Connect a laptop at home > Part II - Client/ServerStep 2 - Install the PC Card adapter Here in Step 2, we're going to show how a PC Card adapter can be connected and set up on a laptop. For this "how to" we're using Windows 98 and an SMC EZ CardBus 10/100. (NOTE: We included a lot of basic information on PC Cards in Step 1 of Part I in this "how to" and won't repeat it here. That Step also includes Windows 95 install instructions). Once you've selected the card you want, you're ready to plug it into the laptop. One of the advantages of PC Card slots, is that you can insert the card with the laptop running. Our test laptop, a Compaq 7800, has two slots. Simply plug the PC Card adapter into one of your slots.
Immediately after you insert the card, Windows 98 will pop up the New Hardware Found dialog box and then present with you the Add New Hardware Wizard. Click next. The Wizard then asks if you want to Search for the best driver or to display a list of all the drivers in a specific location. Pick the first option. The Wizard then asks where it should search for the drivers, as shown below. Click the box for "Specify a location" and then use the "Browse" button to specify the location. In our case, the drivers were in the Win98 folder on a CD-Rom. Most likely, you'll be pointing to the floppy drive or "A" drive, but make sure to point to the right folder. In many cases the Windows 95 and Windows 98 drivers are different and can be found in different folders. Click Next.
The wizard will now indicate if it found the correct driver and ask again if you want to install it, as shown below. Again, click Next.
The wizard will then indicate progress as files are copied. It also will likely ask for the original Windows 98 install CD-Rom, so be prepared to insert it when required. Finally, the Wizard will indicate that installation is completed, as shown below, and most likely will suggest you reboot the machine and you should do just that. Congratulations! You've completed the software installation of the PC Card. To complete the hardware installation, most PC Cards have a small adapter, or dongle, that connects to the PC Card and then has a jack to accept an RJ-45 plug from a twisted pair cable and/or a BNC jack to accept a thin net or coax cable connector. Our SMC card only included the RJ-45 jack and since we are using twisted pair cables and a hub that works just great. Connect the dongle to the PC Card and insert one end of your network cable to the dongle as shown below
Connect the other end to the network hub that will have one or more cables from other computers on your home network. We can now move on to Step 3.
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