Old laptop

[GamingRev]

As for wireless cards, I need one that runs linux (for knoppix) and a driver. This needs to be cheap. I doubt this could happen, but could a wireless card run Windows and linux? Any version of windows.

[Sparkfist]

As for wireless cards, I need one that runs linux (for knoppix) and a driver. This needs to be cheap. I doubt this could happen, but could a wireless card run Windows and linux? Any version of windows.

You can look on some sites for a HCL that will list some compatible wireless cards. One that would be good to start with is linuxquestions.org, click the hardware link and you should be able to follow the rest to find what you want.

As for a wireless card run linux or Windows.... a wireless card can not run and OS. Most distros of linux will have generic drivers for about 2 dozen PCMCIA cards maybe more but you will have to verify if the card is supported and if there is a driver. Check with Redhat for what Fedora supports, then SuSE, then Ubuntu, by then you should have found one. Windows, finding a driver for a card should be of little trouble you can either use Microsoft's generic driver or search out for the manufacturer's (get the latter, its always better).

As for what versions of Windows support the wireless cards. I personally wouldn't use anything but 2000, XP or Server 2003 (2000 would be best for you). You'd be best to have an OS that supports networking and ME just blows at it.

[DreamsOntheGo]

from cursory examination on epinions, compaq presario 1247 has the following specs:
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: 301-400
Screen Size: 11"
RAM: 32
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): Under 4

of course your specific model may differ but judging from the era it's from, i would say it is a prime candidate for some penguin madness(linux)!

although it wouldn't improve the performance of the graphic card, linux upgrade should speed up internet browsing and basic word processing significantly. check http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/compaq.html for 1247's running on various linux distros.

as for the wireless card, do some research online to see if a particular brand is compatible. check the ndiswrapper and madwifi wiki for hardware compatibility.

linux is a great way to extend longevity of an older machine, more so with addition of more ram. however, all this is moot if you are hampered by a lack of a power cable. :T

[GamingRev]

Well I found my power cable, so yeah I plugged it in and i've been defraging and cleaning it for a while. I found a card that is compadible with linux and has a very affordable price
http://froogle.google.com/froogle_clust ... ng=p&hl=en

I have also found a driver too, [url]http://sourceforge.net/projects/airo-linux[url]

I really want to get a full version of Linux, but I was lucky to get my parents to say yes to knoppix. Besides Knoppinx is really convienent, I just need more RAM to speed it up. Anyone wanna guess how much RAM I have 28MB left, my comp runs 400MHz!

[Harshboy]

You might want to upgrade your ram to 128 MB......it will speed stuff up a lot!

[sniper_spike]

You might also want to overclock!