Scattered through this website are driver information tables. These will often appear on pages for various items of hardware which are falling out of support from their original vendors.
To give you the confidence in downloading the files, along with generally providing a decent amount of information to help you ensure you are downloading the right thing, a table of information is included for each driver package.
This page will explain how to read such table, and what each section means.
General Rules
All the tables follow these rules
- Information is gathered from either
- Text files (.doc, .wri, .txt, .ini) that are included with the driver package
- Real world experience/tests run by myself
- If the driver you are looking for is for an operating system that is not listed, there is no guarantee it will work. However, use your knowledge. A driver for Windows 98, may also work for Windows Millenium Edition (ME) or Windows 95. Drivers for Windows 2000 will also likely work for Windows XP. Experiment, but I am in no way liable for any data loss or damage caused by your experimentation. If you find a driver works with an operating system not listed, leave a comment – it will probably be useful to someone.
- If an item is in BOLD formatting in the second column this indicates that I have tested this driver package against the highlighted device or operating system. This is my way a seal of approval.
- Additional information in the second column is presented in parentheses, “( )”. This will usually refer to a file which that data value relates to.
- Information will be provided in English and all dates are provided in a UK format.
- Any information that is simply unknown will be marked as such.
Example Table with Explanations
| Devices Covered | A list of device model/part numbers that this driver package applies too. Items marked in bold in this list are confirmed as being compatible. |
| Driver / Package Version | This is the overall driver or package version as stated in one of the text documents included with the file. The file which provides the version number will appear in parentheses, “( )”. |
| Operating Systems Supported | A list of operating systems stated in the document that this driver package supports. Operating systems marked in bold are confirmed compatible. |
| Supported Languages | List of languages supported by the driver package. |
| Date of Newest File in Package | It is often telling how new a driver may be by the latest item in the package. It can also indicate whether the driver files have been tampered with. The newest file name will appear in parentheses, “( )”. |
| Date of Oldest File in Package | In the same way we list the newest file, we will also list the oldest file and its name will appear in parentheses, “( )”. |
| Setup Executable Present | We all love the ease of an install wizard. This is a simple Yes/No value that confirms whether such a wizard exists to make installation of the driver easy. The filename of the wizard appears in parentheses, “( )”. |
| Driver INF File | Although setup wizards are very helpful, some experienced folk may prefer to inject the driver INF file into Windows directly. The file name of the INF file will appear in parentheses, “( )”. An explanation of what an INF file can be found here on FileInfo.com. |
| List of Files | This might be the longest part of the table. This will be a list of all of the files included in the package and the folder structure of the package. |
| Total File Count | The total number of files in the package, useful to check the integrity of the package after a download. |
| Package Size | The size of the compressed package in megabytes. |
| Extracted Package Size | The total file size of all the files once extracted from the package, in bytes. |
| Package Archive Type | The type of archive used for the package. Most will be standard .ZIP files to ensure easy extraction on most Windows installations. However I always recommend people install a compatible archive tool on their OS, certainly for older operating systems such as 95 or 3.11. |
| Other Notes | Any other notes about this package that may be useful. This includes unofficial information or rumors. |
| Download Link | I will primarily host the files here on the website, however I will also try and provide mirrors where possible. |