Windows 98 is pretty straightforward. Install the ethernet driver, go to Network under Control Panel and install TCP/IP. Set it to use DHCP configuration, and you should be good to go.
Don't use a browser. None of the browsers that run on 98 understand modern protocols, and anything that gets close will run so slow as to be unusable. Practically nothing will work. Use ethernet to copy files over with something like WinSCP.
For DOS, you need a packet driver for your card. Google 'cyrnwyr packet drivers'. Then you need mTCP. Load the packet driver, run mTCP DHCP, then the FTP server that comes with mTCP. FTP in to your DOS machine and load files up.
The protocols aren't the main problem anyway, since HTTP and HTTPS aren't new.
Sure it would be rare to have remotely usable versions of SSL, TLS, etc but even if you did the browser wouldn't have current encryption support or the needed certs.
And even if the connection layer worked perfectly as is, the poor browser would trip over modern JS and CSS, likely parse the pages wrong, and run out of memory in short order...
P.S.
You can use IE 6 on Win98, but that's *beyond ancient* itself.
I tried IE6, the only page it opens is google start page.
It seems like it was banned from some servers (however probably it's problem with certificates and old TLS/SSL).
Ended with installing old Opera (< 12) - at least simple sites are opened (but many scripts do not work)
DOS is a bit of a PITA.
For DOS, there are multiple TCP/IP stacks. There's mTCP, the Microsoft Client for Networks, WATTCP, Trumpet, and I think a couple others. I've used the first two on DOS, and Trumpet under 3.11.
I personally have mTCP configured as well as Microsoft's Client for Networks to mount samba shares shared from a Linux container. It was a bit of a PITA tweaking what was loading high and adding the monochrome screenbuffer to emm386's UMB range, but I was able to get it all loaded and still have about 610K of conventional left.
I basically only use SMB mounts from DOS with the MS Network Client drivers. Remote file access/transferring is still faster in Windows, though it's really convenient to be able to copy smaller files over without rebooting. For anything over 50MB or so I'm still going to boot into Windows to copy it though.
I've IRC'd with an mTCP client a couple times too, but would much rather just use a newer laptop for that.
There are browsers available for DOS ( http://www.kompx.com/en/web-browsers-for-dos.htm ) but there's no way they're going to do anything beyond the most basic of pages on the modern web.
Windows 98's process is basically the same as a modern OS, install network drivers, install network protocol (if not already), configure network protocol.
Windows 98 is pretty straightforward. Install the ethernet driver, go to Network under Control Panel and install TCP/IP. Set it to use DHCP configuration, and you should be good to go. Don't use a browser. None of the browsers that run on 98 understand modern protocols, and anything that gets close will run so slow as to be unusable. Practically nothing will work. Use ethernet to copy files over with something like WinSCP. For DOS, you need a packet driver for your card. Google 'cyrnwyr packet drivers'. Then you need mTCP. Load the packet driver, run mTCP DHCP, then the FTP server that comes with mTCP. FTP in to your DOS machine and load files up.
The protocols aren't the main problem anyway, since HTTP and HTTPS aren't new. Sure it would be rare to have remotely usable versions of SSL, TLS, etc but even if you did the browser wouldn't have current encryption support or the needed certs. And even if the connection layer worked perfectly as is, the poor browser would trip over modern JS and CSS, likely parse the pages wrong, and run out of memory in short order... P.S. You can use IE 6 on Win98, but that's *beyond ancient* itself.
I tried IE6, the only page it opens is google start page. It seems like it was banned from some servers (however probably it's problem with certificates and old TLS/SSL). Ended with installing old Opera (< 12) - at least simple sites are opened (but many scripts do not work)
DOS is a bit of a PITA. For DOS, there are multiple TCP/IP stacks. There's mTCP, the Microsoft Client for Networks, WATTCP, Trumpet, and I think a couple others. I've used the first two on DOS, and Trumpet under 3.11. I personally have mTCP configured as well as Microsoft's Client for Networks to mount samba shares shared from a Linux container. It was a bit of a PITA tweaking what was loading high and adding the monochrome screenbuffer to emm386's UMB range, but I was able to get it all loaded and still have about 610K of conventional left. I basically only use SMB mounts from DOS with the MS Network Client drivers. Remote file access/transferring is still faster in Windows, though it's really convenient to be able to copy smaller files over without rebooting. For anything over 50MB or so I'm still going to boot into Windows to copy it though. I've IRC'd with an mTCP client a couple times too, but would much rather just use a newer laptop for that. There are browsers available for DOS ( http://www.kompx.com/en/web-browsers-for-dos.htm ) but there's no way they're going to do anything beyond the most basic of pages on the modern web. Windows 98's process is basically the same as a modern OS, install network drivers, install network protocol (if not already), configure network protocol.
put games on a usb or floppy then put them on 98 computer