Is it possible to wirelessly network a PII Win98 computer to a PIV WinXP system?

Question

Are there wireless adapters that work in a PII, 350Mghz, Win98 computer?

Answer 1

Yes, you can. You'd have to find older wireless hardware, since no manufacturers currently support Win98. Netgear and Linksys both sold first-gen 802.11b adapters years ago with Win98 drivers (So did 3Com but avoid those), you could check Ebay for some.

An easier approach is to use a wireless bridge- That way your Win98 machine just runs a regular ethernet cable into the device which then connects to your wireless network, and no additional drivers or software changes are needed on the Win98 box. You just configure the bridge with the correct SSID and encryption key, it converts the wired connection to wireless. Be aware that many older devices will only support WEP for security.

Examples are the Linksys WET11, WET54 and my favorite, the Buffalo Airstation (which can connect up to 4 wired computers or Xboxes, etc)

Answer 2

if you have a wireless adapter and driver for Win98, however I dont think that there are any vendors that created wireless drivers for Windows 98. If you have a machine that old, I'd suggest putting linux or FreeBSD or some other altenative OS like that on it..and network wirelessly all you want.

If you are trying to get files off the computer, you'd do better taking out the hard drive and putting it in the new computer and copying the files over, it'd be faster at least.

but, yah win 98 is 10 years old, and even when wireless was in it's infancy I dont recall wireless adapters w/ '98 drivers..

Answer 3

Wireless works on Win98 and WinME. These are both 32 bit machines.

Answer 4

You would need windows 98se (second edition). 98se made many improvements in networking over regular 98.

The best place to find units that work with 98 is on ebay.

Here are a few dlinks that will work.
Router: Any router (Like the DI-524 or DI-624)
PCI card: DWL-G510
usb adapter: DWL-G122
PCMCIA Card: DWL-G650