a spare machine that I can use to type email"
Yet another is: "have a machine onto which I can install other specific software for some specific current/future need"
Pull the disk drive. Attach it to another (working) computer (i.e., as "D:", "E:", etc.). Copy the files onto the disk. Then, reinstall it in the laptop.
You may not have a "special" mini-IDE adapter in your goody box (most just convert a "regular" IDE cable to the mini-IDE form factor). You'd install the laptop drive *in* one of your "old" computers -- possibly in place of an existing "second disk" -- just like it was a "regular" 3 inch IDE drive. You can also find mini-IDE interfaces to PCMCIA cards. And, external laptop disk *USB* enclosures -- swap out the existing drive and just use the enclosure for a few minutes!
You can probably also find a keyboard/mouse wedge with some sort of peripheral device that would effectively "type very fast" for you. The trick there would be having a piece of software on the laptop (already) that will let you "type in hex" (or some other "non binary" format)
IMO, this is a bad idea -- unless you consider it's contents and reliable operation to be disposable. I think most modern AV's are considerable resource hogs; most browsers even moreso! I don't even trust my *work* machines on the 'net (*this* machine has nothing precious).
Now have no way to test that kind of hardware with Win98SE, as i let it out of the "window". But, try the adapter by Prudent Way; it seems to need no driver.
Just to summarise. You want to connect some arbitrary USB device to your Windows98SE computer, which lacks a USB port.
That's just not going to happen, and the physical connection is the least of the problems.
Sylvia.
snipped-for-privacy@bid.nes schreef op 05/28/2015 om 12:14 AM:
I'd get the disk drive that comes with the Libretto. That at least gives you a way to get some data into it. Then it's a quest to find a PCMCIA network card for it.
There exist file transfter systems than can be bootstrapped over serial. after minimal typing on uninstalled end, you need a null-modem,
i'm fairly sure dos-6 has it (both MS and DR)
a cheap usb-serial adapter can be used on one of your modern machines run dos 6 in a virtual machine so you don't need dos drivers for the usb-serial.
That's essentially impossinle. the USB sytorage protocol is probably semantically compatible with PCMCIA storage but I've never encountered an adaptor.
maybe you can use a PCMCIA SD card reader, I think they behave like a disk and don't need additional drivers.
ah.
-- umop apisdn
Another solution: windoze "internet connection sharing" can use serial ports or you xould install a PPP server on one of your modern machines.
-- umop apisdn
I have a few PCMCIA USB2 adapters, here. I use them for extra ports on some laptops and the *only* (USB) ports on others. You can't get the
500mA/port from the PCMCIA slot so an external wall wart is required for any devices that need that sort of power (tiny barrel connector in the end of the PCMCIA card for that)Or, a micro-drive -- which *is* a disk! :>
Of course, requires another machine that also has PCMCIA slots to move the data onto the media...
Compact flash was the microdrive form factor; yes, a CF card and PCMCIA/CF adapter makes a solid state disk for most PCMCIA-equipped computers, and USB connected CF card docks are common.
I've also seen direct PCMCIA flash cards (about 16 MB, that was OLD technology).
One possibility no one has mentioned, if the Libretto has a modem, you can PPP to the early WiFi routers: it'll work with Apple graphite or snow Airports, and some Airport Extreme models, and some Dell and Lucent models of the same era. Once you connect, you've got TCP/IP through the router's Ethernet or WiFi.
That seems remarkable, how is the modem connected to the router, how is the connection initiated?
I know that many ISPs provide dialup service as a backup, but that won't put you on the LAN via a PPP connection.
-- umop apisdn
Fond out that there is a small CD that usually comes with these things that has drivers for the older OSes. Also, be advised that there is a "stack" for Win98SE that gives support for USB (and as i remember,works very well).
Incorrect; look at the "stack" exactly for that; nusb32e.exe. There seems to be a number of such beasties to support even DOS.
The USB defines a mechanism for passing data between a computer and a device, and that's about the extent of it. Without software in the computer that knows how to interpret that data, there is no way of making any practical use of the device. Some devices identify themselves as complying with a particular predefined protocol which may already be supported by the computer in question. Beyond that, it's always going to necessary to load software into a computer if it's to make use of an arbitrary device.
Sylvia.
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