On Sat, 18 Dec 2010 08:33:50 -0800 Denis Heidtmann <[email protected]> dijo:
>On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 9:55 PM, John Jason Jordan ><[email protected]>wrote: > >> On Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:06:40 -0800 >> Denis Heidtmann <[email protected]> dijo: >> >> >Update: >> > >> >A lot water has gone under the proverbial bridge. With Russell's >> >assistance, we got a CD drive functioning, installed Win 98, but it >> >crashed twice identically, leading us to believe that the newer >> >machine and the older OS did not want to live together. After the >> >divorce, I tried installing 98 on a Gateway 4026GZ. It installed, >> >but would only operate in safe mode. It did not know how to >> >operate the display in anything other than the default. No matter; >> >the USB did not work either. I downloaded a generic USB driver and >> >installed it. The device manager said all is well with the USB. >> >However, no life can be detected at the USB connections. I am >> >calling this marriage not even begun, unless there is a counselor >> >who can save it. >> > >> >So, the need remains: 1) Get the scanner to operate from some >> >operating system (it used to operate on win 98/me.) to prove it can >> >still be done. 2) If successful, acquire an old laptop which can do >> >1). Russell has an old desktop which may be able to establish the >> >proof of concept. And I suppose I could use a desktop, although I'd >> >rather avoid the power and space use that entails. >> >> Do I understand correctly that the scanner requires USB? >> >> I spent a few minutes digging this evening and I found my ancient >> laptop. Amazingly, it boots Windows 95, just as I left it many years >> ago. It still has CorelDRAW 6.0, WordPerfect 5.0, Netscape Gold, >> PageMaker 6.0 and some version of MS Office on it. It also has a >> Xircom Credit Card Ethernet+Modem 28.8 and an Adaptec APA-1425/50/60 >> SCSI card. (At the time I used this laptop I had an HP scanner that >> required SCSI.) >> >> The hinges are cracked, but the screen is fine. It has a CD drive as >> well as the floppy, and both are working. I was stunned to discover >> that it has a whopping 8 MB of RAM. That's "megabytes." And the hard >> drive is 1.2 GB. I even found a PDF of the spec sheet (Texas >> Instruments Extensa 570CDT, also sold as Acer 570CDT) and apparently >> you can upgrade the RAM to 40 MB. Might even get DSL on this thing. I >> can't believe I used PageMaker in 8 MB of RAM. The copyright on the >> spec sheet is 1996, to give an idea of the age. >> >> However, much as my memory insisted that it had a USB port, it does >> not. One could stick in a PCMCIA adapter, if such an adapter were >> available cheaply. It does have a port for an external >> mouse/keyboard, though, as well as serial, parallel, and even a VGA >> out port. >> >> The box it was in also has all the Windows 95 install floppies. >> >> If you can use any or all of the above, let me know. I can easily >> bring it to the Clinic Sunday. >> _______________________________________________ >> > >Quite a piece of history. Thanks for the offer, but my scanner is >USB. From what I read, USB in that era had some growing pains, so >adding another layer of uncertainty might not be the most efficient >approach to getting it working. And I will not be able to be at the >Clinic this Sunday. Yes as to the growing pains. USB was not fully supported until Windows 98, although Windows 95 can handle it also as long as the card manufacturer created drivers. If I had Windows 98 media I'd try to install it. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
