Got a free laptop, now how do I network it?

[ACCORDianate]

Its an old Gateway 2000 Solo. A 166(!) with Win98. It has a 33.6 modem card and a teeny-tiny hard drive. It has Excel and Word on it, which are its only redeeming features. I want to set it up to play kid games for my girls.

So, my question is: how do I link it to my regular desktop to transfer stuff to it? This laptop has 2 USB ports, a serial port on the back, and a removed cd/rom drive, so loading cds isn't an option. My desktop has 1 unused USB and 1 unused serial port.

Suggestions? I've never networked anything so any information is helpful.

[lil_dcb7]

Its an old Gateway 2000 Solo. A 166(!) with Win98. It has a 33.6 modem card and a teeny-tiny hard drive. It has Excel and Word on it, which are its only redeeming features. I want to set it up to play kid games for my girls.

So, my question is: how do I link it to my regular desktop to transfer stuff to it? This laptop has 2 USB ports, a serial port on the back, and a removed cd/rom drive, so loading cds isn't an option. My desktop has 1 unused USB and 1 unused serial port.

Suggestions? I've never networked anything so any information is helpful.

i think you just use the serial port go to office depot, come home with a IDE transfer cabe (i think ive heard of one) whack your cat once, and connect your laptop and desktop

[ACCORDianate]

A USB transfer cable? A Best Buy item not a Walmart item. Boo. Sounds like I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to get it going.

[accordaffair]

I have a PCMCIA network card. What I do is hook the laptop to a hub, and using windows file sharing I get anything at I want using a 100 Mb/s network. If the laptop has a cd-drive that helps because my pc has cd-rw/dvd-rw.......166 pentium 1 eh? I have one over here too, I swapped in a 233, but it was running too hot (too hot=hard drive caught fire)

SO in short, I assume you have 1-2 pcmcia card slots. Buy a walmart (network everywhere) laptop network card (about $20-30) to hook it to your home network if you have one. Otherwise you'll need a crossover cable to hook to your main pc's nic. Assuming your main pc has one.

[lil_dcb7]

i heard about a serial transfer cable from my cousin when i had a laptop he it should work. sorry if im not that big of a help, im not big on networks. good luck!

[93EXaesthetic]

get.. a wifi card.......60 bucks...and a wifi hub...60 bucks............or cheaper..a network ethernet card 30 bucks...and some ethernet cable...a linksys hub or router ....and hook em up.then play with windows networking.........

a crossover cable or serial cable may be to much for you........

or there is something called "sneaker net" when you just burn a disc and walk it to the other laptop..... just a suggestion

[ACCORDianate]

The cd-rom on the laptop is toast, and it has no floppy drives.

[accordaffair]

Dial up can retrieve drivers for a network card....parallel and serial cable transfers never worked for me.

[93EXaesthetic]

The cd-rom on the laptop is toast, and it has no floppy drives.

does it have PCMCIA card slots on the side of the laptop? if so..get a network card...also what OS. (operating systeM) are you running on the lappy?

[accordaffair]

93 aesthetic your pm box is full I couldn't email you either, so I'll respond by jacking the thread. Thanks for the nice words. I never considered it much of a DIY. More like just a bunch of pictures with some incoherent rambling in between. I am taking the pictures for another sort of DIY. Replacing the rear motor mount.

Ok back to the computer.

[ACCORDianate]

does it have PCMCIA card slots on the side of the laptop? if so..get a network card...also what OS. (operating systeM) are you running on the lappy?

Yes it has a PCMCIA ethernet card and is running off of standard Win98. The modem card does me no good, as I don't have a land line; I do digital internet and rely on cells.

[93EXaesthetic]

Yes it has a PCMCIA ethernet card and is running off of standard Win98. The modem card does me no good, as I don't have a land line; I do digital internet and rely on cells.

what is digital internet? do you mean highspeed internet?.........yeah dont use a modem on a telephone line ...garbage! ..yeah just buy a pcmcia network ethernet card......and a hub...and connect them if you want them connected permanently.................. its really easy..ask me some questions of you need help...........also what OS is your main computer running?

[ACCORDianate]

what is digital internet? do you mean highspeed internet?.........yeah dont use a modem on a telephone line ...garbage! ..yeah just buy a pcmcia network ethernet card......and a hub...and connect them if you want them connected permanently.................. its really easy..ask me some questions of you need help...........also what OS is your main computer running?

Its whatever the highspeed crap that Comcast has. I get digital cable so I call it digital internet too. Its all off a T-connector.

I have a pcmcia card so all I need is a hub? I'm running XP sp2 on the main comp.

[93EXaesthetic]

you need to make a boot disk from windows xp....so windows 98 can communicate with windows xp over the network....do a search in windows xp help for network boot disk..that should steer you in the right direction. yeah and get a hub from comp usa..or ebay..whatever..and you should be golden