A laptop without data transfer capabilities -- some advice?

Hi!

I have a bit of a problem and I'm scouring the net for some advice as to what my options are.

I have an AST Ascentia laptop. I need some way to transfer data to and from this little beast.

It has a 9 pin serial port, a parallel port, a video port, a PS2 port, and some strange, long port without pins that I don't recognize -- I think it's for a docking station maybe?

It also has a 56k modem and an extra PCMCIA slot, but the slot does not accept Type II 32-bit cards (so, I presume it's a Type I 16-bit slot, though I don't know anything about that sort of thing, hehe).

My options so far are:

a) Scrounge up an external floppy to connect to the parallel port.
b) Pay for some dail-up service and use the modem.

The latter is not ideal at all considering the cost and neither of these appeal to me for the slow speed at which I'd be transfering things.

Any ideas?

Really, I was hoping for SOME way to hook a USB port up to my little beast, but I can't find anything about external USB ports, or parallel-USB conversions. Neither can I find 16-bit USB cards.

Would getting a 16-bit ethernet card be an option? I could then hook it up to my router.

What about a small, 1-2gb external HD plugged into the parallel port?

Or would there be any benefit to tracking down a docking station? I don't know anything about docking stations so I don't know if this would help me.

Anyway, thanks so much. I appreciate any time and consideration. I really want to be able to use this thing for school but if I can't move data around, it's largely useless

 

Hi,

One I can think of is "Direct Cable Connection ". You just need a serial to serial cable. Windows Help menu can tell you about it (I'm looking at Win98). You need to install it from the Windows CD if has not already been installed.

Serial to serial is not very fast, but probably a lot faster than those two methods you mention.

Check into a LAN (local area network) setup, if you can get a LAN card (NIC) for it.
www.homenethelp.com
www.practicallynetworked.com

Matt

 

That's awesome advice, Matt, thanks! Strangely enough, not two minutes ago I discovered the exact same thing while messing around on the laptop

I've tracked down a 16-bit ethernet card, so I think I'll go with that, but I have one more question that I would REALLY appreciate someone answering:

Is there any way to install a USB port when I do not have 32-bit PCMCIA slots? I have a flash stick I really want to use. Should I just give up on USB?

 

Zenpyrrho

look here for lots of ideas. Search "cables and adapters" for USB.

 

You might also consider using your parallel port for transfers. You'll need a cable premade for such use ($10) LapLink software will do the job and moves about 6 meg per minute between machines.