Good NICs for retro rigs?

What OS will you be running? I'm pretty sure WinXP SP2 or SP3 is required to use WPA2, so in order to make things work you might have to lower the encryption on your router.

I'm currently using PCMCIA D-Link G650 with my Celeron 300. It runs windows 98 and works very fine. The only thing is I have to use Dlink utility to establish wireless connection. Anyway, I can surf the net, share files and folders with other pcs including windows 7 x32 and x64 systems. I used to have trouble accessing shared files on w7 pcs from w98 via ethernet, but through wifi it works just fine without messing around... That's weird.

I would only consider wireless for my XP machines and up. For my DOS/Win9X I'm only going for wired ethernet.

This needn't be a question of OS type or system capability. The Swiss-Army-like ASUS WL-330N/330N3G can be used to turn any wired ethernet adapter into a wireless interface.

I'm using this setup on a 286-based Tandy system...

Or maybe turn some old router that can run DDWRT or similar into a wireless repeater bridge.

Stull wrote:

What OS will you be running? I'm pretty sure WinXP SP2 or SP3 is required to use WPA2, so in order to make things work you might have to lower the encryption on your router.

I run Win98SE with the unofficial SP 2.1a.

After thinking things over, I've decided to just keep a wired ethernet card in my system. I've currently got a 3Com 3C905B-TX rev. a and also a D-Link DFE-530TX+. Up until now, I've used those D-LINK cards in my builds exclusively. They've always been totally stable and rock-solid reliable. However, I think I might try out this 3Com card if I can find the correct drivers for it. Is there a list somewhere of what ethernet cards have drivers built into Win98SE?

As for WiFi, Win98SE, and WPA2, I can assure you it works. I use it all the time with compatible USB adapters. I've got a couple of these "WiBee" adapters that work great with Win98SE:

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-802-11g-Adapte … ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

I've also got some of these TRENDnet TEW-424UB adapters. They work great in Win98SE and you can occasionally find them on sale for $5. I actually prefer these over the WiBee adapters. The drivers/software don't feel quite as amateurish.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16833156152

I can't work without network connection on my retro systems and I also love WiFi and hate wires running through the entire house.

If it's a Win9x machine, I have an ethernet card in there, connected to a WiFi bridge.

If it's a WinXP system, I use a WiFi card or usb stick.

I don't use any other operating systems on my older machines.

That way all my systems have at least access to my NAS/FTP with all the drivers, patches and updates on them. Running around with USB sticks/flash cards/CD-Rs/etc stops being fun when messing around with multiple machines. 😉

The only thing that's still unsolved are my retro laptops. The more modern ones have a mini PCI WiFi card, but some older ones don't and are too slow to run WinXP. So I have PCMCIA ethernet cards installed, but that makes them less mobile than I like.