Compaq Presario.

What's the model number?

Is 1200 a viable model number? There's a "1200" on the keyboard.

(I haven't used that thing in a LONG time, and I also can't grok how The Boy has his tangle of DSL ---> modem ---> wireless router ---> his desktop CPU set up.)

For instance, would this cable work: [link] ?

Does it have a PCMCIA slot? (1200 is a valid model family number)

Steph, the short answer is that no, you cannot plug an ethernet cable into the modem on a laptop. Two very different purposes and different electronics behind those ports. The cables that you linked to are Cat5 Crossover cables which have the larger RJ45 connections on each end. Even if you made a cable that went from RJ45 to RJ11 (modular phone connector) you wouldn't be able to use the modem port to connect to the DSL.

The port that you are seeing that looks like a serial port but with three rows of cables is the VGA port for an external monitor.

Your best bet is to get a USB Ethernet adapter for the machine.

Steph, this will give you an ethernet port [link]

Does it have a PCMCIA slot?

Maybe? What would that look like?

(Sorry to be so braindead, but all I needed at the apartment -- with that old laptop -- was a cable. I think it came with the DSL modem from the phone company; after I moved here, I returned the modem and all the cables to the phone company, since The Boy already had his set up.)

Your best bet is to get a USB Ethernet adapter for the machine.

Okay, I was looking at those, too -- and they made the most sense to my peanut brain. It's just that I saw the crossover cable and wasn't sure if it would work.

Thanks, ND, Plei, and t!

There's always the DLink PocketLAN Adapter model 620CT, which converts a paralell port into an ethernet connection. [link]

finding one cheaply and quickly? I dunno.

Back in the windows 98 days we used a special parallel cable to hook two PCs together.