I have recently been given an old dell laptop and would like to set up a wireless network with my canon MP730 printer and my desktop PC.

My desktop runs XP home with SP2 and is a P4 2.53GHZ with 1Gb RAM.

I have a D-Link 502t modem for my ADSL2+ internet connection from iinet.

My laptop is a:

DELL Latitude CPx H500GT with bios version A13 P3 500Mhz 256Kb L2 cache 256 MB RAM 6007MB HDD ATI M1 Video controller 8Mb video memory It has 1 USB 1.1 port

I have it running Win 98se (it won't run else anything better.)

DELL says they never provided a PCMCIA wireless card for it and to go to any PC retailer and try out a card before I buy, however, the Harvey Norman rep says nothing but a DELL branded card will work and to get one from them as only DELL hardware will go with DELL products.

I know I'll need a router, possibly with a print server built in, but can anyone tell me what PCMCIA card I need to get that will run on such an old laptop.

I want to be able to surf the net while in my lounge and access files from my desktop, Print pages and transfer files to and from either desktop or laptop, as well as let my sister's laptop (that runs XP) use my internet connection and transfer between my desktop and her laptop.

What do I ask for and what do I need to look out for?

Nigel

Re: Old Laptop P3 500Mhz

A USB wireless adapter will do fine to get the laptop connected. $80. Something like a D-Link DI-624+ will give you wireless and additional LAN ports. $120. Or, you can replace the 502t with an integrated wireless unit. Don't listen to Harvey & Co. As Dell point out indirectly, PCMCIA is a universal standard, so everything (up to a point) will interchange, but try it first. USB has pretty much taken over though, and if you buy a USB adapter you can use it in any pc or laptop.

Faster wireless gear (108Mbps) is more expensive, but in this case not likely to be necessary.

Chris B