Old Packard Bell Tower PC internet help.

almillar

You can probably throw that tower away, keep the keyboard, mouse and monitor, and pick up a Pentium 4 computer with XP on it for £20 odd quid. Have a look on Gumtree or eBay locally and pick it up to save on postage. I think getting a network card (wired or wireless) installed on Windows 98 will be a world of pain, it's out of date and insecure for the net, you're bound to need Flash or something else that won't install to get at a voucher some time, and it's just not worth it when FAR better computers are available so cheap.
That's from someone with some very old computers in the roofspace!

NiftyDigits

almillar wrote: »

You can probably throw that tower away, keep the keyboard, mouse and monitor, and pick up a Pentium 4 computer with XP on it for £20 odd quid. Have a look on Gumtree or eBay locally and pick it up to save on postage. I think getting a network card (wired or wireless) installed on Windows 98 will be a world of pain, it's out of date and insecure for the net, you're bound to need Flash or something else that won't install to get at a voucher some time, and it's just not worth it when FAR better computers are available so cheap.
That's from someone with some very old computers in the roofspace!

What makes you think that Flash won't work? You can still use Firefox and Opera, albeit older versions with Windows 98.

prowla

A quick google suggests that the Pulsar 600 is a 2003 machine that has a maximum of a 900 MHz processor and people were talking about upgrading to 512 MB memory and running Windows XP.

based on that, it ain't that great and basically it will run like a dog.

I tend to agree that it's not worth spending any money on it, but if you can get a LAN card for free or from a car boot it might be worth it.

In contrast, I am just offering a 2.53 GHz machine with 1 GB memory and built-in LAN on my local freegle.

Lynsey

Thanks again.

Yes, it has been turned on and appears to work fine.
Would extra RAM be of any use?? My Brother has stated he could give me extra RAM.
It has 600 MHz.

Lynsey

NiftyDigits

Lynsey wrote: »

Thanks again.

Yes, it has been turned on and appears to work fine.
Would extra RAM be of any use?? My Brother has stated he could give me extra RAM.
It has 600 MHz.

Lynsey

Does he have SDRAM PC133?

NiftyDigits

PhilAres wrote: »

Everyone is taking the integrity of the parts for granted. Have you started this thing up yet?

I wouldn't bother with the wireless if it is running 98 as getting the drivers without the internet would be a pain. (It wont come preloaded like it would [might] with XP).

All things failing, you can pick up 2nd hand systems on xp for £50. hell, i'll be able to sort one out for that.

Yawn...I'm sure it has been aforementioned that these things come with discs.

If not, they can go back for a refund if they state Windows 98 compatibility.

Lynsey

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Does he have SDRAM PC133?

Above my head, but thanks and I'll ask. Sorry for the delayed reply.
Would extra RAM make a major difference??
I've been thinking about this and think I'll just spend less than £3 on an upgrade and see if it works. Not much to lose and more to gain.
I've found the disc for the printer also, maybe need updated drivers??
Unbelievable that the card can be bought for under £3 delivered.

Lynsey

santer_2

Avoid firmware updates for the printer if offered.

http://www.wasteink.co.uk/epson-firmware-update-compatible-problem/

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/photo-inkjet/134985-epson-updating-firmware-via-internet.html

NiftyDigits

Lynsey wrote: »

Above my head, but thanks and I'll ask. Sorry for the delayed reply.
Would extra RAM make a major difference??
I've been thinking about this and think I'll just spend less than £3 on an upgrade and see if it works. Not much to lose and more to gain.
I've found the disc for the printer also, maybe need updated drivers??
Unbelievable that the card can be bought for under £3 delivered.

Lynsey

No, there won't be updated Drivers for Windows 98. If they are not on the disc, they are here

Once the card is fitted, unzip and install the Drivers. Then pop to the Device Manager to find the card there under Network Adapters. Click on it and then Properties, which should bring you to an Update Drivers tab. Run that and point it, if necessary to where you just installed the Driver.
There is an automatic installation program, but I think that it only works with Windows 98SE. It is here

Lynsey

NiftyDigits - the £2.70 card (link) doesn't state it's suitable for windows 98??
Others available on ebay, but from Hong Kong.
I'll find out about the RAM tomorrow.

Thank you all for the help.

Lynsey