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Networking in dos, I'm lost

L

luckybob

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
1,346
Location
denver
Normally I'm able to figure these things out myself thanks to finding how-to's on Google, but this time i'm coming up dry. First off, the hardware:

80386-40 /w 387
32mb ram
3com 509 nic
Dos 6.22
QEMM 8 memory manager


I want to connect my 386 to my home network and use it as an IRC client. I'm trying to use mike's leetirc client. I installed the utility that was on the driver disk that i downloaded from 3com. It installed what looks to be an IPX driver for netware. Everything seems to run fine. I manually start the packet driver that came with the card and all seems well. However, I havent set any options for ip configuration. (spoiled by dhcp) And the irc client "cannot connect". it would seem that the software I have isnt what I need. I removed the netware stuff, and tried using the packet client that came with leetirc. No dice.

I do feel rather embarrassed that I don't know this. My family had dos machines, but never a network. And when we got the internet, we were using a 030 mac. And we diddnt go back to windows until 98. The dos manual i have, while a meager 1150 pages, has practically no info about networking. (interlink looks fun >.<)

Attached are two screen grabs of the boot process, and the "current" autoexec.bat and config.sys files.


Code: 
REM 0x300 is RESERVED for I/O card
device=c:\qemm\dosdata.sys
DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS RAM R:1 ST:M S=FA00-FAFF S=FE00-FEFF
device=c:\qemm\dos-up.sys @c:\qemm\dos-up.dat
DEVICE=C:\QEMM\LOADHI.SYS /R:1 /SIZE=11520 C:\QEMM\QDPMI.SYS SWAPFILE=DPMI.SWP SWAPSIZE=1024
rem BUFFERS=15,0
buffers=20,0
FILES=40
DOS=UMB
LASTDRIVE=Z
FCBS=4,0
DEVICE=C:\QEMM\LOADHI.SYS /R:2 /SIZE=14032 C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICE=C:\QEMM\LOADHI.SYS /R:2 /SIZE=40992 C:\DOS\DRIVERS\CD\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001 /L:F
DEVICE=C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\CTCM\CTCM.EXE
DOS=HIGH
DEVICE=C:\QEMM\LOADHI.SYS /R:1 /SIZE=6176 C:\DOS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 8196 /A 512 256
DEVICE=C:\QEMM\LOADHI.SYS /R:3 /SIZE=4848 C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
STACKS=9,256
SHELL=C:\QEMM\LOADHI.COM /R:2 C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /P


Code: 
@echo off
REM 0x300 is RESERVED for I/O card
C:\WINDOWS\net start
SET TEMP=F:\
COPY C:\COMMAND.COM F:
SET SOUND=C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
SET CTCM=C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\CTCM
C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:2 C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:MSCD001
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\AWEUTIL /S
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\MIXERSET /P /Q
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\CTCM\CTCU /S
rem C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:3 /LO /RES=30416 /SQF C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE C+ D+ E+ /X
C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:1 /LO C:\DOS\DRIVERS\MOUSE\BIN\CTMOUSE.EXE
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\QEMM;C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS;F:\;C:\MSWORD;
PATH C:\NC;%PATH%
REM  Netware startup
if not exist C:\NWCLIENT\lsl.com goto noNetware
if not exist C:\NWCLIENT\i*xodi.com goto noNetware
if not exist C:\NWCLIENT\vlm.exe goto noNetware
C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:2 C:\NWCLIENT\lsl.com
C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:2 C:\NWCLIENT\3C5X9.com
c:\qemm\loadhi /r:2 C:\NWCLIENT\ipxodi.com
C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:2 /LO C:\NWCLIENT\vlm.exe
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\NETWORK\DISK2\PKTDVR\3C5X9PD 0X61
c:
goto doneNetware
:noNetware
echo Netware client software missing, Netware not started
:doneNetware

images of boot process:
http://co-ui.com/luckybob/LOADHI01.jpg
http://co-ui.com/luckybob/SCREEN03.jpg


Any pointers or advice is welcome. I'm not looking to do anything special for the moment, just some IRC. In the future i'd want to get some multiplayer gaming going, but thats for another time.
 
I have absolutely no knowledge of Windows, but I find plain DOS is pretty simple. If you wish to try it look up Mike Brutman's site here. He has a nice suite that works on old kit and is super fast on newer machines. I use a mixture of his and wattcp applications and without any real complexity get great networking functionality.

Mike also has a great TCP/IP Networking on DOS page. I strongly recommend you give that a read.

PS: by simple I mean put a network card driver in your autoexec.bat and have a 4 entry config file in your path.
 
You can start by removing all Novell Netware related stuff (C:\NWCLIENT\*.*).
I assume you don't run a Novell Netware network at home.

Then you need the packet driver (its there) and for instance Mike Brutmans mTCP package
http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/

Or you can install MS DOS client - that is if you want to access windows shares.
Although then you might run into encrypted password problems with newer 'servers', but thats another problem.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc750214.aspx
 
On my DOS machine the procedure is to use a set variable in my autoexec.bat to tell it where to grab the TCP/IP settings, then load the packet driver (into lower memory) and run the app, which in my case is an FTP client. Should not be much more complicated than that.

It looks like you are using the MS network stuff and some netware stuffI don't think either of these actually support TCP/IP, they use NetBui and IPX for their communication and Mike's app is for TCP/IP.

Your config.sys looks good. But try this for your autoexec.bat
Code: 
@echo off

REM 0x300 is RESERVED for I/O card

SET TEMP=F:\COPY C:\COMMAND.COM F:
SET SOUND=C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUNDSET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E MODE:0
SET CTCM=C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\CTCM

@REM Setting the MTCPCFG environment variable
set MTCPCFG=c:\<wherever you put it>\tcp.cfg

C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:2 C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:MSCD001

C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\DIAGNOSE /S
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\AWEUTIL /S
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\MIXERSET /P /Q
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\SOUND\CTCM\CTCU /S

rem C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:3 /LO /RES=30416 /SQF C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE C+ D+ E+ /X

C:\QEMM\LOADHI /R:1 /LO C:\DOS\DRIVERS\MOUSE\BIN\CTMOUSE.EXE

PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\QEMM;C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS;F:\;C:\MSWORD;
PATH C:\NC;%PATH%

@Rem Loading Network Packet Driver
C:\DOS\DRIVERS\NETWORK\DISK2\PKTDVR\3C5X9PD 0X61
c:

And tcp.cfg should look something like this (replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with whatever your network needs):
Code: 
    PACKETINT 0x61
    IPADDR xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    NETMASK xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    GATEWAY xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    NAMESERVER xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    MTU 1500
    HOSTNAME <Whatever you want to call your machine>

There is a way to do this with DHCP, but I personally prefer the static route, it seems to speed things up a bit. But once you get this going it should be a simple matter of just running the mTCP apps you want.

For LeetIRC it looks like you need to run NTCPDRV.EXE and then LEETIRC.EXE after you have run the packet driver for it to work.

Hope this helps.
 
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I would be good if the wiki was back up in a usable state soon, I guess this would be one of the most typical entries :)
 
sweet jesus thats helpful! So far, it working using dhcp, it gets an address, I can resolve dns names and ping them, but for some reason leetirc is still not able to connect. I'll try the irc client that came with the package here in a few.
 
UPDATE: it seems like the mtcp part is working fine. the little irc client works okay, but the one client I wanted to use does not. If I run the tcp stack that comes with leetirc, it gives itself an interrupt and quits. If I tell leetirc this interrupt it will crash my system. Unless someone has a certain fix, i'll probably just drop leet and try something else.
 
luckybob said:
UPDATE: it seems like the mtcp part is working fine. the little irc client works okay, but the one client I wanted to use does not. If I run the tcp stack that comes with leetirc, it gives itself an interrupt and quits. If I tell leetirc this interrupt it will crash my system. Unless someone has a certain fix, i'll probably just drop leet and try something else.
Click to expand...

I'm confused easily. If you have the mTCP stuff running then you have a perfectly good IRC client that has CTCP support, multiple virtual windows, blazing speed on the slowest machines, and probably one of the best TCP/IP stacks that you can get for a DOS machine at the moment. It uses less memory and is constantly being updated. (There is another version coming out in about a week that adds editing features to the user input area.)

What is missing that you need? I know that LeetIRC has some direct client-to-client support that is unique, but that should be about it at the moment.


Mike
 
well to be perfectly honest, I'm very new to irc, so I dont know the commands by heart yet. I happened across the leetirc FIRST and it seemed very friendly. That and it was made by one of my fellow forum members, so it seemed like the right thing to use. The bottom line is one works and one doesn't, so its a relativity moot point. Using less memory is nice, but i'm sitting on a powerhouse of a 386, so thats a non-issue for me. The only thing I'm looking for, would be to customize the text colors. but Its a minor issue.

I want to thank everyone for their help! I'ts very appreciated!
 
luckybob said:
well to be perfectly honest, I'm very new to irc, so I dont know the commands by heart yet. I happened across the leetirc FIRST and it seemed very friendly. That and it was made by one of my fellow forum members, so it seemed like the right thing to use. The bottom line is one works and one doesn't, so its a relativity moot point. Using less memory is nice, but i'm sitting on a powerhouse of a 386, so thats a non-issue for me. The only thing I'm looking for, would be to customize the text colors. but Its a minor issue.

I want to thank everyone for their help! I'ts very appreciated!
Click to expand...

I'm sure that if you look around a little bit for the mTCP guy you can find him. He responds to email, fixes bugs when they are reported, and takes new feature requests. He also tends to delete a lot of spam here.

On LeetIRC: if that is what you want to run, send Mike C a private message or open a thread in the programming forum to get some help. LeetIRC has worked for a lot of people, so it can probably be made to work for you.
 
I think it is worth going back to the beginning and making a list of what needs what. Assumptions can get in the way. :) At any rate, doesn't Mike C's program need NTCPDRV.EXE?
 
lol, Brutman and his subtle hints. If you want some potential live help (depends on the timezone and who's on) you could also check the #vc IRC channel on slashnet for some of the members may be running it there.
 
almagesto said:
Network setup in DOS. Microsoft Network Client 3.0:

http://www.compmiscellanea.com/en/network-setup-in-dos-microsoft-network-client.htm
Click to expand...

i don't think you understand what he was asking... he was wanting to get an IRC client going rather than file sharing stuff.

to luckybob: leetirc should work if mTCP works. if my client said "cannot connect" then you must have at least NTCPDRV working correctly. one thing that leetirc unfortunately doesn't support is hostnames. if you are typing in an alphanumeric hostname such as irc.whatever.com, that won't work. you will have to ping the hostname from a modern machine to get the IP address and use that.

sorry. i do actually recommend mike brutman's IRCjr client over mine, it handles hostnames and if you're on anything slower than a 286 you will notice it's much faster. i do have the drop-down menus though, and it has a server list you can edit like a phonebook. i did that so you don't have to remember IP addresses for the servers.
 
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