It's definitely a connector for an external antenna, yes. At a glance it looks like an SMA or RP-SMA connector, hard to say which one since the photo is quite fuzzy, no way to see if there's a pin or a hole in the middle of the connector.

There are plenty of different coaxial connectors that looks very similar, so it's more or less impossible to be sure what cable will work or not from a couple of photos. The safest route is probably to find the specifications yourself and make sure.

To me it looks like both the cable and the wifi card got male threads on the supposed SMA or RP-SMA connector. That'll definitely not fit together.

Before adding new hardware, make sure your diagnosis is correct.

You new router is an 802.11ac device, but 802.11ac only works on the 5GHz band; your 802.11b NICe only operates on the 2.4GHz band. So it's talking to the NIC with its 802.11n radio. Now, 2.4GHz is getting very overcrowded in urban areas (including those in FI - I was in Helsinki in Kallio not too long ago and it was a mess), and there is a trend towards disabling some or all 802.11b support to improve performance for more modern devices.

So:
- which router do you have exactly?
- what is the RSSI on your Win98 laptop in dBm?
- what link rate (data rate) does the Win98 laptop connect with?
- what RSSI do you get on other devices (a modern laptop, or even your phone) connected in the 2.4GHz band in the same location?

Router is Asus RT-N66U i believe.
The PCMCIA wifi card sees the network OK but it does not connect well or at all.

I have only one 1998 Win98 SE laptop which has this PCMCIA card. Others are modern ones:
Sorry. My knowledge goes only so far as installing the drivers and pushing in the wifi card. 😢
+ Do I have to configure the software settings ? Buffalo Wireless Client Manager V3.0 for Win98SE/NT/2000/ME/XP.
"- what is the RSSI on your Win98 laptop in dBm?
- what link rate (data rate) does the Win98 laptop connect with?
- what RSSI do you get on other devices (a modern laptop, or even your phone) connected in the 2.4GHz band in the same location?"

Newer ones:
+ In Thinkpad T23 ( 2001 ) I used a USB Wifi adapter and it worked.
+ Dell Latitude D630 ( 2006 ) has USB or internal.
+ HP DV7 ( 2011 ) has internal Wifi.

user33331 wrote:

Router is Asus RT-N66U i believe.

If it's an 802.11ac device it's probably the AC66U. Still, worth double-checking to be able to determine if it has some data rates disabled by default.

The PCMCIA wifi card sees the network OK but it does not connect well or at all.

That doesn't sound like a lack of signal, rather there is too much intrerference or most b-rates are didabled.

I have only one 1998 Win98 SE laptop which has this PCMCIA card. Others are modern ones:
Sorry. My knowledge goes only so far as installing the drivers and pushing in the wifi card. 😢
+ Do I have to configure the software settings ? Buffalo Wireless Client Manager V3.0 for Win98SE/NT/2000/ME/XP.

Almost certainly as Win98 has basically no native WiFi tooling.

Newer ones: + In Thinkpad T23 ( 2001 ) I used a USB Wifi adapter and it worked. + Dell Latitude D630 ( 2006 ) has USB or interna […]
Show full quote

Newer ones:
+ In Thinkpad T23 ( 2001 ) I used a USB Wifi adapter and it worked.
+ Dell Latitude D630 ( 2006 ) has USB or internal.
+ HP DV7 ( 2011 ) has internal Wifi.

Ok, but give some values for RSSI and link rate. In Windows 7 and later, go to command prompt and entet:
netsh wlan show interface

That gives all the data Windows has access to.

I checked the router name and it was this:
Asus RT-AC68U Dual-band. ( It says fully compatible with 802.11b/g/n.)

I'm sure it is caused by: ( Not yet checked the old laptop more because working all time and tired 😉 )
1.) Buffalo Wireless Client Manager (Maybe wrong version or such ?) which asks all kinds of settings when logging to home network:
- Like "encryption key method" or was it "network password encryption" or such.... there are like 5-6 of them to select in the drop down menu.
- The software of the old PCMCIA Wifi card is puzzling and not as straight as plug and play USB Wifi adapters.
2.) No antenna.
3.) Windows 98 SE.
[4.) WPA2 see below.]

Also when using the PCMCIA card the Windows 98 SE startup slows down.
I believe in this 1998 laptop the 32mb(16mb x 2pcs EDO So-dimm 5V) memory is a bottle neck to the Wifi card and software.
When I tried to play a racing game= Lotus III(3) 1993-94 it said "not enough memory" and did not start. 😊

This one has the same card but does not show any software:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvnjiRD9D68

One commented the youtube video
"Will not work with WPA2 encryption. You'd have to downgrade your router to WEP, which isn't very secure and some routers don't support, or run your WIFI open with no encryption. It's easier and more secure to use a LAN adapter. It's pointless anyway. There isn't a modern web browser that supports Windows 98 and part of the reason is"

Is there any WPA2 PCMCIA 16-bit 5V cards ?

What is the name of those modern "mini Wifi boxes" that I can connect my old 3Com Megahertz PCMCIA 10Mbps LAN card "3CCE589ET" 16-bit 5V (=Ethernet plug connector) ?

user33331 wrote:

I checked the router name and it was this:
Asus RT-AC68U Dual-band. ( It says fully compatible with 802.11b/g/n.)

It is, but the settings need to be right. See below.

I'm sure it is caused by: ( Not yet checked the old laptop more because working all time and tired ;-) ) 1.) Buffalo Wireless Cl […]
Show full quote

I'm sure it is caused by: ( Not yet checked the old laptop more because working all time and tired 😉 )
1.) Buffalo Wireless Client Manager (Maybe wrong version or such ?) which asks all kinds of settings when logging to home network:
- Like "encryption key method" or was it "network password encryption" or such.... there are like 5-6 of them to select in the drop down menu.
- The software of the old PCMCIA Wifi card is puzzling and not as straight as plug and play USB Wifi adapters.
2.) No antenna.
3.) Windows 98 SE.
[4.) WPA2 see below.]

Also when using the PCMCIA card the Windows 98 SE startup slows down.
I believe in this 1998 laptop the 32mb(16mb x 2pcs EDO So-dimm 5V) memory is a bottle neck to the Wifi card and software.
When I tried to play a racing game= Lotus III(3) 1993-94 it said "not enough memory" and did not start. 😊

This one has the same card but does not show any software:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvnjiRD9D68

One commented the youtube video
"Will not work with WPA2 encryption. You'd have to downgrade your router to WEP, which isn't very secure and some routers don't support, or run your WIFI open with no encryption. It's easier and more secure to use a LAN adapter. It's pointless anyway. There isn't a modern web browser that supports Windows 98 and part of the reason is"

802.11b does not support WPA(1 or 2), so this is to be expected. WEP is not secure and in many ways worse than leaving the network open. Best practice for 802.11b is to use no WiFi security, but to use a separate SSID on a separate VLAN to avoid abuse by anyone who happens to log on. As for browsing: I wouldn't even try with hardware this old, lack of browsers aside, a modern web page is computationally intensive enough to bring a late Pentium4/Athlon64 to its knees. However WiFi can be useful for plain LAN stuff (FTP etc) locally.

Is there any WPA2 PCMCIA 16-bit 5V cards ?

Any 802.11g card shoul support WPA. The difference between WPA1 and 2 is largely academic and you can run your main SSID on WPA1 if needed, although WPA2 is better (more secure and better performing) if the card supports it. Google for "802.11g PCMCIA WPA2" and you find more than enough options.

dionb wrote:

802.11b does not support WPA(1 or 2), so this is to be expected. WEP is not secure and in many ways worse than leaving the network open. Best practice for 802.11b is to use no WiFi security, but to use a separate SSID on a separate VLAN to avoid abuse by anyone who happens to log on. As for browsing: I wouldn't even try with hardware this old, lack of browsers aside, a modern web page is computationally intensive enough to bring a late Pentium4/Athlon64 to its knees. However WiFi can be useful for plain LAN stuff (FTP etc) locally.

Is there any WPA2 PCMCIA 16-bit 5V cards ?

Any 802.11g card shoul support WPA. The difference between WPA1 and 2 is largely academic and you can run your main SSID on WPA1 if needed, although WPA2 is better (more secure and better performing) if the card supports it. Google for "802.11g PCMCIA WPA2" and you find more than enough options.

802.11b is a physical standard while WEP and WPA are link layer encryption methods. 802.11b died off around the time that WPA was being introduced, so many 802.11b drivers don't support WPA, but I can pop a Realtek based 802.11b card into a Linux box and connect to WPA encrypted WLANs without a problem.

gdjacobs wrote:

802.11b is a physical standard while WEP and WPA are link layer encryption methods. 802.11b died off around the time that WPA was being introduced, so many 802.11b drivers don't support WPA, but I can pop a Realtek based 802.11b card into a Linux box and connect to WPA encrypted WLANs without a problem.

In that case you're operating outside of 802.11b-1999 spec. It's not a matter of 'dying off', but that WPA (802.11i-2003 (WPA1) / 2004 (WPA2) was only specified to work with 802.11g and later. Great if you can get it working, but it shouldn't work, so no surprise it doesn't work with original Windows drivers.