Can Windows 98 be installed on a T42?

[ziloo]

Hello Folks,

I have been offered to buy a T42, and I want to operate it under Win 98.

1- Would it function under Win 98 and are there required drivers available?
2- Can Win 98 recognize the USB port on T42?
3- Has anybody ever used a USB>RS232 adapter successfully on a T42?

Thank you

ziloo

[brchan]

1. There are video drivers available, which would take care of the biggest hurdle. Not sure about others.
2. Windows 98SE has usb drivers preinstalled. You will have to install drivers under vanilla Windows 98.
3. USB to serial adapters are often finicky in general. However, there are docks for the T4* series that have a serial port.

[Johan]

I have Windows 98 running on a T42p (the "p" only means that its graphics processer is a bit more powerful compared to a standard "T42-non-p" model). Win 98 works very well on that T42p; full USB-support, and WLAN is also working. I upgraded this T42p from initially running Windows95; you will find some notes about installing Win95 on a T42p in the thread Can Windows 95 be installed on a T42, and if so, how? One thing I recall from back then (when I initially installed W95) was that the T42 wouldn't work if I had more than only one single 512 MB RAM-module mounted.

Also, see the threads Win98 on a T42 and Guide: Windows 98SE/ME on Thinkpad T42 and Thinkpad Windows 98SE Native DOS box and Good Old if you need more info.

I've never tried any USB-to-RS232 devices (on a T42), but recall that the T42 has a parallel-port, so perhaps a parallel-port to a serial-port converter could be an option?

Johan

[kfzhu1229]

Windows 98 does work on a T42 but not good on T43 (I found the Catalyst for ATI Radeon 7000, 7500, 9000, 9600, X300 in a bundle but 7k, 7500, 9000 worked fine while with X300 it tells me that it cannot find the graphic device properly). However, the support for the hdd controller was limited (at least that was what I got for my dell laptop at the same age with same Pentium M Dothan non-Sonoma and Radeon 9k). For example, it takes longer to copy files on 9x than 2k due to that problem. I haven't tried internet though.
And one thing don't forget to set the limit of RAM allocation in msconfig if you have more than 512mb ram installed!

[ziloo]

Thank you all for great responses!

Now... how about Dos 6.22: Can I boot-up from a floppy diskette, or standalone DOS on HDD, to use T42 as a DOS machine?

ziloo

[sdfox7]

The entire T Series line *generally* uses the same drivers. They also *generally* all have one installer that will work on Windows NT 4.0/Windows 98 through XP. Lenovo has begun purging some of the older pages, so I've provided the direct download link. I've also had them archived on my own FTP since I own a T40 (which I primarily run Windows XP on): http://sdfox7.com/ibm/t40/t40_98/

support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-t-series-laptops/thinkpad-t42

Audio: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds013790 https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/p ... a241ww.exe

BIOS update, non-diskette: https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/p ... uj37us.exe

Chipset Support: https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/p ... s206ww.exe

Display and Video Graphics: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/a ... onaiw-98me#

Modem: https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/p ... ma08ww.exe

Networking/Ethernet: Intel Pro 100/Intel Pro 1000: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downlo ... PRO98-EXE- https://downloadmirror.intel.com/4236/eng/PRO98.exe

Wireless Intel Pro Wireless 2100 3B Mini PCI: https://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/p ... wi1r98.exe

Keep in mind the 2100 is a 802.11 B card, and you'll need an alternative G card with Windows 98 drivers. The 2200 does not officially support Windows 98.

[Johan]

Now... how about Dos 6.22: Can I boot-up from a floppy diskette, or standalone DOS on HDD, to use T42 as a DOS machine?

I'm a bit confused now; first you ask (and we reply with many details) whether Windows 98 can be installed on a T42, and then now secondly you want to know if a T42 can be used as a stand-alone DOS laptop??

If you want to run DOS programs (e.g. on a T42), then a simple solution would be to install Windows (Win 95, Win 98, Win XP or Win 7), and then either run your DOS-programs in a CMD-shell, or install DOSbox.

Do you actually know what exactly you want to use this potential T42 for??

Johan

[ziloo]

I understand the confusion here .

If I decide to use the T42 for situations that
I would rather not to mess with Win environment,
I wanted to know whether the T42 would still be
of use to me. I have Dos programs that I would like to
run them directly under Dos.

ziloo

p.s. the Font colors show the state of my mind!

[kfzhu1229]

Well, Windows 95/98 provides direct support for DOS games and it makes your life a lot easier to install drivers and stuff. Also, DOS takes forever to load the RAMdisk, CDROM, etc. so Windows 98 starts faster. On machines like T23/A30 or later, Windows 98 boots faster than DOS, if you want to fully utilize DOS and play games.