I have an old laptop with a built-in 56k modem. Can this be used to connect to a Microsoft LAN network?
No. To connect to an ethernet network, you need an ethernet controller.
You can try to setup another machine with a dial-in server with another modem and an old pbx (there are also plans to use some jellybean parts to connect the modems directly to each other) that shares the network.
PCMCIA ethernet cards should still be cheap, or failing that, parallel or serial networking isn't super hard, provided you have a system that still has those ports. The only thing my current system is lacking is ISA slots.
- Where it's always 1995.
Icons, wallpapers, and typical Oldternet nonsense.
The easiest thing would probably be something like SLIRP in the terminal of a Linux box connected via serial cable to your laptop.
All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder
