Compters USB's

[lostyou]

Whats going on everyone ? I'm getting a computer from my mother-inlaw and have a few questions for you . The thing has no USB ports ; so it is possible to still hook up a printer , digi cam , and a web cam to it . All of the things I'v been looking at has USB connectors . What gives ? Thanks .

Ray Macias

PS
It is a Pentium 2 with 200 mhz and 64 MB RAM , if that makes it easier .

[ND4SPDR]

Um, yeah, that's an ancient computer. What version of Windows is it running? I doubt you can hook up a digicam, but there is a printer port on the back...it's one of the biggest ones there. Web cam is unlikely unless you find an old one with a serial connection. It's posible for you to put a USB card in, but depending on which version of Windows you're running, it might not work. My advice? Buy a new computer. You can get one for like $200.

[SuperPede111]

There are serial->USB adaptors

[iluvtruenos]

I've got a newer white slot USB 2.0 card. I forgot the name of the slot, but it's the one that fits into the shorter white slot as opposed to the longer black one on the older machines.

BTW: Pentium 2s can be overclocked up to 1 ghz. Just watch your temps and you're fine. On the stock motherboard, 333mhz may be possible.

[lostyou]

It's OS is Windows 98 . When I boot it up it does'nt say NT or anything . I bought the computer for $150.00 , figured it was a decent deal . I asked this same question on www.jinx.com and one of the guys said to install a better OS like XP Home 2k or Linux and then buy a UBS card . I guess the 98 OS is pretty old , huh ?

Ray Macias

[lostyou]

I've got a newer white slot USB 2.0 card. I forgot the name of the slot, but it's the one that fits into the shorter white slot as opposed to the longer black one on the older machines.

BTW: Pentium 2s can be overclocked up to 1 ghz. Just watch your temps and you're fine. On the stock motherboard, 333mhz may be possible.

What OS are you running ? What is the name of the UBS card thing that you bought ? What do you mean by "overclocked" ? Sorry for all these questions but I'm still a newbe at PC's . I joined the JINX forum to try to learn a few things or two .

Ray Macias

PS
Sorry for the double post guys , I read one at a time .

[ND4SPDR]

Ack. XP will not run on that machine...too slow. Win 2k will, but I can't say you'll be happy with the performance. Linux would be sweet, but you'll have to know what you're doing.

98SE is actually okay and will probably support the USB card. You will need to bust open the computer and put a new card in, but I can walk you through the steps online. There's myriad online tutorials for installing PCI cards as well.

Don't worry about overclocking or anything. It's what nerds like me do with computers to make them much faster than they're supposed to be.

There are serial->USB adaptors
You could use one of these, but it's a band-aid more than anything. It's slow and will not allow you to chain devices.

[WESTOZ racer]

Quote:
"BTW: Pentium 2s can be overclocked up to 1 ghz. Just watch your temps and you're fine. On the stock motherboard, 333mhz may be possible. "

LOL, DONT GIVE OUT BAD ADVISE!! That made me laugh, as its totally untrue to a foolish extent.

NO P2 can clock to 1ghz, max they were made to was ~550mhz?
Anyhoo, they never were good overclockers, maybe you could get it to 300mhz?? Pushing it.

[lostyou]

Ack. XP will not run on that machine...too slow. Win 2k will, but I can't say you'll be happy with the performance. Linux would be sweet, but you'll have to know what you're doing.

98SE is actually okay and will probably support the USB card. You will need to bust open the computer and put a new card in, but I can walk you through the steps online. There's myriad online tutorials for installing PCI cards as well.

Don't worry about overclocking or anything. It's what nerds like me do with computers to make them much faster than they're supposed to be.


You could use one of these, but it's a band-aid more than anything. It's slow and will not allow you to chain devices.

Thats sounds good about the step by step process . The only thing I really know about computers is the basic stuff . I just got done packing today and we are gonna move tomorrow (Friday) . I'll get the computer on Saturday and it won't get hooked till a week or so . When I get it hooked up I'll PM you and we can go from there if you'd like . Thank you for your offer to help me out , I really appreciate it . Oh yeah , I take it that I have 98SE then , huh ? We'll , so long for now . I won't be online till a week or so thus , I'll talk to you then . Thanks again . :)

Ray Macias