• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

FTP to/from 486/66

J

julesr

New Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
Messages
2
Probably been asked a million times, so sorry if it's in a FAQ somewhere...

Anyhoo, I've got a 486dx2/66 system sitting here which has a FM-capable floppy controller, so I'd like to use it with Imagedisk for reading/writing 5.25" floppies for my various old machines. Sneakernetting data between it and my fileserver via 3.5" disk is going to get old fast though, so it would be nice to have it hooked up via Ethernet and running either an FTP client or server.

Does anyone have any recommendation for (free) software to run, for both the TCP/IP stack and the FTP program? The machine's currently running DOS 5.00 and has a 3Com Etherlink III 16-bit ISA card installed, but I think I have a small handful of other ISA NICs to play with if there are any known issues with the Etherlink III boards.

thanks!

Jules
 
Welcome to VCF.

Yeah the ftp client or server in the mTCP suite in Dos with a suitable packet driver. Also you can run Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with tcp32b, as it has a ftp client. Etherlink III nics are popular. I and at least one other member use DE-220s and GeniusLan(KYE) ISA nics in our 486 systems without issue on a number of OSs.

If you don't have WfW, or can't be bothered with it you can use Trumpet Winsock with winpkt loaded after the nics packet driver and use plain Windows 3.1/3.11. The Wfw ftp client works fine with this compo on my 286. Another member has this setup on his 486 using another win 3.x ftp client.

Another nice thing about a nic is if it has a bootrom socket you can use an eprom with the xt-ide bios extension on it to use bigger hdds if you wanted to go that route.
 
Last edited:
mTCP FTP? http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP_FTP.html

Ive never used it my self but its open source.

what about the Microsoft network client? Free, but not open source. Allows you to mount samba/SMB shares on the DOS system. Surely easier than ftping From DOS. There is also a version that allows you to share directory's on the DOS box. Not sure where to find it, it used to be somewhere on the MS ftp site.

Andrew
 
If you're a traditionalist, there's also MSLANMAN for DOS--or MS Network Client; both can access Microsoft Networking shares. Any simple-minded NIC, such as a NE2000 (or compatible) should work just fine.
 
You should check out mTCP. mTCP includes:

  • DHCP client
  • FTP Client and FTP Server
  • HTGet for fetching files/pages from web servers
  • HTTPServer coming soon ... (in a week or two)
  • IRC client
  • Telnet Client
  • SNTP (Simple Network Time Protocol) client
  • Netcat
  • Ping

It's designed to run on 8088 class machines so a 486 will be blazing fast. My Compaq DeskPro 433i (486-66) can send data at around 800KB/sec and receive data around 680KB/sec. That's using standard FTP and it includes the disk I/O time, so you will see similar results when you use FTP.

Unlike MS LANMAN, mTCP has a very small memory footprint, and most of that memory is freed after the programs stop running.

mTCP can be found here: http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/


Mike
 
And of course you can chat with the nice fellow who created the mTCP suite using the included jrIRC client@ slashnet.org#vc ;).
 
Chuck(G) said:
If you're a traditionalist, there's also MSLANMAN for DOS--or MS Network Client; both can access Microsoft Networking shares. Any simple-minded NIC, such as a NE2000 (or compatible) should work just fine.
Click to expand...
Good options. TCP/IP does add big memory overhead to the MS Network Client. There may be a bit configuration needed on the file server side non the less to allow older systems access to it's shares, especially if it's a later Windows based system compared to just using ftp. http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcf...ost-for-a-windows-for-workgroup-machine/page2
 
Last edited:
OK, I've got mtcp on there now - will give that a try and see how it goes :) Thanks, all.
 
All of that is too complicated... I just use ParCP-USB. Client and Server can be one of these: MS-DOS-PC, Windows 9x-PC, Windows 2000 to 8.1 (and 10), Raspberry Pi, Linux, Atari ST to TT and Falcon, soon also Apple Mac OS-X and probably Amiga.

You just link any of these computers together via parallel port (Laplink cable) or USB to parallel port adapter. One is the client running a Norton Commander similar looking tool, and the other is the server running a server software which just listens to the client, or let's say to the clients, as you can link multiple clients at the same time to the server at once! It does no care which machine you run as client and server. Just use it, very simple and acceptable fast. I am using it with Windows 8.1 as client, and start the server on Atari ST machines or MS-DOS PCs.

The solution justs costs about 25 Euros, software and USB-to-parallel adapter cable. See http://joy.sophics.cz/parcp/parcpusb.html
 
1ST1 said:
All of that is too complicated... I just use ParCP-USB. Client and Server can be one of these: MS-DOS-PC, Windows 9x-PC, Windows 2000 to 8.1 (and 10), Raspberry Pi, Linux, Atari ST to TT and Falcon, soon also Apple Mac OS-X and probably Amiga.

You just link any of these computers together via parallel port (Laplink cable) or USB to parallel port adapter. One is the client running a Norton Commander similar looking tool, and the other is the server running a server software which just listens to the client, or let's say to the clients, as you can link multiple clients at the same time to the server at once! It does no care which machine you run as client and server. Just use it, very simple and acceptable fast. I am using it with Windows 8.1 as client, and start the server on Atari ST machines or MS-DOS PCs.

The solution justs costs about 25 Euros, software and USB-to-parallel adapter cable. See http://joy.sophics.cz/parcp/parcpusb.html
Click to expand...

That's fine for computers that are near each other. FTP has significant advantages; it's an old open standard and it works whether the machine is directly attached or on another continent.
 
What Mike said. I have a variety of computers around here, some use WiFi; some are wired. and not many are within a parallel-port's throw of one another. FTP really is a good way to transfer files; it took me a bit of head-scratching to set up the Win XP systems as FTP servers, but once done, it works--which is what you really want.
 
I just stand my Netbook running Windows 8.1 beside the old computer. The netbook links via USB to the parallel port of my old computer (Atari, MS-DOS-PC) and through WLAN to my server where I store all the software for the old computers. This is very comfortable as I can see at the same time what happens on both sides. I can not imagine a scenario that I use my Atari or MS-DOS-PC far away from home. I do not have to take care of TCP-IP or other protocol settings, no user name and password authentification on the old computer, just plug and transfer. Quick & Easy.

The only issue with ParCP-USB unfortunately is that it won't run with 8088 to 80286 PC, a 386(SX) is required at least. For an XT the idea would be to first copy via ParCP-USB to my 386, and then using the good old Laplink software to push it to the XT in the next step.
 
1ST1 said:
The only issue with ParCP-USB unfortunately is that it won't run with 8088 to 80286 PC, a 386(SX) is required at least. For an XT the idea would be to first copy via ParCP-USB to my 386, and then using the good old Laplink software to push it to the XT in the next step.
Click to expand...
So you actually need two systems to hook up to 286 class and below to transfer files. Hardly a "simple" solution. I just wified from this Linux to my router to my cabled 286 via ftp, no middle man system required. Easy-Just fire ftpsrv up after you've loaded the packet for the nic and log in from the remote box.

Setting up the config files on the 286 was a one time task only. Attaching a nic has an added advantage of being able to enhance the system with bios extensions as well.

When I was still using XP at home I found a nice free for home use ftp server package that was quite trivial to set up. XP Prof. has a service can enable.
 
Last edited:
1ST1 said:
I just stand my Netbook running Windows 8.1 beside the old computer. The netbook links via USB to the parallel port of my old computer (Atari, MS-DOS-PC) and through WLAN to my server where I store all the software for the old computers. This is very comfortable as I can see at the same time what happens on both sides. I can not imagine a scenario that I use my Atari or MS-DOS-PC far away from home. I do not have to take care of TCP-IP or other protocol settings, no user name and password authentification on the old computer, just plug and transfer. Quick & Easy.

The only issue with ParCP-USB unfortunately is that it won't run with 8088 to 80286 PC, a 386(SX) is required at least. For an XT the idea would be to first copy via ParCP-USB to my 386, and then using the good old Laplink software to push it to the XT in the next step.
Click to expand...

I don't often use my machines remotely either; my arms are not long enough. However, I like the flexibility of being able to touch *any* machine any where on the planet using FTP or HTGET from all of my machines, including the 8088s and 80286s.

Having an Ethernet card in the machine and using FTP or HTGET gives you more function and you don't need another machine to facilitate the transfer. And for older machines that do not have ISA slots but do have parallel ports, the Xircom PE3-10BT Ethernet adapter gives you the same function, but a little slower. Your setup sounds complicated and limited in comparison.
 
I frequently use ftpsrv, which is part of Mike's excellent mTCP package, to TX files to/from my recently restored Gateway 486. After a lot of trouble w the Sony CD-ROM in the system, and repeated challenges trying to get a compact flash based removable mass storage solution going, I found ftpsrv, by far, the most convenient way to deal w large transfers.

Here is my system running Mathematica, transferred via mTCP:

WP_20150413_19_36_22_Pro.jpg

I've documented my story w the Gateway here: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcf...DX2-50-80486-Desktop-(Warning-Lots-of-images)

The mTCP saga is on page 6.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top