I think you're right in pointing to the W98 machine as the likely bottleneck. Of course it's also a 6 year old computer, although the printer is only about 3 years old.

My problem continues to be having the network find the Gateway printer, and from the laptop and Dell it just shows it as "offline", or if I try to print it says that "A communication error has occurred...blah...blah and to check the connections", which I've done several times.

It's a shame to say, but I almost get the feeling that if I continue going around in circles like this, it might just work one of these times. How's that for optimism?