Need Help Installing An Ethernet Adapter On T2100 Ms-Dos Laptop

[dnlgreenwood]

Well, I just bought a Toshiba T2100 laptop and a D-Link DFE-670TXD Ethernet adapter. I know MS-DOS probably isn't plug-and-play. I don't know how to install drivers or anything... or even if there are any drivers.

By the way, it has Windows 3.1 installed.

 

[trooper]

Why would you want to install a ethernet adaptor on such a old machine ?.

Trooper

 

[dnlgreenwood]

Why would you want to install a ethernet adaptor on such a old machine ?.

Trooper

I need internet on it, of course

I'm going to try to install Windows 95 on it... or maybe some form of linux. I really have no idea what type of linux I'd need.

 

[trooper]

I guessed that's what you wanted to do that for, But it is a really old machine.
From what i can tell, It is a 486DX2 50MHz, MAX 32MB ram, 350MB HHD etc.

You will be hard pushed to find a GUI based version of Linux that will run at a
decent speed on that hardware. Even with Win95 and all needed drivers installed,
Your options for a modern browser are pretty limited, Though i do think some
recent versions of Opera will run on Win95, Opera 10.63 is the last version that
supports Win98, So i`m not sure.

Well, Wish you luck, Even if you don`t succeed, The challenge will be fun.

Trooper

 

[dnlgreenwood]

I guessed that's what you wanted to do that for, But it is a really old machine.
From what i can tell, It is a 486DX2 50MHz, MAX 32MB ram, 350MB HHD etc.

You will be hard pushed to find a GUI based version of Linux that will run at a
decent speed on that hardware. Even with Win95 and all needed drivers installed,
Your options for a modern browser are pretty limited, Though i do think some
recent versions of Opera will run on Win95, Opera 10.63 is the last version that
supports Win98, So i`m not sure.

Well, Wish you luck, Even if you don`t succeed, The challenge will be fun.

Trooper

Thanks.
I've found a DOS version of the Lynx browser, and some Windows 95 browsers I'll try out. I have one problem, and that is getting the information onto the laptop. I might build a bi-directional parallel cable to transfer data and go to my local library to load files onto a floppy disc. To install Windows 95, I'm going to remove the hard disc and insert it into my old Sony Vaio, which has a CD and DVD drive. I plan to keep dos/win3.1 and install 95 or 98se on another partition if I can.

I don't really need a GUI that much
I've found some gameboy emulators and an IRC client, I hope I can get it working. I've also found Blueflops, linux that fits on two floppy discs. I need to get my hands on a box of floppy discs because I only have one.

I'm going to look for another hard drive that has a little more space on it, maybe 10GB or 20GB

Some things I plan on doing with my new laptop:
Word processing
Programming
A few games... I wonder if it will run doom...
Programming PICs via the parallel port
Designing electronic circuits
Loading a file onto a PS2 memory card so I can finally soft mod the thing and backup saves
Look like a complete idiot carrying it around (joking)

I wonder how long the battery would last if it was new? My guess would be an hour.

Oh, and I've finally found drivers for Windows 95 and up! Yay!

 

[absolofdoom]

Good luck and have fun man, I always enjoy getting an old machine up and running and useful again. I have a super old Toshiba laptop from over 10 years ago (thing's almost as old as me) that still works great with puppy linux on it. Great stuff.

 

[Pleng]

A few games... I wonder if it will run doom...

With those specs it should be abe to handle full screen Doom easily (from DOS)

 

[dnlgreenwood]

A few games... I wonder if it will run doom...

With those specs it should be abe to handle full screen Doom easily (from DOS)

Great, I thought I would have to run a cut-down version of doom.

@the guy with the TWEWY picture as his avatar:
Well, this thing is about as old as me. I haven't had a good experience with running puppy linux from a flash drive on my Sony Vaio, it kept crashing. I must have been doing something wrong...

I don't know if I'll be able to bring this thing back home with me (on holiday atm) along with my laptop, Sega Genesis model 1, SNES model 2, and a huge load of power adapters, controllers, and games. Most of this I've accumulated during the holiday. I might have to take a duffel bag, lol. I'll at least bring the hard drive and battery, then come back for it later. I think I'm slowly turning into somewhat of a pack-rat.

 

[absolofdoom]

@the guy with the TWEWY picture as his avatar:
Well, this thing is about as old as me. I haven't had a good experience with running puppy linux from a flash drive on my Sony Vaio, it kept crashing. I must have been doing something wrong...

I don't know if I'll be able to bring this thing back home with me (on holiday atm) along with my laptop, Sega Genesis model 1, SNES model 2, and a huge load of power adapters, controllers, and games. Most of this I've accumulated during the holiday. I might have to take a duffel bag, lol. I'll at least bring the hard drive and battery, then come back for it later. I think I'm slowly turning into somewhat of a pack-rat.

My brother has (actually, had, he gave it away, I think) a Sony Vaio, and it had nothing but problems with linux. But none of them made any sense... Random crashes, toolbars suddenly not working then reappearing, wifi on the fritz, and not booting sometimes. I thought the motherboard was messed up in some unspeakable way or something, since I've never seen those kinds of issues all together like that. But maybe there's just some incompatibility with their laptops? I don't know; it seems unlikely. But let's just forget that for now. Generally what I do, for puppy linux, is put it on a CD if the machine has a CD drive, and then use a bootable floppy that'll load up the disc. (on old computers, like the aforementioned laptop) If it's a new(er) computer, then just boot off the CD in the first place. But even if the computer is supposed to support booting from flash drive, some just don't work. The really new computers usually do, but I've still had a few not work before, or not run properly. So I go with CD unless I have no other choice; you might wanna try that. You can then install it to the hard drive, which takes very little space, though it makes no difference in performance unless the computer is really quite old. There are other distros like Damn Small Linux that are good alternatives as well. Nothing wrong with using windows or MS-DOS of course, I just prefer linux myself. Especially if it's command-line only, I like linux's terminal quite a bit. Well, I'm kinda rambling now...

Oh also, kudos for knowing where the avatar's from! TWEWY's my favorite game, on my top 3 list with Chrono Trigger and Cave Story.

 

[dnlgreenwood]

@the guy with the TWEWY picture as his avatar:
Well, this thing is about as old as me. I haven't had a good experience with running puppy linux from a flash drive on my Sony Vaio, it kept crashing. I must have been doing something wrong...

I don't know if I'll be able to bring this thing back home with me (on holiday atm) along with my laptop, Sega Genesis model 1, SNES model 2, and a huge load of power adapters, controllers, and games. Most of this I've accumulated during the holiday. I might have to take a duffel bag, lol. I'll at least bring the hard drive and battery, then come back for it later. I think I'm slowly turning into somewhat of a pack-rat.

My brother has (actually, had, he gave it away, I think) a Sony Vaio, and it had nothing but problems with linux. But none of them made any sense... Random crashes, toolbars suddenly not working then reappearing, wifi on the fritz, and not booting sometimes. I thought the motherboard was messed up in some unspeakable way or something, since I've never seen those kinds of issues all together like that. But maybe there's just some incompatibility with their laptops? I don't know; it seems unlikely. But let's just forget that for now. Generally what I do, for puppy linux, is put it on a CD if the machine has a CD drive, and then use a bootable floppy that'll load up the disc. (on old computers, like the aforementioned laptop) If it's a new(er) computer, then just boot off the CD in the first place. But even if the computer is supposed to support booting from flash drive, some just don't work. The really new computers usually do, but I've still had a few not work before, or not run properly. So I go with CD unless I have no other choice; you might wanna try that. You can then install it to the hard drive, which takes very little space, though it makes no difference in performance unless the computer is really quite old. There are other distros like Damn Small Linux that are good alternatives as well. Nothing wrong with using windows or MS-DOS of course, I just prefer linux myself. Especially if it's command-line only, I like linux's terminal quite a bit. Well, I'm kinda rambling now...

Oh also, kudos for knowing where the avatar's from! TWEWY's my favorite game, on my top 3 list with Chrono Trigger and Cave Story.

I haven't played twewy in quite a while; I might pick it up again... once I find that darn card :angry: I've lost many cartridges over the years.

I've had even more problems with DSL. I'm not even going to start listing them. But on my HP Mini, it runs perfectly, along with puppy. Don't get me started on the problems with Windows XP. My vaio (pcg r505-gl) was designed for Windows 2000.

 

[WizardStan]

What you want to do is possible (http://www.nodevice.com/driver/DFE-670TXD/get21007.html), I just can't remember how to do it. All the instructions should be in that driver list somewhere though.
Also, what you want is Arachne: a complete web browser for DOS, and even more with extensions. Light and fast, even when on Windows 98 I'd still preferred it at times.

 

[dnlgreenwood]

What you want to do is possible (http://www.nodevice.com/driver/DFE-670TXD/get21007.html), I just can't remember how to do it. All the instructions should be in that driver list somewhere though.
Also, what you want is Arachne: a complete web browser for DOS, and even more with extensions. Light and fast, even when on Windows 98 I'd still preferred it at times.

Wow, thanks a lot! I'll look into it once I fix the loop I accidentally put in my autoexec.bat file. Need to write a recovery disc...

Today, the laptop's battery mysteriously started working, and it's my birthday. What a coincidence! :lol:

EDIT:

I wonder if there is a way to convert Windows 95 drivers to DOS/Win3.1 so I don't have to upgrade to Windows 95; I'd rather save disc space and stick with DOS/Win3.1. I haven't found anything yet...

Well, It's good that I read the documentation for the drivers; it included instructions for DOS/3.1 users!

Spoiler

================================================================
NOTES ON
Installing D-Link DFE-670TXD Fast Ethernet PC Card
For DOS Users
================================================================
(c) 2001 Copyright D-Link Corporation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


This document contains general information, which is not included in the
DFE-670TXD Fast Ethernet PC Card USER'S GUIDE or onscreen instructions, for
DOS users regarding DFE-670TXD Fast Ethernet PC Card installation.

DOS environment users, including users of Windows 3.1/3.11
please read this document.


This document contains information on the following topics:

1.0 Hot-Swap
2.0 Installation Aids
3.0 Terminology
________________________________________________________________________

1.0 Hot-Swap
-------------
The ODI DOS driver, NDIS DOS driver, and Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT driver
support an On-Line Hot-Swap function.


2.0 Installation Aids
----------------------
2.1. If your computer's CONFIG.SYS file has the EMM386.EXE command line,
please make sure the memory range D000-D7FF is excluded.
Because the Card Services need this range to allocate resources for
the adapter.

*** Example command line ***
------------------------------------------
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS X=D000-D7FF

2.2. For the PC that does not have the Card Services.
The DFE-670TXD works with the INTEL PCMCIA (PCIC) or compatible
controller.

2.3. DFCD.EXE
DFCD.EXE is an integrated version of utility to enable an adapter.
DFCD.EXE supports Intel 82365SL or compatible, Toshiba T3300SL's
ICCNT, Socket Services v2.0,v2.10, and Card Services v2.0,v2.10.

You could issue DFCD command at the DOS command prompt.

Format:
dfcd [/hlp]
dfcd [/chk]
dfcd /parameter:

/irq:h (2-15,1,11) -- IRQ number
/iop:hhh (100-3C0,20,300) -- I/O base
/slt:n (0-?,1,0) -- Slot number
/? -- Help message
/hlp -- Help message
/chk -- List PC Card
environment
2.4. If the DFE-670TXD Fast Ethernet PC Card cannot be enabled in
SystemSoft's Card Services Environment, user has to
disable the CardLib command line in the CARDID.INI file.

*** Example CardLib command line in the CARDID.INI file ***
-----------------------------------------------------------
:
[Libraries]
;CardLib=Dlink.CLB
:
:

Then follow the instruction notes in the README file to install
DFE-670TXD Fast Ethernet PC Card driver. While installing the
DFE-670TXD Fast Ethernet PC Card driver, the related resources,
such as I/O and IRQ, will be detected automatically.

Following are the steps:
Step 1: Disable the CardLib command line in the CARDID.INI file
FORMAT:
;CardLib=Dlink.CLB

Step 2: Reboot PC
Step 3: RUN THE D-Link's install program,
then select Quick Install for NetWare Client option.
Step 4: Installation completed.
Step 5: Reboot PC, then connect to the NetWare server.


3.0 Terminology
----------------
3.1. SystemSoft Card Services
SystemSoft is a company that develops PC Card chipset drivers.
The package is called CardSoft, CardWizard, and CardWizard Pro.

3.2. Pheonix Card Services
Pheonix is a company that develops PC Card chipset drivers.
The package is call PCM+ 2.0 or PCM+ 3.0, etc.

3.3. Award Card Services
Award is a company that develops PC Card chipset drivers.
The package is call Cardware.

3.4. AMI Card Services
AMI is a company that develops PC Card chipset drivers. The
package is call CardManager.

3.5. DataBook Card Services
Databook develops PC Card chipset drivers. The package is called
Cardtalk.

 

[WizardStan]

So how's it going so far? Manage to get your age old laptop on the net?

 

[dnlgreenwood]

So how's it going so far? Manage to get your age old laptop on the net?

Well, at the moment, I'm trying as hard as I can to get my hands on some working floppy discs. All of mine are broken. I just found one buried under my NES games, so I'll test it out tomorrow (Wednesday) morning... I sure hope it works. I'm really anxious right now.

Hopefully, I can get it ready so I can do some work on it, or use IRC. After I get Arcaine and the Ethernet driver on there, I'm going to transfer a bunch of things via FTP; I've been running an FTP server on my desktop computer for the past half year.

I never thought I'd ever need floppies. I've been nagging a friend (whom I know has a pack of floppies) to lend me a couple. I hope he obliges...

Oh, and as my signature states, I've been a bit distracted, though this hasn't impacted my progress on my laptop.

I seem to be having problems with my external PS/2 mouse. For some reason, my laptop thinks its a keyboard. This is extremely puzzling... I have no idea what's going on.

 

[dnlgreenwood]

Well, I finally managed to find a working floppy disk, and I've copied the drivers onto a folder on the hard drive. I am, however, stuck on how to install the NDIS2DOS driver. I think I'm supposed to connect to a netware server (and probably make one).