If you are in some similar situation and need to get online for the lowest possible expense it can be done. Here's one way.
Checking around we gathered up the following:
Dell OpiPlex 745, more details below, but it was the ultra-small form factor on the stand with the flat screen monitor.
External 56K USB phone modem made by Zoom -- from Amazon.com for about $31.00. It is model 3095-00-03G. Modem ID 0803:3095. Apparently the chip is by Conexant. I can't find a date on the documentation with the modem but the box says it will work with Windows including Windows 7 released in 2009, Macintosh and Linux computers with kernel 2.6.19, (released about 2007) and above. Those releases put it back a few years. Online manual has a copyright of 2007 - http://www.zoomtel.com/documentation/dial_up/3095F_UserGuide_Eng.pdf
To get the modem going simply click on the Connect icon on the Puppy desktop and choose the Dialup Icon. Go through the detect sequence and then put in your ISP phone number, user ID, and password. The modem didn't make any sounds. It would have been helpful it it did, but a report of progress making the call and completing the connection is given on the screen.
HP Deskjet Printer -- specifically an HP C6280 Colorsmart printer/scanner. Manual at
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01150745.pdf
Familiar with Ubuntu so we tried to work with that at first. We could not get Ubuntu to work with the modem no matter what we tried. Searching the web I learned that Puppy Linux was still pretty good at supporting external dialup modems.
We tried an HP Laserjet 1100 with a parallel interface but we could not get Puppy to detect that printer. It does not have a USB port on the printer, but then again it was built in June, 2000.
We could also install and print with the HP Colorsmart printer. The successful printer also has a scanner, but it was not detected by the XSANE scanner problem. A workaround for that was found. The scanner has a feature, "Scan to memory chip." If you scan to a memory chip you can use the printers USB connection to collect the file from the chip and copy it to the computer and work with it from there.
http://slacko.01micko.com/index.html
The default Slacko Puppy desktop with the Quick Setup dialogue box open is shown below.
More on the Dell Optiplex 745 - manual at
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_optiplex_desktop/optiplex-745_user%27s%20guide_en-us.pdf
Chipset FSB Speed Ram Spd Notes
Processor Slots Chassis USB ports
| 745 | Intel 965 Express | Intel Core 2 Duo | 533/800/1066 MHz | DDR2, 4 | DDR2 667 | USFF, ie Ultra Small Form Factor | USFF Does not support 2GB/800 memory units. A 2GB/800 memory unit will slow down to 667. USFF only has 2 DIMM slots and maximum 4GB memory. Does not support 45 nm processors Bios in MT correctly identifies and runs Xeon X3220 | USB 2.0 x 8 |
Dell OptiPlex 745 shipped 2007-08-03
with the following components
