View Full Version : Wi-Fi and Elderly Laptop
heretic
29th Feb 2004, 18:17
Hi
I have an elderly dell P120 40mb ram and 4g hard disc with two pmcia2 ports. Does any one know if it would be capable of handling a wi-fi card?
regards
Saab Dastard
29th Feb 2004, 18:43
Heretic,
Choose a wi-fi card then
1) Check that the wi-fi PCMCIA card is compatible with your slots
2) Check that you can get drivers for your OS.
3) Check manufacturer's minimum requirements
4) Check FAQs, support information on the manufacturer's web site for any gotchas
If you are happy with the above, then I don't see any reason why not.
SD
amanoffewwords
1st Mar 2004, 00:48
Or you could use a USB device if you have such a port.
amofw
NB there is a difference between PCMCIA and CARDBUS (same form different spec). Hope that's useful.
heretic
1st Mar 2004, 16:35
Osbo
Unfortunately does not have a usb port and I am pretty sure it is pmcia2 not cardbus. Operating system is win95. I guess what I am hoping for is someone who has done it to know it is possible before hitting the plastic.
Saab Dastard
1st Mar 2004, 19:39
Heretic,
Here's a product from Actiontec:
11Mbps Wireless PC Card adapter
Minimum System Requirements
Pentium 90 or Faster, Windows 95/98/98SE/ME/NT4/2000/XP, 16MB of RAM, PC Card Slot available (IEEE 802.11B, PCMCIA Spec. 5.1)
Costs about £25.
I'm not recommending it, just quoting it as an example of what's available.
There are several cards that I have seen that have a min. 400MHz CPU requirement, or only support Win 98 and above, but as you can see, it is possible to get cards that support your PC.
Try searching Google for "PCMCIA Wireless Network Adapter"
Over to you.
SD
The Netgear MA401 (http://www.netgear.com/products/details/MA401.php) works with Win95B, but not Win95A, you'll have to check which version you have.