On 9 Nov 99, at 21:47, William Wilson wrote:

> I would like to give my second computer to my son in another city.  He
> needs one with at least Windows 95, 32 meg of RAM, Pentium 100, 3.5 meg.
> hard drive, modem, CD, PC Anywhere and an Avery Address Labeler.
>
> My second computer has Windows 95, 40 meg RAM, Pentium 120, 3.5 hard drive, an
> 8x CD plus 2 serial and 1 parallel port.  It has no outlet for a PS/2 mouse.
>
> My son has an exteral modem which he would like to use.

....

> I need to know how an external modem hooks up.  Does it need one of
> the serial ports?

  Yes.

> Also how does the Avery Labeler attach?

  I'd expect it to use the parallel port, but it *could* be a serial device.

> If the modem, mouse and labeler all use serial ports is there any
> other alternative?

  The problem isn't really the number of ports (expansion to 4 should
be easy), but of IRQs.  While the mouse want one all the time, he can
probably live with not using the modem and labeller at the same time.
  So what I would probably do is plug the mouse into COM2:, and put
the modem and labeller on COM1: and COM3.  [Or they could be on a
switch box plugged into a single port, although that could make
drivers fail to load properly.]

David G

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