Hi,

I have an old 486 75mhz latop, an oldey but a goody!

It has Win 3.1 loaded into it, and has been mostly used for Word processing etc.

I'd like to use it for a couple of other applications that require Win 95 or later. I have a Win 98 disk, which the machine should be able to run, but the laptop has no CDROM drive.

Can anyone give me some ideas as to how I could update the operating system, or is it a lost cause?

Regards

Andy

Well, you can transfer the setup.exe and the Win98 Folder off that CD-ROM onto the Notebook, if you have the space to spare (at least temporarily)

Transfer of the Install data onto the Notebook's HD is possible via :
- Network (integrated or PCMCIA)
- Serial connection (needs special Cable)
- Parallel connection (needs special Cable)
- 3.5" Disk (WinRAR or 7zip multiple Disk archive).
- external ZIP/JAZ or comparable Drive for Parallel Port

Otherwise, find an old external CD-ROM for the Parallel port, that is likely the easiest way to get it working.

I've done all of these methods in the past, it's just a matter of what accessories you can quickly (or cheap) get, OR what the minimum comfort level is that you need.

I have transfered a cd onto a drive using the microsoft intersever program through the printer port.

One machine ends up being a slave drive, the other a master and when done right you end up with the slave computer showing up as a drive letter on the master computer.

drag and drop.

It's been several years since I have even thought of using that method.

Sound like FF's Parallel connection. Did you need a special cable?

I did the same thing back in the old days with LapLink (requires a laplink cable {parallel}.

You can do the Serial connection with a nul-modem cable or a standard serial cable with a nul-modem adaptor (like a gender changer thingy). It's hella slow, but more common cables/adaptors.

That reminds me, I have an old Parallel to external SCSI Drive around here from DataStor.  

wrote on 05.09.05 at 17:06:44:

Sound like FF's Parallel connection. Did you need a special cable? I did the same thing back in the old days with LapLink (requires a laplink cable {parallel}.

I think so, pretty sure it was a null modem cable back from the days of playing Doom over a serial port between computers.

The nice thing about the MS program is it's free if you have DOS 6.22 discs.

Indeed, a normal Parallel cable is carrying Voltage, thus connecting 2 PC's with it can cause damage, so be sure to get the right one.

wrote on 05.09.05 at 21:10:37:

Indeed, a normal Parallel cable is carrying Voltage, thus connecting 2 PC's with can cause damage, so be sure to get the right one.

Right!! If your not sure use the slower route I spoke of before (serial). We don't want you to fry your laptop or the host machine. I don't even think you can buy those Laplink cables anymore.

How much ram do you have?

If you don't have more than 8 MB you better stick with 95 B

There was a guy around here that used a program called 98lite "procerus" I don't here much from him these days.

Try this and let me know what you think...

http://www.litepc.com/98lite.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-6ft-Parallel-data-transfer-interlink-cable-M-M_W0QQitemZ5806223430QQcategoryZ41993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

.99 cents on Ebay