Somebody gave me an old 300Mhz Celeron laptop with 64MB RAM, 1 USB port, no network port, no cd burner, no floppy drive, and no bells and whistles. It runs Emacs under blackbox fine, which is all I really need to code on the run. However, the problem becomes, how do I connect it to the world as cheaply as possible, and is it possible to make it fast enough to run OpenOffice and a few other programs faster?

As far as connecting goes, I was thinking of three options:

1. USB Pen Drive -- Cheapest option and lets me bring discrete chunks of data back and forth, but not very quickly.
2. PCMIA Network Card -- Would let me bring data back and forth much faster, but the cheapest I saw on Ebay was $30 after s/h, and I would assume there might be driver issues.
3. PCMIA Wireless Network Card -- This is what I really want, but I have not clue how easy it is to get this working under Mandrake.

Also, would it be worth it to put more RAM into it? I suppose that could speed things up, but I don't know how much, or if itwould be worth the cost.

All suggestions are greatly appreciated, and much thanks in advance,

Dan

don't know about the money-side....that depends on you, how much you really are ready to pay but anyway. if you doubt driver problems or how easy it is to get a wireless work, first look some cards on some shops (ebay etc.) and choose some that you like. then google for their compatibility for linux, like "d-link xxx linux" and see what you get...so you'll get an idea of how much troubles one might cause, or if there is a working module/driver for the thing already. I think you've got good chances of getting a card that works quite easily...and for the wireless ones, I think that at least for some of the "biggest" or most known cards there are good instructions on how to make them work...

and then the ram-thing. I'd say it's definitely a good idea, besides getting a new machine (heh..joking. I've got one old machine too), that you get more RAM. there is, as far as I've seen on my own machine, a huge difference between low and low+some more ram like if you buy another 64 or 128 megs more, you'll notice it. but if you only have 64MB memory, a faster machine isn't that much faster...this means especially that running apps like OpenOffice or Gimp etc. is much more painless with a good amount of ram than without, was the processor fast or not. after all it's your choise, but I would put a bit more ram in...

Wow, thats only slightly better then what I have. I have a Compaq Presario 1200 with floppy, 2 usb ports, no NIC port, and 1 pcmcia slot, running at 600 Mhz with 56 Meg of ram. It runs Mandrake 9.2 perfectly along with M$ XP. It really shouldnt be a problem.

If I helped please affero me

Keep checking Ebay, I got a 3Com 10/100 32bit cardbus pcmcia nic
a few months ago for $11 US... with a dongle.

If you can't get a cheap pcmcia, I'd suggest a USB-ethernet adapter.

I've got one that works well... I didn't buy it, so I don't know how much it cost (a friend let me borrow it), and I used it with windows, not linux.

Don't know if that helps, but I'd assume it would work and it should be cheaper than a pcmcia.

i'd avoid usb network cards. in general, they don't work so hot in linux. of course, if you can find a how-to for a specific model, and trust it, then go for it.

You should be able to find a new pcmcia network card for under $30. Adding 128M memory may be done reasonably. Be sure to check the Hardware Compatability List before shelling out for a network adaptor.

Good Luck!