I'm trying to help a friend (He's 64) who has inherited an old compaq4770. This is his first computer. I have never used anything this old. The computer was given to him without any books, instructions,cd's, etc. I'm trying to get it up and connected to the internet for him. According to what I have found on the web, the unit originally came with Win98SE installed and a 56K modem. I've never used dialup, always cable. My question is this. With the internal modem it says it has should he be able to plug directly into his phone line and connect to an isp without any other necessary equipment?

Not sure what you want here, so this is what I'm putting.

Thr short answer is yes. But be aware compaq is usually a pain in the buut.

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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

even if you get it on the internet, he will have no fun.
it'll be so slow, the internet really won't work well.

Thanks, Mechanix2Go and mountain, you've both confirmed what I was thinking.

Not sure what you want here, so this is what I'm putting.

What. . . . . . do. . . . . . you. . . . . mean. . . . . about. . . . dialup. . . . .being. . . . . .slow. . . . .?. . . . .Mine. . . . works. . . . .just. . . . fine.

The main point here is that machines with a far better spec are being dumped or sold off very cheaply.

My second machine (W98SE) is running just fine on broadband but unless you are experienced it can be fiddling to set it up without a server disk. It's not impossible tho and little different to Win XP. I doubt many server disks allow for W98 these days, although someone might have an old one.

Dial-up is even worse than it used to be because the whole world assumes you have broadband (and a higher spec machine). What were once called "bloated websites full of eye candy" are now the norm.

Get him a small cheap XP machine and broadband. Age 64 isn't some form of impediment either, although not so handy without experience. I'm a good bit older than that and still help on these forums. I am not the oldest one either.

DerekW

For sure, that machine is low spec - - it'll work, but has a relatively slow processor and barely enough RAM. I've used far worse (and on dialup too.... {shudders} )

As mentioned, your friend's online & computing experiences will be far more enjoyable if he's running a somewhat more robust machine - - doesn't have to be the latest or greatest, but there are plenty better than the machine in question

To configure dialup, basically all you'd need would be:

ISP telephone number

login name

password

With Internet Explorer 5.5 (or thereabouts) this process is simplified by the 'Internet Connection Wizard' in Internet Properties, Connections, Setup

Some ISPs insist you use their software to connect - - that is a horse of a different colour, but in those cases, a disc or installation program would be provided

I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.

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Once he tries broadband, he'd never want to go back to dial-up. As people age, tolerance for waiting gets exceptionally thin (stated from experience). That machine may qualify for broadband (heck, I've even loaded Win2K on a Cyrix166 and used it on broadband--wasn't terribly bad---or at least better than a 386sx/16 on dialup), but it'd need some serious optimization to be really "enjoyable"...

... dialup is better than nothing - - but that's about it

You can use low spec machines, but without some understanding & experience it could be difficult to make 'the right' software choices - plenty of 'slimware' around though

Never went online with a 386, but I struggled with my DX2-66 and Win95 for a year or so (an adventure in itself)

I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.

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Thanks to all who responded to this post. Sorry for not getting right back, been out of town. By the way, took your advise and got my old buddy into a decent Dell unit I found on Craigslist for $125.00 with a new XP install and 512MB and can be upgraded further. He took my advise and went broadband and is surfing like crazy. Calls me every other day about blunders he's created. Trying to get him to enroll in HAL-PC classes now. Thanks to everyone.