Serial to usb for anicent laptop

I have a perfectly working compaq contura 430C, it has 8 MEGA Bytes of RAM

And it runs win95 all right it seems, it has 800MB free on a 1.25GB HDD, but doesn't have a CD drive, only floppy's.

The only thing I'm keeping it for is to put some .pdf files on there for reading, assuming win95 can even run some version of adobe reader I could dig up.

Question is, if I got a $5 usb to serial cable, can I directly transfer files that way?

It also has PCMCIA 2.1 card, I take it that work with the right cable.

Or I could get a ata ide laptop HDD to desktop ide cable and transfer the files that way

What would be the easiest/cheapest of all that?

USB floppy drive for your main computer would be the easiest.

Why not just transfer them over a network (LAN/WIFI)?

moz_21 said:

Why not just transfer them over a network (LAN/WIFI)?

Click to expand...

I don't have either, the only ways are through the compaq's serial port, parallel port, pcmcia card, or it's HDD

pcmcia to ethernet adapter perhaps? or wifi adapter? i know i had one for my old 700mhz laptop though that one is a "bit" older D:

If your desktop has a serial port you can set up a network connection via serial. You could in the past anyway, I did.

no I don't so I guess if I want I will spend $5 and get a pcmcia to usb cable

Not even a header for it?

Well you have a few options. Hook the USB side of that cable to your desktop and you should be able to do something with it, it won't be quick or easy. I think a $5 PCMCIA NIC would be more feasible. Once installed, it's a simple matter of browsing to a share on your desktop containing whatever you wanted to put on the laptop.