Linksys PCM100 EtherFast 10/100 Integrated PC Card

Rating:
Summary: A bit bulky, yet tight design
Review: A pleasant and very welcome alternative to the 'dongle' type LAN adapter for the Laptop PC. It was a breeze in my Windows XP machine, and Windows 98 worked fine. Windows 95 required the setup disk, but a very good performer. Although hard to mess up, Good job still for led placement and usefulness Linksys.

THE ONLY COMPLAINT -
If you have a INSPIRON 5000 series, or similar form factor, you know that the power plug was ignorantly placed next to the PCMCIA slots. Therefore the size of this card's slightly oversized plug-in 'port' was uncomfortable. Hope this was helpful.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't work as well as rumored...
Review: I bought this card thinking it would work well with my computer--which, unfortunately, has Windows ME. Every time I tried to install the drivers (and I did follow the manual, thankyouverymuch), my computer would freeze. I went to Linksys's webiste and downloaded the new driver for ME (which didn't even come on the driver disk!). A computer-savvy friend and I tried everything, including reinstalling ME, to get the card to work, but eventually I ended up returning it and getting a (smaller and cooler) 3Com card instead.

Rating:
Summary: 5 Minutes to the web
Review: I bought this PC card for my old computer (PC notebook, P.II, 300M, 128Ram, with Windows 98SE), so that I can leave a connection for my wife when I take our other computer to work (ibook G4). We don't have a network at home because we don't need it, so I use the same router and cable to connect either computer. Well, I was online in about 5 minutes, or less, following the quick instal chart included with the PC card. The only extra thing I needed was the Win98SE CD since you may have to install some drivers. The only 'issue' I had happened when I disconnected the cable back and forth between computers... Once I plugged it back into the PC notebook, the computer did not recognize that it was connected to the internet. I had to select 'Client for Microsoft Networks' as my primary network logon. It works great now!

If you need an economic way to get DSL into your old PC Notebook I highly recommend the Linksys PCM100 EtherFast 10/100 Integrated PC Card...

Rating:
Summary: plug and no play
Review: I bought this unit to replace a 4 year old Linksys ethernet card that required a connecting adapter. That unit became unreliable because of intermittent contacts so I bought the "integrated" PCM 100 unit to (hopefully) solve my problems. It doesn't work at all. The "plug and play" instructions are a joke, and the backup Windows 98 instructions didn't get past step 1. No "Wizard" appears when it is connected.

I called for tech help - which is not toll-free. It is provided 10 hours per day, 5 days per week. I was on hold 25 minutes and then was disconnected. I called again and was put on hold again. Finally, I got a person who could not diagnose the problem but said the unit may be defective. I have to return it. I can't get my money back. ...

Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: I cannot really tell the difference between this card and other ones that cost twice as much. It provides the necessary functions, mainly a means to access a high-speed network, and it seems fairly robust. Also, the installation was very quick and easy, just plug it in and install the software that comes on the CD (All this takes less than 5 minutes). I have been using this product for six months now and I currently have no complaints. It works fine, I can download at very fast rates, and I have not had any problems with it.

Rating:
Summary: Windows ME
Review: I have heard other reports in addition to the one below about how installation is tricky with Windows ME. The card works just fine in Windows ME, but either they have indeed updated the manual or else nobody else reads it.

Don't follow the instructions on the Quick Installation sheet, use the actual manual.

Basically, the problems start when it asks for the Windows ME CD (which very few laptops come with). As the manual points out, you must tell it that instead of looking for the drivers on the windows CD that it should be looking on the A drive.

Installation took me about 2 minutes and the card has been working great.

Rating:
Summary: Works great/easy setup
Review: I ordered this last Friday, got it on Tuesday, installed it that night. The instructions didn't list WinME but since Win98 is basically the same, I followed those. The install worked exactly as the instructions described. It's nice not to have a dongle to lose or a popout connector like my old 3com card that always seemed like it was ready to break off.

Rating:
Summary: Well Above Average
Review: I originally installed this under Win98. No problems. Then swapped it to another laptop running Win95. Again, no problems.

Don't know whether the problem described in other reviews is with WinME or the installer.

This seems to be one of the more durable Ethernet cards for a laptop, with flexibility to be used in the upper or lower slot. Now, I need to purchase a second PCMCIA Ethernet card. I will look for one with better features, but if I don't find one in a few minutes, I will gladly purchase a second one of these LinkSys cards.

Rating:
Summary: Great Review
Review: I was walking through Fry's the other day and i came across one of these cards. Since it was an open box it was on sale for practically nothing. I decided to try it with nothing to lose.

My brother and i have two XP PC's connected to a linksys router with a DSL connection. We also have a laptop running win98 which has our old scanner and minolta digital camera running off it. (Why minolta doesnt have an XP update for its camera's beats the hell out of me.) With this card i thought this would be a perfect way to introduce a third PC to our network.

I know how difficult it is to set up home networks. Everyone complains about tech support so i really don't bother with them. Fortunately my brother and i have many (painful) years of experience with trial and error setting up networks so it has become somewhat easy for us now. However when Linksys was introduced to us let me tell you that it really is the best. We dont go with anything else other then linksys. No company has dedicated itself to networking then linksys. Its website is a testament to how dedicated linksys is to making great products and supporting them even when they are discontinued. Its online guide is unrivaled. Not even D-Link or 3com offers that type of support.

Many people on other reviews here experienced a little difficulty but not at the fault of this product. One person using WinMe could not install it. It is quite known that WinMe is inherently flawed particularly with networking. Another person had to install everytime they removed the card. That may be a hardware configuration conflict. If you read all the low reviews of this product they are all software or hardware conflicts. Not a defective card.

As for this card. there really is nothing much more to say. I plugged it in, installed the software, plugged in the network wire and was surfing at 1.5mbps and transfering pictures from my scanner and camera at 100mbps. It was literally that simple. Another great feature of this product is it has a link indicator with lets you know that you are actually connected to the network even if by configuration you are not. The only bad thing I can think of is that its difficult to pull out those RJ45 connectors but I don't plan to unplug it from the network anyway so its really no big deal.

Grab this product if you are looking for a PC card for your laptop. Even though I was lucky enough to find one for 10 bucks quite frankly I would have paid 4 or 5 times more for it.

Rating:
Summary: Serious problems with WinMe
Review: I've done everything I can think of short of paying the long distance charge to call tech support to get this card to work. I've decided to sell the card to a friend and get another one that will work with WinMe.