 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Windows Forum / Windows 98 / Software / June 2007Where can I find the help I need ? Can you help ?
Hello, all ! I started a "computer recycling project" in my church. What we do is to collect all the old computers that people donated, open them up, remove all the dust and grimes inside, check the parts, and then try our best to make "new" (aka reconditioned, restored, etc.) computers out of the still-usable parts. Then we pass those working computers to people/organizations that can put them to good use. The project itself is fun and very fulfilling, but there's one thing that bug me the most - many times we have computer parts (pci cards, mobos, etc) that are totally usable but we can't find suitable drivers for them ! There are times we have pci cards that don't have any label. By reading the chips, and the ports, we can guess what type of cards they are, but we are never sure. Essentially what I am looking for is a utility that can "scan" all the pci cards, be it soundcard, video card, or whatever, and give me their make and/or model number. That way, at least I'd know which driver I need. Is there such a utility around that we can use? Another thing is that the computers we got are all ANCIENT computers, and sometimes so ancient that the manufacturers no longer exist. Where can I find drivers for such devices ? Please accept my sincerest thanks in advance, for any suggestions that you can offer. Thanks again, and God Bless ! Note that I cut 2 of the original 5 newsgroups from this reply. Hopefully the OP will be reading one of the remaining 3 groups. > I started a "computer recycling project" in my church. > > Essentially what I am looking for is a utility that can "scan" > all the pci cards, be it soundcard, video card, or whatever, > and give me their make and/or model number. http://www.zhangduo.com/unknowndeviceidentifier.html http://www.windrivers.com/ http://www.drivermagician.com/ http://www.softwarepatch.com/ http://freescan.driverguide.com/ http://driveragent.com/ http://tinyurl.com/3ygotp > Another thing is that the computers we got are all ANCIENT > computers, and sometimes so ancient that the manufacturers > no longer exist. The only versions of Windows you should be installing on those system will either be Windows-98se, or Windows XP-SP2. Windows 98-se is a more logical choice in your case, since you most likely are dealing with systems with slow/old CPU's and meager amounts of RAM, not to mention that you would need to obtain a licence for XP (but you can install Windows-98se with complete impunity regardless of what others here think of that). That said, Windows 98 should be relatively complete as far as having drivers for motherboards and hardware that was available back in 1998 and probably as far back as 1995. Anything more recent than 1998 should be available on the net (motherboard, video, network cards, modems, etc). I wouldn't waste my time in your case trying to find drivers for sound cards, SCSI or other "non-standard" storage devices, or video cards made before 1998. Most likely the recipients of your computers will not make use of devices like those. You, and the recipients of the systems you are building, will probably not be satisfied with the use of such old hardware, say anything with less than a Pentium-II CPU. The computing experience will be troublesome and frustrating and not worth the effort. You shouldn't have a problem finding tons of relatively recent hardware - unless there are other larger recyclers in your area that are obtaining more modern surplus hardware to either build into systems - or to ship overseas and melt them down for their base metals. > Note that I cut 2 of the original 5 newsgroups from this reply. > Hopefully the OP will be reading one of the remaining 3 groups. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > http://www.zhangduo.com/unknowndeviceidentifier.html Another quite similar utility, that I have used for some time, is "Unknown Devices 1.2", available here: http://www.halfdone.org/ukd/ and http://www.speakeasy.org/~halfdone/ and http://www.majorgeeks.com/Unknown_Devices_d3908.html > http://www.windrivers.com/ > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > install Windows-98se with complete impunity regardless of what others > here think of that). Win98SE does not require activation the way XP and newer do, but installing multiple systems with one license *is* a violation of the licensing agreement. True, no one at MS is going to send out the "cyber-police" at this point in time.....indeed, MS has no way to even tell if 98 has been installed on multiple machines with one license. Being a church-related project, the OP may want to consider the legal aspect. Nuff said on that..... > That said, Windows 98 should be relatively complete as far as having > drivers for motherboards and hardware that was available back in 1998 [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > made before 1998. Most likely the recipients of your computers will > not make use of devices like those. I would think a working sound card from any era would be an item the endusers would want. > You, and the recipients of the systems you are building, will probably > not be satisfied with the use of such old hardware, say anything with [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > modern surplus hardware to either build into systems - or to ship > overseas and melt them down for their base metals.  SignatureGlen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm > > (but you can install Windows-98se with complete impunity > > regardless of what others here think of that). > > but installing multiple systems with one license *is* a > violation of the licensing agreement. True, no one at MS > is going to send out the "cyber-police" at this point in time... He actually has no choice. He can't buy 98 from MS, and he can't really buy XP anymore either - not retail anyways. Given the vintage of his hardware, Vista is not an option either. We can argue the legality, or the morals, or the practicality of installing system after system after system with the same win-98 license key until the cows come home, but it's Micro$haft that has made it impossible for people like the OP to obtain a "legit" solution, so I say screw MS - they deserve it. > I would think a working sound card from any era would be an > item the endusers would want. I don't know exactly what device the OP is getting his hands on where he can't find a driver, but soundcards are a likely guess. I don't know how long I'd putz with a system where I could get everything else working except the sound card - but not long. > > > (but you can install Windows-98se with complete impunity > > > regardless of what others here think of that). [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > not retail anyways. Given the vintage of his hardware, Vista is not > an option either. Many thanks for your support. I'm not saying that I'm guilt free, is that other than Win98, there's no many choice, do they ? > We can argue the legality, or the morals, or the practicality of > installing system after system after system with the same win-98 [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > know how long I'd putz with a system where I could get everything else > working except the sound card - but not long. Sound card, net card, video card, you name it. Many don't even have any label. Sometimes I can only guess what they are, and then test them out. Anyway, thanks again and God Bless ! > > > (but you can install Windows-98se with complete impunity > > > regardless of what others here think of that). [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > not retail anyways. Given the vintage of his hardware, Vista is not > an option either. Many thanks for your support. I'm not saying that I'm guilt free, is that other than Win98, there's no many choice, do they ? > We can argue the legality, or the morals, or the practicality of > installing system after system after system with the same win-98 [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > know how long I'd putz with a system where I could get everything else > working except the sound card - but not long. Sound card, net card, video card, you name it. Many don't even have any label. Sometimes I can only guess what they are, and then test them out. Anyway, thanks again and God Bless ! > > Note that I cut 2 of the original 5 newsgroups from this reply. > > Hopefully the OP will be reading one of the remaining 3 groups. [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > > install Windows-98se with complete impunity regardless of what others > > here think of that). I am certainly aware of the issue you've pointed out, but in my case, I tried Linux, but the missing driver problem got only worse. It's not that I want to violate Microsoft's right, but the reality in this world is that if you got a card that has no label on it, and if you want it to work, chances is that there is a windows driver somewhere that can make it comes alive. Other than violating the OS copyright, I take good care to not violate any other copyrights. All other software that I installed in the machines are either Open Sourced, or Freewares. Please do not misunderstand me, I'm not trying to wriggle myself out of my guilt. I do acknowledge my guilt. My only hope is that Microsoft may decide to drop their copyrights on OS that they no longer sell, and no longer support, such as Windows 98. Thanks again for your message, God Bless ! > Win98SE does not require activation the way XP and newer do, but installing multiple > systems with one license *is* a violation of the licensing agreement. True, no one [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > -- > Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+http://dts-l.org/http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm > Note that I cut 2 of the original 5 newsgroups from this reply. > Hopefully the OP will be reading one of the remaining 3 groups. [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] > modern surplus hardware to either build into systems - or to ship > overseas and melt them down for their base metals. Thank you for your reply, and also your pointer. I'm located in a 3rd (4th??) world country, where about half of the peole don't earn enough money to buy new computers for their kids, and another half of the populace are so rich that they literary throw away Pentium 3/4 machines just because they recently purchase their new Core 2 Duo machine. The church that I go to don't have lots of super-rich people, but they do upgrade their computers from time to time. That's why I get their P1, P2 machines and try to make something out of them. The people that I send the re-conditioned machines to are urban-poors, most from broken families, and stay in drug/crime infested area. Most of the children there are really keen in learning new things, it's just that they live in areas where they don't get much help from anywhere. Even the re-conditioned P1 / P2 machines did make a difference to some. At least they can try to learn the English language, learn some programming stuffs (I do install some programming tools in some of the machine), and so on. That's why I say that the task is huge but the payback is really fulfilling. Whenever I see the faces of those children, turning from gloom to one fills with hope and joy, no money in the world can buy that, I tell ya ! This is a one man show, for now. I use my free time to fix up the computers, use my beat-up old car to deliver them, but it's worth it. Anyway, thanks again for everything, and God Bless ! >Hello, all ! > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >Please accept my sincerest thanks in advance, for any suggestions that >you can offer. Thanks again, and God Bless ! try putting a linux operating system on them. > >Hello, all ! > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > try putting a linux operating system on them. I tried that, but the same old driver missing problem that I have on Windows only worse on Linux side. That's why I switch back to Win98. Or you can buy a volume licensing key from MS for i think about $150. From the sounds of it, you are a non-profit organization? Use it for a tax write-off. You might be able to get the church to back you on it and get the funding through the church. Buy one single volume license and run with it. > Hello, all ! > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > Please accept my sincerest thanks in advance, for any suggestions that > you can offer. Thanks again, and God Bless ! > Or you can buy a volume licensing key from MS for i think about $150. > From the sounds of it, you are a non-profit organization? Use it for a > tax write-off. You might be able to get the church to back you on it > and get the funding through the church. Buy one single volume license > and run with it. What I am doing does not even qualify as a "non-profit organization", for it's a one-man show. Besides the OS, all other software that I installed are open-sourced and/or freewares, such as Open Office, Scribus, Photo Filtre and so on. I've tried to install Linux on the machines, but the missing driver problem got only worse. There are times I can find windows drivers for the cards, but there's nothing on the LInux side (perhaps I just don't know where to look). Anyway, thanks to you and to all for your suggestions/ideas. Thanks again and God Bless ! > pen...@catholic.org wrote: > > Hello, all ! [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > Please accept my sincerest thanks in advance, for any suggestions that > > you can offer. Thanks again, and God Bless ! i had one more idea. do a search on google for the make and model of the system and see if you can find some information about what MIGHT be on that system. It's a bit of a long shot and time consuming, which stinks, but it might get you to the ultimate goal. >> Or you can buy a volume licensing key from MS for i think about $150. >> From the sounds of it, you are a non-profit organization? Use it for a [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] >>> Please accept my sincerest thanks in advance, for any suggestions that >>> you can offer. Thanks again, and God Bless ! |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.