Alright, as it turns out that old ethernet card wasn't PCI, it was an old VLB card.
So now I have two questions to help me with this: where's a large repository of unsupported hardware drivers, and how hard is it to assign USB signals to something I can use?
And on the subject of gaming, I did find out I have an AGP slot, but I don't know what kind it is. How can I tell? Also, I remember a website that would tell you whether or not your computer was powerful enough to play certain games. Anyone know where it is?
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Anonymous2006-09-21 23:34
have you tried buying a Mac?
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Anonymous2006-09-21 23:54
Okay, anyone with practical advice?
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Anonymous2006-09-22 0:00
Install Ubuntu, that might fix it.
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Anonymous2006-09-22 1:13
Fuck, yeah. Our crack team of techs are at it again.
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Anonymous2006-09-22 1:36
Jesus Christ, I'm not gonna change my OS. Not only is it inconvinient and expensive, it doesn't solve my problems, nor does it answer my questions.
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Anonymous2006-09-22 2:28
oh lawd vlb ethernet card lol
>>6
changing an OS may be inconvienient, but it is not expensive.
allright dumbass, be more specific. are you actually using this vlb card? if so, isn't about time you ditch that old 486?
anyway, driverguide.com
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Anonymous2006-09-22 4:05
I thought having an AGP slot might tell you I don't have a VLB slot, but okay, no I'm not using the card. But thanks for the site.
Still, I need to know how to find out what kind of AGP slot I have, so y'know I can look for the right kind of video card. I also hope the kind I have isn't a really old kind. The computer I have is actually up to date, it just lacks a good video card, instead I get a really shitty integrated chipset. Still better than my last computer though.
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Anonymous2006-09-22 9:06
www.cpuid.com - get cpuz it should tell you about your AGP.
Or just get a damnsmalllinux disk and run the `lspci -v` command
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Anonymous2006-09-22 10:29
Alright, it says it's a 4x slot, which I'm hoping is good.
But does anyone know the site I'm talking about?
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Anonymous2006-09-22 11:11
nvidia has a page somewhere that will put your system specs against those of a database of various games. I have forgotten where it is. It might have been at their nvnews(nvidia forums) sight.
But, I wouldn't bother because your PC has a 4x AGP slot. I wouldn't bother much with games made after 2000-2001 because assuming that your AGP slot supplies the right amount of voltage to run an 8x card, you are still really limited by your CPU and RAM. Granted, a good graphics card takes a lot of load off, but if you have an old CPU and probably old PC100/PC133 RAM, your system will be a serious bottleneck on it. Time for new motherboard, CPU, RAM, graphics.
*sigh* Okay, I'm tired of everyone assuming I have an old computer. I have a new computer. It was made in 2004. The processor is an Athalon XP +2400 (which is like 1.9 GHz, or something like that) and around 512 Mb of RAM. I forget which kind, I think it's like PC 2100 or something, and I can always get more. I've been able to play the Half-Life 2 demo at medium settings, and though it looks bad and I can't play the second part without having the computer skip every 2 seconds, it can run HL2 with an old SavagePro DDR with only 32 Mb (not that it's using it, but hey...).
That being said, Newegg.com has a lot of cards on 4x AGP that'll support DirectX 9, so the only thing that worries me is the power supply. Course, I don't have too many things on my PC, so it should manage.