re: New Network Hard Drives compatible with 98SE
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by gewg_
(3939 messages posted)
Kit wrote:
|So recently, my Iomega Network Hard Drive (DHD250-N2) started goofing up[...]
|I simply wanted to replace this drive
|with a new one that could do the same thing, and found nothing but problems.
|All new drives indicate no compatability with 98SE.
|
Doesn't surprise me greatly, given 9x's current market share.
Manufacturers have also gotten fat and lazy.
(For the flip-side of the coin, see "The Linux Driver Project", below).
|Even Iomega wasn't supporting it, and I had had enough of Iomega anyway.
|I bought a unit from Buffalo Systems, hoping there was a special patch, but no go;
|I had to return it.
|
If a device's specification sheet (and the packaging for the device)
don't EXPLICITLY say the device supports a specific operating system,
you can make book on the fact that IT DOESN'T.
(That would be **a selling point**, after all
--and it doesn't cost the vendor an extra penny to print that on the box
once he has actually written that device driver.)
|[instead] went for a USB Network hard drive,
|figuring that USB is Operating System-independent,
|
...if the OS comes with complete USB support
--or partial support and the hardware manufacturer provides a device driver.
|[. . .]I found a "My Book 98SE USB" driver, installed it, and STILL no go!
|
If the driver's docs **specifically** state it supports the device, you're golden.
If it doesn't contain in its lookup table the USB ID number of a manufacturer,
that brand is out in the cold.
OTOH, Nathan Lineback, for example, took an existing driver and added more IDs
in an attempt to make a universal/generic mass storage device driver for 9x.
cache of http://toastytech.com/files/cruzerwin95.html
|[. . .]My roommate btw, has Vista on his computer,
|and was able to plug in the My Book with instant success.
|
See "comes with complete USB support" (above).
Wikipedia has the timeline for the USB Specification.
Notice the skewed intersection with its implementation and Win9x's timeline.
Gotta say, M$ really dropped the ball here; BillG could have done a much better job.
|[USB under Win98 is] a major pain in the booty.
|
In the year 2009, yup.
...especially if you ignore the spec sheets and the labels on the product packaging.
|I cannot see why
|a technology that can connect every computer in the world together
|suddenly can't handle
|two computers in the same room with different operating systems!
|
See "timeline" and "BillG" (above).
M$ has a habit of ignoring disruptive technologies--or doing them half-assed
(until they get smacked by them); Win95 shipped without a Web browser.
|For the future, does anyone have a solution to this?
|What currently-sold external hard drive can plug into ethernet
|and connect to a 98SE system?
|
My advice has always been to give money ONLY to those vendors who support you
(and your OS of choice) and who STATE THAT ON THE PACKAGING.
I have moved on and don't put much effort
into finding hardware that is compatible (e.g. HDDs >137GB are incompatible)
with a >10 year old OS which its own vendor has long since forsaken.
Going to that well-known Web site and buying something used is an option.
Make sure it comes with media containing the appropriate driver.
Linux has the best out-of-the-box hardware support of ANY OS
--and there's a REASON for that.
**The Linux Driver Project** by Greg Kroah-Hartman
cache of http://lwn.net/Articles/276973
...and, of course, Linux is FREE.
|
All messages in this thread [show all]
 |  | re: New Network Hard Drives compatible with 98SE (gewg_: Wed, Feb 18, 2009, 6:27 pm) |
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