IrDA Printer won’t work in Windows 98

My friend complains that his Canon BJC-50 printer won’t work via IrDA in Windows 98 running on a Compaq Armada E500 Series Notebook.

However, it will work when Win 95 is installed to his Notebook PC, but he then lost his DVD and other Multimedia functionality.

I have suggested upgrading to Windows XP Home.

Can anyone advise me on whether this will be a good solution to his problems?