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Poll: DOS Networking .. Interested? If not, Why not?

Poll: DOS Networking .. Interested? If not, Why not?

  • I don't know how to get started - I need a tutorial!

    Votes: 13 46.4%
  • Hardware and software setup is too complex

    Votes: 6 21.4%
  • Network cards are too hard to find

    Votes: 7 25.0%
  • Floppies work fine for me

    Votes: 2 7.1%
  • Just not interested in networking my old machine

    Votes: 4 14.3%
  • Other .. please reply to the thread

    Votes: 6 21.4%
  • The software that I want to use isn't available/usable

    Votes: 2 7.1%

  • Total voters
    28
I'm very interested in DOS networking

So far, I've had my XT plugged in to my router and been using Telnet to access BBSs and the occasional IRC chat.

I'd really love to be able to share files over the network (to my modern PC), but yet to find a simple and easy way to do so.

Unfortunately space is a problem here, so my XT has to be packed away every time, which is quite annoying. Hopefully moving again in a few months, with more space :)
 
You need a TCP/IP stack than can run on both networks that can also do routing.

I don't know if I would bother with DOS. The best setup for this would be a high end 486 to Pentium machine running an older version of Linux. Linux can handle Token Ring and Ethernet, and has a very good networking stack capable of doing the bridging.

I have not seen token ring 'packet' drivers ... does such a thing exist?
 
Just for grins .. MattC is trying to get rid of a 3Com card. For all of you people who say you can't find the hardware, he is giving away a card! (Check out the items for sale/trade area.)
 
Short attention span. I can"t stick with any project long enough to complete it.

When I do find time to work on something, there are already dozens of unfinished projects in the que.

(I finally finished re-plumbing my bathroom over the weekend, which I've been "working on" since early May)

--T
 
Jack, that software sounds like it would be really neat to work with! My teacher from a while back used to be a Novell employee and ended up teaching it at the college. She still knows it and uses it at home. I'd love to find a complete suite like that one. Is it old enough that it might be found at a thrift store somewhere?? What's it called?

Nathan

/edit Just found NetWare 4.11 on wikipedia, looks realy nice and also a few floating around for sale pretty cheaply. If I were to hook up a network, it looks to be a good candidate for it.

Pulls box out from deep within the depths of the bed

ELS Level II 2.12 is what I have. Bought it brand new in box. Has all the disks, manuals, etc, and most was sealed. The seller opened the box and the floppy boxes, I opened the manuals. Never been installed before. I plan on using it someday on a network, it's just a matter of finding time to do it. One of these days....One of these days.

It was copyrighted 1987, and I got it online for $10.

--Jack
 
This is something I want to do. Tried it many years ago with Windows 95 and couldn't get anywhere with it, but I didn't have a clue what I was doing. It's a long time ago but I believe I was trying to connect 2 machines using BNC.

I've bought a NIC for my Amstrad PC1640 (same as US 6400) and would love to get this connected, only thing is the NIC has an RJ11 socket on it (as well as the BNC) and I don't know the pinouts for it - I intend to make up a Cat5 lead with RJ11 on one end and RJ45 on the other. It doesn't matter if it's straight or crossover as the NIC has a switch for this, as well as one for selecting the RJ11 or BNC. It's an Attachmate 531-00535 if that is any help.

I'd also like to get a couple of 486 machines connected as well. Looks like I'll need another hub since at present I only have 7 available ports at present! (One is taken by the uplink cable).



BG
 
Is anyone interested in some vintage networking software for DOS? I have a copy of "The $25 Network" that, IIRC, uses serial ports to connect XT-class systems. Put out by Imodes back in the 80's sometime.

There was also another outfit that marketed "The Invisible Network" that employed their special NICs. I don't recall what the PHY layer was, probably ARCnet.

For those into retro wireless, I have a set of Diamond HomeFree (1 ISA and 1 PCI) wireless cards and a set of Diamond HomeFree Phoneline (2 PCI) RF-over-phone line copper cards if anyone wants them. Compatible with absolutely no other networking protocol.
 
8 bit tcp/ip

8 bit tcp/ip

A few of us are having a good time with TCP/IP applications for DOS, but I'd like to share the joy by expanding the audience. I'm hoping that some of you who are interested in older machines and are not networking them will shed some insight as to why not ..

Feel free to brainstorm out loud ..

How well does TCP/IP type programs work on an IBM PC or XT type computer?
 
What's keeping me from doing permanent networking in DOS, is because:
1. My cable is rather short, and I'm using the longer one for my new computer.
2. I don't feel I got HD space for Arachne (at leas not after I installed TextAssist for SB16).
3. I really don't know how to use IRC (please, anybody, make a turtorial on that - for "dummies"/beginners)
 
How well does TCP/IP type programs work on an IBM PC or XT type computer?

The IRC client that I wrote and the prototype telnet BBS that I wrote are specifically designed for the PC and XT. The IRC client in particular runs very well on this class of hardware.

It supports DHCP too. If you have the network card installed correctly and packet driver, it should be very easy to setup and get your machine on IRC.
 
I don't really have any interest in networking my older machines to do telnet or IRC. If I could easily get file sharing working with machines on my Windows Workgroup network then I might be interested. In the meantime, I stick with sneakernet for my old machines. :mrgreen:
 
The IRC client that I wrote and the prototype telnet BBS that I wrote are specifically designed for the PC and XT. The IRC client in particular runs very well on this class of hardware.

It supports DHCP too. If you have the network card installed correctly and packet driver, it should be very easy to setup and get your machine on IRC.

I hope to try that stuff when I get my 8-bit nic cards..
 
I don't really have any interest in networking my older machines to do telnet or IRC. If I could easily get file sharing working with machines on my Windows Workgroup network then I might be interested. In the meantime, I stick with sneakernet for my old machines. :mrgreen:
I used to do the floppy dance too, but it is really much easier with FTP. If you don't want to run an FTP server on your Microsoft machine then run one on your DOS machine. As long as you have a keyboard on both systems it doesn't really matter which way you go. Setting up Mike Chambers' server is trivial, just get yourself a NIC and matching driver. The bottom line is that it's quicker and easier to just type GET or PUT than it is to juggle floppies. A real plus is that you can easily do large size files (eg. archives) as well.
 
Setting up Mike Chambers' server is trivial, just get yourself a NIC and matching driver.

Just be aware that I have experienced incompleete filetransfers by using it (escapely larger files). I'm talking about the FTP part of the server only, the HTTP part works just fine.
 
Actually, I must admit that I haven't used Quikserv much beyound my initial testing because I've already got a good setup with all the shortcut batchfiles that you need for a slick system. :) I don't want to change unless something is demonstrably better for my purposes. What I mostly do is use WattFTP v0.7 (a client) on my dosbox and pftpd on the Linux box. That setup is completely solid and, as you can imagine since it is used my most ISPs, pftpd is about as good as it gets. Pftpd is also very easy to set up because it doesn't use a GUI and just a config file like apache, so you don't have to be an expert. :)

BTW: I know some people balk at getting started on DOS networking, so if anybody wants help with a 16bit DOS setup like that, I'm willing to provide details for your system so you won't have to work it out yourself. However it has to be for a real box and not a virtual one because I know nothing about MS beyond DOS 6.22.
 
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