OK, this is kind of silly - P1 question

[Big Mac]

I live in a house with my 81 year old father. He's still as sharp as
a tack, but set in his ways. One thing is he refuses to get is a new
computer - he even refused a Christmas present of one from my brother.
His is I think a P1. It has only 16 MBs of memory. I don't know the
MHz processing speed, but I am sure it is sub-100 MHz. probably 50
MHz.

He is starting to log onto the Internet once in a while over the phone
line, and gets 28 Kbps with a USR 56 K external that I think was
pre-v90 & thus the 28 Kbps was standard only when the modem was made,
& the extra up to 56 k was a USR special.

Anyway, I am going to ask this. If I get a router, is his computer
capable of being home networked, and capable of appreciating cable
Internet speeds? Or even like a measly 500 Kbps?

Actually I am not interested in connecting our computers, only using
the router so he can access the Interent. Or, maybe I could buy a
modem - I think Comcast might only charge $5 a month for a second
computer.

If so, I guess he'll need a LAN card for the thing, right?

He uses Windows 95, up to date to the last upgrade in 2000 I think,
He uses Internet Explorer, but an older version.

I know it is so cheap to get a 2.6 GHz Celeron right now w/Win XP on
it, but I repeat, he doesn't want a new computer. Maybe if someone
gave him one that they were going to throw away, would he accept a
faster computer.

Big Mac

 

[Jabba]

I live in a house with my 81 year old father. He's still as sharp as
a tack, but set in his ways. One thing is he refuses to get is a new

/snip/

If he doesn't want a new computer why do you insist on making him get one.

 

[Onideus Mad Hatter]

/snip/

If he doesn't want a new computer why do you insist on making him get one.

The need to feel useful, like a teacher, to educate that which is the educator...he, he, he...human
emotions are such pathetic little predictable bubbles...easily popped... `, )

 

[Art Leonard]

Lo, I think the biggest limiting factor would be the low memory. It can be
networked, it will always be faster than a dial up modem, and yes he could
be ok with dsl/cable speeds.... the only thing might be: what browser could
he use with 95 and 16 megs?? Old browsers don't fare too well on the net
these days. Yes, he will need a NIC for the networking thing.

Maybe you upgrade the memory and go to 98, then you could update the
browser, etc and he would be sailing!

Good Luck
Art Leonard

 

[Michael Culley]

Lo, I think the biggest limiting factor would be the low memory. It can be
networked, it will always be faster than a dial up modem, and yes he could
be ok with dsl/cable speeds.... the only thing might be: what browser could
he use with 95 and 16 megs?? Old browsers don't fare too well on the net
these days. Yes, he will need a NIC for the networking thing.

He is using the internet now so the version of ie and the amount of memory
shouldn't be a problem. The NIC would be very cheap, adsl and routers are
cheap also. A router with a good firewall would be a good idea to help
protect the 95 machine. It might be a good idea to restrict LAN access
between the computers because the 95 machine might be more susceptible to
virus.

Michael Culley

 

[CBFalconer]

I live in a house with my 81 year old father. He's still as
sharp as a tack, but set in his ways. One thing is he refuses
to get is a new computer - he even refused a Christmas present
of one from my brother. His is I think a P1. It has only 16
MBs of memory. I don't know the MHz processing speed, but I
am sure it is sub-100 MHz. probably 50 MHz.

He is starting to log onto the Internet once in a while over
the phone line, and gets 28 Kbps with a USR 56 K external that
I think was pre-v90 & thus the 28 Kbps was standard only when
the modem was made, & the extra up to 56 k was a USR special.

V90 is capable of 56K. If it doesn't, the phone line is probably
not capable.

A memory expansion to 64M (probably the max for his machine) would
be useful and not cause any problems. Apart from that, leave him
alone. At most I would try to get him to try Netscape or Mozilla
to replace the virus prone IE.

 

[kony]

I live in a house with my 81 year old father. He's still as sharp as
a tack, but set in his ways. One thing is he refuses to get is a new
computer - he even refused a Christmas present of one from my brother.
His is I think a P1. It has only 16 MBs of memory. I don't know the
MHz processing speed, but I am sure it is sub-100 MHz. probably 50
MHz.

LOL, yeah I've dealt with old fellows set in their ways like this... the
key is to use an excuse as to why the system needs a different case, for
example "because the power supply died and it's cheaper to buy a power
supply that comes in a case", then once they accept that they MUST have
"something" replaced for it to keep working, you have free reign to
upgrade...

Inside a new case you can throw together whatever you want and plug-n-play
Win9x existing installation to accept it so that the system (to his eye,
usage) is the same, everything looks the same but it's just faster. The
other option is to find a combo that'll squeeze the most out of the AT
chassis and power supply, for example one of those baby-AT super 7
motherboards with a K6-2 or K6-3 in it. That'll get him ~ 500MHz and
support for up to 256-512MB of memory, ATA33 or ATA66 UDMA Hard drive
support, etc, and faster video. In the past such upgrades, spending $$ on
parts like that wasn't cost effective but these days the parts are
practically if not completely free.

I have a lot of old stuff just piling up, if you need anything free (just
pay postage) let me know.

He is starting to log onto the Internet once in a while over the phone
line, and gets 28 Kbps with a USR 56 K external that I think was
pre-v90 & thus the 28 Kbps was standard only when the modem was made,
& the extra up to 56 k was a USR special.

Anyway, I am going to ask this. If I get a router, is his computer
capable of being home networked, and capable of appreciating cable
Internet speeds? Or even like a measly 500 Kbps?

Yes. That is the best alternative. Install an old ISA 10Mbit nic, like a
3Com509 (companies are throwing away boxes with those in them all the time
or they're often available from a local mom-n-pop hardware shop for about
$5). With the dial-up modem the modem itself was the bottleneck but with
the broadband it should be at least 5X faster, the limit then being the
rest of the system instead of the acess method.

Actually I am not interested in connecting our computers, only using
the router so he can access the Interent. Or, maybe I could buy a
modem - I think Comcast might only charge $5 a month for a second
computer.

Get the router, it's a nice no-sweat layer of security in additon to being
the easy way to do it.

If so, I guess he'll need a LAN card for the thing, right?

Yep, old ISA cards are a dime-a-dozen, if you can't find a 3Com 509 there
are tons of generic Realtek chipset cards falling into trash bins also.

He uses Windows 95, up to date to the last upgrade in 2000 I think,
He uses Internet Explorer, but an older version.

I know it is so cheap to get a 2.6 GHz Celeron right now w/Win XP on
it, but I repeat, he doesn't want a new computer. Maybe if someone
gave him one that they were going to throw away, would he accept a
faster computer.

Big Mac

It sounds like he needs a slightly faster system but not necessarily
something modern. The ideal might be if you can find a good price on a
used system locally (or just put it together out of spare parts) then get
it tweaked, duplicate his hard drive to the newer system and plug-n-play
his existing operating system and files, etc, to that system, confirming
that it's working and useable to him the same as the old box. Granted
some people will suggest newer operating system, software, etc, but the
truth is that the key part of getting an upgrade done with minimal
reaction from the user is to have the new system appear, run, be usable
exactly like the old one was so nothing needs to be relearned. The older
the user the more important this is.

Then when he's not looking just pull the ole switcheroo, yank out the
cables and swipe the old box, leaving the newer one in it's place.

 

[Big Mac]

/snip/

If he doesn't want a new computer why do you insist on making him get one.

I asked about using his present P1 computer & using cable Internet. I
said he did not want a new computer, twice... Please quote anything I
posted that 'insisted" on making him get a new computer.

-------------------- original post below

I live in a house with my 81 year old father. He's still as sharp as
a tack, but set in his ways. One thing is he refuses to get is a new
computer - he even refused a Christmas present of one from my brother.
His is I think a P1. It has only 16 MBs of memory. I don't know the
MHz processing speed, but I am sure it is sub-100 MHz. probably 50
MHz.

He is starting to log onto the Internet once in a while over the phone
line, and gets 28 Kbps with a USR 56 K external that I think was
pre-v90 & thus the 28 Kbps was standard only when the modem was made,
& the extra up to 56 k was a USR special.

Anyway, I am going to ask this. If I get a router, is his computer
capable of being home networked, and capable of appreciating cable
Internet speeds? Or even like a measly 500 Kbps?

Actually I am not interested in connecting our computers, only using
the router so he can access the Internet. Or, maybe I could buy a
modem - I think Comcast might only charge $5 a month for a second
computer.

If so, I guess he'll need a LAN card for the thing, right?

He uses Windows 95, up to date to the last upgrade in 2000 I think,
He uses Internet Explorer, but an older version.

I know it is so cheap to get a 2.6 GHz Celeron right now w/Win XP on
it, but I repeat, he doesn't want a new computer. Maybe if someone
gave him one that they were going to throw away, would he accept a
faster computer.

------ end

 

[Big Mac]

Lo, I think the biggest limiting factor would be the low memory. It can be
networked, it will always be faster than a dial up modem, and yes he could
be ok with dsl/cable speeds.... the only thing might be: what browser could
he use with 95 and 16 megs?? Old browsers don't fare too well on the net
these days. Yes, he will need a NIC for the networking thing.

Maybe you upgrade the memory and go to 98, then you could update the
browser, etc and he would be sailing! >Good Luck >Art Leonard

Well, he does have Internet Explorer running. Not the newest version
of course, but he does have it & it works at the 28 Kbps the modem
allows. He also is running at 800 x 600 now since I gave him a my 17
in monitor (I bought a used a 21 in), so I think he is OK for
browsing, unless the browser needs a lot of memory will slow things
down.

"NIC" ? That is a ?? LAN card w/ connector ?

Big Mac

 

[Big Mac]

He is using the internet now so the version of ie and the amount of memory
shouldn't be a problem. The NIC would be very cheap, adsl and routers are
cheap also. A router with a good firewall would be a good idea to help
protect the 95 machine. It might be a good idea to restrict LAN access
between the computers because the 95 machine might be more susceptible to
virus. >Michael Culley

OH really? Virus with Win 95? I thought that he wouldn't have to
worry about it because no one write's viruses for old operating
systems, only Win XP. (BTW I saw on the news yesterday that there is
a virus out attacking Macs).

I know what a router is but what is adsl ? And do you have any idea
where I could get a LAN card that would fit his P1 - the slots were
different back then, right?

Thanks,
Big Mac

 

[Big Mac]

V90 is capable of 56K. If it doesn't, the phone line is probably
not capable.

I think you mis-read or I wasn't careful enough in explaining. The
house is capable of higher phone line modem speed - I was on dial-up
until 3 months ago.

Though his modem says 56 K on it - a USR Sportster 56 K, I think back
in the days when the modem was manufactured there was no 56 K
standard, but there was a 28 K standard. I think it was pre-v90, or
maybe v90 was coming out, but USR didn't go with it.

USR has a history even back further when modems were at 2400 bps
(24 Kbps) to want to use their own standard when they jumped up to
9600 bps or 14400... Well it was something like that anyway - USR
tried to be the leader and have everyone buy a USR.. (Or else they
were always 1st to come out with a higher speed technology, but maybe
no one wanted to pay them for the license..) But of course Apple
computers tried it.. IBM tried to break off with a new direction a
while back.., what was it called? Whatever it was called, the rest of
the computer world's big guys using the PC standard got together and
decided on what the continuing standards were going to be, and screw
you very much IBM.. Who of course ended up going along with the rest
of the PC world,

Big Mac

 

[Stacey]

I live in a house with my 81 year old father. He's still as sharp as
a tack, but set in his ways. One thing is he refuses to get is a new
computer - he even refused a Christmas present of one from my brother.
His is I think a P1. It has only 16 MBs of memory. I don't know the
MHz processing speed, but I am sure it is sub-100 MHz. probably 50
MHz.

Been there, it isn't worth the fight! P75 is as slow as P1's ever were, it's
probably that or a P100.

Anyway, I am going to ask this. If I get a router, is his computer
capable of being home networked, and capable of appreciating cable
Internet speeds?

Sure it will be faster downloading stuff. The modem is still the bottle
neck.

Actually I am not interested in connecting our computers, only using
the router so he can access the Interent. Or, maybe I could buy a
modem - I think Comcast might only charge $5 a month for a second
computer.

If so, I guess he'll need a LAN card for the thing, right?

Yep DO NOT try to use a USB etc type conection, ethernet only.


To help, while you're inside doing the network card, throw some extra ram in
there, like 64meg total max, it's most likely EDO. Also there are some
registry setting in win95-98 that need to be tweaked to get everything out
of HS internet, do a google search and you'll find info on that.

 

[Big Mac]

Yes. That is the best alternative. Install an old ISA 10Mbit nic, like a
3Com509 (companies are throwing away boxes with those in them all the time
or they're often available from a local mom-n-pop hardware shop for about
$5). With the dial-up modem the modem itself was the bottleneck but with
the broadband it should be at least 5X faster, the limit then being the
rest of the system instead of the acess method.

Get the router, it's a nice no-sweat layer of security in additon to being
the easy way to do it.

Yep, old ISA cards are a dime-a-dozen, if you can't find a 3Com 509 there
are tons of generic Realtek chipset cards falling into trash bins also.

Thanks for the info. I'll know what to ask for now when I go looking.
I'll get the right "ISA card" & "nic" has been used a few times in
answers to my post - what does "nic" stand for?

Also, since I'll be running through the router, can I just un-install
my software firewall?

Also, if only I am online through the router, I should get the normal
speed I am getting now, right?

I have to ask that, because a friend of mine cannot get his 3 computer
home network with a router (8 ports) to get any kind of decent speed
going at all - he should get 2000 Kbps where he lives if he used a
single computer, but with his router he can only get like 300 Kbps...
and he cannot figure out what is going on. He has tried many many
setting changes.. I sure hope a cheap 3 port router is just almost
of plug & play type status...

Then when he's not looking just pull the ole switcheroo, yank out the
cables and swipe the old box, leaving the newer one in it's place.

I wouldn't even dream of touching it unless I had his permission.
he's know.. something would go wrong..

Big Mac

 

[JT]

OH really? Virus with Win 95? I thought that he wouldn't have to
worry about it because no one write's viruses for old operating
systems, only Win XP. (BTW I saw on the news yesterday that there is
a virus out attacking Macs).

Many (most?) current virus attack holes in IE/OE and various network
protocols that existed in Win95. Some of the high profile virus/trojans
such as Sasser and Blaster target NT/2K/XP holes. Most of the rest are
equal opportunity windows infectors. Might want to go to any of the major
antivirus company sites, or CERT and look at what the virus in the wild are
capable of infecting. There are still some of the old DOS virus floating
around.

I know what a router is but what is adsl ?

ADSL is the method the phone company uses to bring in the broadband signal
over the phone line. some routers have a built in ADSL modem (or is it some
ADSL modems have a built in router ) Make sure that what ever they
deliver has an ethernet connection. Some try to provide a modem with USB
connection to the computer, which will not work with Windows 95.

And do you have any idea
where I could get a LAN card that would fit his P1 - the slots were
different back then, right?

Most Pentium systems had some PCI slots, along with the older standard ISA
slots. You can probably save a buck or two by getting an older ISA card.
Many new cards won't have Win95 drivers, even if they fit the slot.

Thanks,
Big Mac

JT

 

[JT]

I think you mis-read or I wasn't careful enough in explaining. The
house is capable of higher phone line modem speed - I was on dial-up
until 3 months ago.

Though his modem says 56 K on it - a USR Sportster 56 K, I think back
in the days when the modem was manufactured there was no 56 K
standard, but there was a 28 K standard. I think it was pre-v90, or
maybe v90 was coming out, but USR didn't go with it.

USR has a history even back further when modems were at 2400 bps
(24 Kbps) to want to use their own standard when they jumped up to
9600 bps or 14400... Well it was something like that anyway - USR
tried to be the leader and have everyone buy a USR.. (Or else they
were always 1st to come out with a higher speed technology, but maybe
no one wanted to pay them for the license..) But of course Apple
computers tried it.. IBM tried to break off with a new direction a
while back.., what was it called? Whatever it was called, the rest of
the computer world's big guys using the PC standard got together and
decided on what the continuing standards were going to be, and screw
you very much IBM.. Who of course ended up going along with the rest
of the PC world,

Big Mac

Prior to V.90 there were 2 competing standard proposals, X2 and KFlex.
USR's modems originally shipped as X2. When the new standard was adopted,
USR released upgrades for their modems. Some required hardware changes,
but most were upgradable through flash upgrades or software updates. Your
USR is probably flash upgradable, but never upgraded. Will not be a problem
as soon as your ADSL is in.

JT

 

[kony]

I think you mis-read or I wasn't careful enough in explaining. The
house is capable of higher phone line modem speed - I was on dial-up
until 3 months ago.

Though his modem says 56 K on it - a USR Sportster 56 K, I think back
in the days when the modem was manufactured there was no 56 K
standard, but there was a 28 K standard. I think it was pre-v90, or
maybe v90 was coming out, but USR didn't go with it.

There was/is most likely a firmware upgrade for the modem, essentially an
upgrade that gives it V.90 support. As shipped they only supported "X2",
that was the name of USR's 56K support at the time.

 

[JT]

Been there, it isn't worth the fight! P75 is as slow as P1's ever were, it's
probably that or a P100.

Check the Intel timeline. Pentium 60 was the slowest
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/quickreffam.htm and
ftp://download.intel.com/intel/intelis/museum/research/arc_collect/timeline/TimelineChron.pdf
for a time line of products.
http://developer.intel.com/design/pentium/manuals/ has links to the
developers manuals. The Pentium 60/66 was a relatively short lived
processor with a different socket (socket4 if I remember correctly) than
the later processors.

JT

 

[kony]

Thanks for the info. I'll know what to ask for now when I go looking.
I'll get the right "ISA card" & "nic" has been used a few times in
answers to my post - what does "nic" stand for?

Network Interface Card, was more popular back when fewer boards had
integrated networking, before USB networking, etc.

Also, since I'll be running through the router, can I just un-install
my software firewall?

yes/no/maybe
It depends on how your security is set up.
If you had a dedicated box running NAT (network address translation) or a
proxy with a firewall function, that isn't needed with the router. On the
other hand, some popular firewalls (like Zonealarm) have additional
features that can't be substituted with a hardware router, particularly
the control of outgoing traffic from non-authorized applications. There
are still ways to get data out, like plugings for IE, but lots of nasties
like Trojans are looking for a direct connection that a software firewall
might prevent but a hardware router-as-firewall will not, unless you'd
blocked all ports except those you want open for the limited features
you'll be using.

Also, if only I am online through the router, I should get the normal
speed I am getting now, right?

Yes, the router will not reduce up/download speeds. At worst it might
introduce a few tiny latency, higher ping, but not even enough for a gamer
to worry about.

I have to ask that, because a friend of mine cannot get his 3 computer
home network with a router (8 ports) to get any kind of decent speed
going at all - he should get 2000 Kbps where he lives if he used a
single computer, but with his router he can only get like 300 Kbps...
and he cannot figure out what is going on. He has tried many many
setting changes.. I sure hope a cheap 3 port router is just almost
of plug & play type status...

He might try resetting the router to factory defaults if he's mucked
around with it too much, but I'd suspect faulty cabling or cable routing,
else he has a very old router that only has 10Mb ports, in which case he
should notice the 100Mb light on the NIC isn't lit... hard to say, in
general it's pretty easy to set up a router, particularly these days even
for the first time, since there are plenty of network tutorials on the
'net.

I wouldn't even dream of touching it unless I had his permission.
he's know.. something would go wrong..

Something could indeed go wrong, which is why the first step is cloning
his hard drive to a 2nd drive, then getting the replacement parts 100%
working, so it really is a situation where the newer system is ready to
go.

Who knows, maybe if you get it going and show it to him, telling him it's
just going to sit unused he might be interested in it, particularly with
it already set up like his current system is so there's no learning curve
involved.

 

[kony]

Been there, it isn't worth the fight! P75 is as slow as P1's ever were, it's
probably that or a P100.

Don't forget about the P60... was supposed to be a P66 but it got too hot
so good ole intel downclocked 'em... unlike today when they still get too
hot but the solution is to apply more metal and air then redesign the
whole chassis.

 

[Trent©]

OH really? Virus with Win 95? I thought that he wouldn't have to
worry about it because no one write's viruses for old operating
systems, only Win XP.

Not just xp...but you are correct. He'd had LESS of a chance getting
a virus with 95. Many virii are even by-passing 98 now.

I know what a router is but what is adsl ?

Phone line high-speed connection.

And do you have any idea
where I could get a LAN card that would fit his P1 - the slots were
different back then, right?

Not necessarily. But you need to find that out.

You may have both PCI and ISA slots on that machine. But you need to
find out what OPEN slots you have...if indeed any of them are open.

You need to pop the cover.


Have a nice week...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!