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Wireless N - cheesy workaround with USB-powered travel-router in Clien

ragnargd

By ragnargd
in Windows 9x/ME

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ragnargd

ragnargd

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hi,

 

this may insult the Professional, there may be better solutions (of which i don't know, unfortunately), but if you have this problem, this - admittingly non-elegant workaround - may help you:

 

In a nutshell: I don't have a working WLAN-adapter on my notebook, and now, what to do about it..

 

Detail (you may ignore it):

I have a Toshiba Tecra S2. It has an Intel 2200BG WLAN Adapter (internal PCI).

This does not work with W98SE, because there is no driver (some people claim it works with the 2100BG driver, but it did not for me).

But even if it did, i just set my WLAN to not accept anything below type N WLAN, as this would slow down the network for all.

 

 

So i looked for a workaround, as there does not seem to be a thing as an "N" wireless Dongle or stick with w98SE support.

 

I found it: USB-powered Travel-Routers, used as a driver-less replacement for a WLAN-Dongle... :thumbup

 

In this case, i'm using a TP-Link TL-WR802N in Client-Mode. A TL-WR702 works as well, and though it's slower technically, with a machine like that you may not even notice... ;)

Warning: TL-MR3020 and TL-MR3040 do NOT work out of the box, as the interesting option is missing

(Open-WRT may help with 3020/3040, it's just not for the weak of heart or mind...)

 

The WLAN-port is connected to the LAN-Port of my Laptop, and power comes from an unused USB-port.

As the HDD of the Laptop is not that fast, i can copy 1MB/s through that connection.

Not as much as technically possible, of course, but, well, better than nothing...

 

That's it, have fun.

 

Cheers,

Ragnar G.D.

 

Fun Facts:

- I had to modify the INF of the Marvell LAN, as is was a - quite shabby - subset of the XP-INF, just without mobile versions of the NIC, and because of that, containes an "error" of some kind. If you have questions, just ask, but if you know inf-tweaking, you'll most likely be able to fix that in a second yourself.

- I used this machine with power-chord only, as the battery-pack was basically broken. When i bought a new one - more expensive, and probably heavier, than the laptop itself  :whistle:  - the laptop disconnected from the WLAN. I had to remove the "can be powered down to save energy"-checkbox on the NIC, then it worked again...

- if you use a router like this, only do this in really trusted networks, as W98SE has absolutely no firewall, and the router does not have the usual NATting in that mode, naturally. Otherwise, look for a software-firewall (i.e. old Tiny Firewall or ZoneAlarm). Remember: Anyone who says W98SE is too old to be vulnerable, is outright wrong. And any browser that you can use on W98SE is fubar security-wise...

Edited by ragnargd
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jumper

jumper

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Not cheesy at all -- I've been using and advocating (what-wifi-cards-are-compatible-with-98se, best-pci-wireless-card-for-9x) a router in client (or repeater) mode as a wifi adapter for Win9x for years.

I've used several desktop routers that need AC power. A travel router that gets its power via USB is perfect for mobile use. :)

If the NIC is also USB, a two-port USB hub might be used to create a one-USB-port complete solution -- but that might be cheesy!

Edited by jumper
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  • 2 weeks later...
pangoomis

pangoomis

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I think the mentioned rt28709x.sys file is just a placeholder, and was probably never made. Lots of inf's have non-existent files, since it's easy to just change some bytes from an old inf, rather than write an entirely new inf. Though it seems lazy in this example.

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farfigs11

farfigs11

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I think the mentioned rt28709x.sys file is just a placeholder, and was probably never made. Lots of inf's have non-existent files, since it's easy to just change some bytes from an old inf, rather than write an entirely new inf. Though it seems lazy in this example.

I agree.  One gigabyte usb wireless N software package I found had a 9x folder, but it was empty.  At least there's rt28609x.sys.   I use it with a gigabyte mini pci card ( WI30N) but on my machine it takes Rloew's memory patch /m option so there's not a VFAT error at startup.  

Edited by farfigs11
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  • 3 weeks later...
ragnargd

ragnargd

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>>rt28609x.sys

 

I used my google-fu to no avail.

 

Only the usual suspects (cnet etc.), that claim W98SE-support for every computer-hardware, your toaster and your dog.

 

And then some PCI- and PCMCIA-cards that are vailable since 2014, claiming W98SE support (No trivers neded!!! Pphul Windos suppoat!!!).

 

Yeah. Maybe.

Edited by ragnargd
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farfigs11

farfigs11

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>>rt28609x.sys

 

I used my google-fu to no avail.

 

Only the usual suspects (cnet etc.), that claim W98SE-support for every computer-hardware, your toaster and your dog.

 

And then some PCI- and PCMCIA-cards that are vailable since 2014, claiming W98SE support (No trivers neded!!! Pphul Windos suppoat!!!).

 

Yeah. Maybe.

http://www.asus.com/support/Download/14/8/0/40/17/ 

Direct linking won't work; just knock off the last two digits(17) in link, choose winxp os then download ver 1.1.0.0. There's a 9x folder with rt28609x.sys driver in it.  The only other place I've seen it is in a Gibabyte draft N pci package.  I've searched all manufacturers listed in rt28709x.inf but didn't find any sys file as I mentioned in previous post. 

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jumper

jumper

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On October 6, I investigated farfigs11's link and came to the same conclusion that MrMateczko vocalized the next day.

However, I also googled "rt28609x.sys" and found AWNE766_V1100.zip at download3k.com. It does indeed contain rt2860.inf and rt28609x.sys in the RT2860_Drivers\WIN9X\ subdirectory.

Just now I googled "AWNE766 zip" and found what appear to be the following versions:

* 1100

* 1150

* 1200

* 1400

* 1430 (XP)

* 2040

* 2330 (Vista)

* EeePC901, Eee PC 1000H

and references to EeePC1004DN, 701, 900, and B202.

AW = Asus AzureWave

Azurewave AW-NE766 is also for the RT2700E and RT2790.

This might be a direct link to the v1100 files, but the ftp server didn't respond for me.

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Drugwash

Drugwash

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Found a version that says 1.1.0.0/2.0.2.0 here. It's 6.74MB, has 9x/2k/XP/XP64/Vista/Vista64 subfolders inside. Download requires completion of a "modern" captcha (one of the most stupid things invented by man) so certain domains may have to be unblocked in browser's addons (for whoever uses Firefox with NoScript, Ghostery, RequestPolicy, GoogleDisconnect and/or similar).

 

No idea if the driver works or not - I don't have anything wireless in the house and not even planning to.

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farfigs11

farfigs11

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Here's a link to the latest rt2860.inf I could find- I wonder how many of the listed devices will work with the 9x driver version.  I'm planning on testing gigabyte mini pci-e version GN-WS32L-RH for laptop soon (provided I can get past the sata drive hurdle). 

 

http://jbmondoloni.free.fr/Hardware/carte%20PCMCIA%20Belkin%20WIFI%20n%20FD8013/RT2860%203.02.12/rt2860.inf

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farfigs11

farfigs11

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Here's a link to the latest rt2860.inf I could find- I wonder how many of the listed devices will work with the 9x driver version.  I'm planning on testing gigabyte mini pci-e version GN-WS32L-RH for laptop soon (provided I can get past the sata drive hurdle). 

 

http://jbmondoloni.free.fr/Hardware/carte%20PCMCIA%20Belkin%20WIFI%20n%20FD8013/RT2860%203.02.12/rt2860.inf

Apparently rt28609x.sys works strictly with rt2860 chipset.

 

 Even in WinXP, the early (2007) nt5 driver rt2860.sys doesn't work with some of the later devices in the link above.  Some of the devices listed in the newer (2008 & up) rt2860.inf files have a different chipset like rt2700, rt3xxx which only work with the newer nt5 driver (rt2860.sys) 

 

So the above GN-WS32L-RH didn't work-it was rt3xxx chipset and I tried this http://www.ebay.com/itm/191721931888which is

AzureWave AW-766; didn't work-it was rt2700E chipset.

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