Device drivers/support for Win 98?

Private E-2? Isn't a recruit an E-3?

I may be one of the last to install Win 98 on a Dell 2400, so before you ask, "Because I want to." There's no deeper meaning than that.

Because Dell didn't support '98 on the 2400, drivers have to come from elsewhere. Chip makers, suppliers of add-on PCI cards ... it's slow but I know that drill and the basic stuff -- chipset, video, sound -- are all fine now.

I'm currently chewing on getting an old game card working. This is a SMART 90079-2 Riptide card that seems to have come only with HP machines; anyway that's the only driver I've found -- RIP417NA.exe -- and it does support Win 98 as was on that long-dead HP Pavilion.

The trouble is that HP didn't do driver installs the same way Dell did. (I'm guessing that's the problem the MSI interface/software was intended to fix.) While the result has to be the same -- that's set by Windows, etc. -- the how-we-get-there is different and while the card is recognized as having the right devices and the EXE runs, windows install and the driver installer don't play well together and the result is a non-working mess.

The deeper trouble is I don't know what the result SHOULD look like: What files SHOULD be out there, where SHOULD they be, etc., for a properly installed Win 98 device. So I can't really debug the mess ... just wade around in it, reinstall Win ... I'm getting better at all that (whoopee ...) but I'm no closer to a working joystick.

What I really need is a basic tutorial on the pieces, functions, and locations of Win 98 support for hardware -- particularly PCI -- devices. This is probably not more than a couple of paragraphs, it has probably been written a thousand times, and I cannot seem to find even one of them. HELP?

Yes, the smart way to do this would be to buy a cheap new card with a CD to install it on Win 98SE. But if I were that guy I'd just buy a new machine and plug it in. My approach is more like that hermit named Dave.

Help with understanding the mechanics of Win98 software support of its devices would be much appreciated!

GREAT forum, btw. Very high ratio of 'content' to 'filler.'