2501 router hardware questions

[Tigerjoe]

1) I have a 2501 router that I opened up to add flash memory. But I noticed that it has 2 slots for flash and one for DRAM. It also has one slot for what it seems to me is a pcmcia card. Can anyone tell me what that is used for? And what i might be able to do with it?

2) The router has two serial and one ethernet port. Is there anyway or a device that will convert the serial to ethernet? A transceiver possibly?

3) Does flash memory have to be installed in pairs or can you add one 4MB and one 8MB chips?

 

[Tigerjoe]

BTW, Thanks in advance.

 

[jamin123]

you can add 2x8 or 1x16. 8 MB is the least you can use to run later IOS. I compress my IOS on 8 MB flash.

Is there anyway or a device that will convert the serial to ethernet?

These are different technology - answer is NO.

 

[Tigerjoe]

I installed both a 4mb chip and an 8mb chip. The router detects them both but makes the smaller unusable.

Is there software that lets you compress Cisco image files so that they would fit on an 8mb router?