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Ibm 5160

int 21h said:
The disk is 10MB; is there any easy way to copy software over to this machine? (I don't have another desktop with a 5 1/4" floppy drive)
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To use mbbrutman's mTCP to put you machine on a TCP/IP network you are going to need an 8 bit ISA network card for ethernet (or a pocket ethernet adapter for the parallel port -- I bet you are already scanning eBay for those...). Meanwhile, you can transfer files in and out of your IBM XT using Microsoft's INTERLNK.EXE and INTERSVR.EXE, which are the client and server programs to send/receive files through the serial port, for which you only need to find a null modem serial cable (of course, getting at least one of those two programs inside your IBM XT in the first place is going to be a catch-22 situation, but hey, that's the funny part...).
 
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int 21h said:
The disk is 10MB; is there any easy way to copy software over to this machine? (I don't have another desktop with a 5 1/4" floppy drive)
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C'mon... there's *always* a way. :)

Lantastic Z is a possibility. Laplink is another. I think it was DOS 6.xx that had a crude Laplink type set of programs. All of these, however, require either parallel or serial ports on both machines as well as the correct cable. If you don't have a parallel port on your newish machine there's always a USB to parallel adapter. I use one of those to run my dot matrix printer on a contempoary machine.
 
Pepinno said:
To use mbbrutman's mTCP to put you machine on a TCP/IP network you are going to need an 8 bit ISA network card for ethernet (or a pocket ethernet adapter for the parallel port -- I bet you are already scanning eBay for those...). Meanwhile, you can transfer files in and out of your IBM XT using Microsoft's INTERLNK.EXE and INTERSVR.EXE, which are the client and server programs to send/receive files through the serial port, for which you only need to find a null modem serial cable (of course, getting at least one of those two programs inside your IBM XT in the first place is going to be a catch-22 situation, but hey, that's the funny part...).
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Yup, interlnk & intersvr are those crude DOS programs. :) But Laplink, at least one of the versions I have, has the ability to install itself onto the client from the host machine! So, no catch-22 there. :)
 
I have a USB -> Serial cable....
I'll keep looking through my boxes of wires to see what's there! Had a look at the Laplink thing, looks pretty good :)
 
Stone said:
Yup, interlnk & intersvr are those crude DOS programs. :) But Laplink, at least one of the versions I have, has the ability to install itself onto the client from the host machine! So, no catch-22 there. :)
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I don't see how that would be possible, unless you manually do some kind of "copy com1: file.exe" magic on the IBM XT side... I'm curious about that auto remote-install feature of laplink, please tell more. ;)
 
Have you got a Win98 machine, early pentium era?

I use mine as a "tweaner" machine. I am able to copy data to it via my network from my modern machine, then using it's 360k or 1.2Mb drive I can create whatever disks I need.

I have a 360k drive I could sell you if you need, just pm me.
 
I don't have any computers from between 1992-2001 unfortunately (my dad cleared them out a while back).
I'd be interested in the 360k drive, only I live in Ireland :p
 
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Pepinno said:
I see. The step "At the DOS prompt of the remote computer, type the commands displayed on the local computer" looks suspiciously similar to running on the IBM XT the command:

COPY COM1: LAPLINK.EXE

which will dump to a file whatever it gets on serial port COM1, hopefully the LAPLINK.EXE binary program.
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That's from the instructions for Laplink V -- which I've never used.

If you read the other link, which is for Laplink III, which is what I used to use, it's much simpler. All you do is press F10 and... bingo. I know this because I just fired up Laplink III on one of my old machines.
 
int 21h said:
Excellent thanks; I'v gone and bought a laplink cable from eBay. :D
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Both Interlink, Laplink and various other equivalent programs have had the remote install feature from the very beginning, but note that it only works over the serial port, so you need a null modem or serial Laplink cable (usually blue, with female 9-pin and/or 25-pin connectors); once it's installed you can use a parallel cable (usually yellow, male 25-pin connectors) for extra speed.
 
Pepinno said:
Very interesting, thanks for the link.

Also, Saint Google patron of lost causes, has provided me with two very interesting links, whereby you can also do a remote install of INTERLNK.EXE/INTERSVR.EXE on the IBM XT without using floppies at all:
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Why would you need floppies? Just connect your serial cable, type INTERSVR /rcopy on the 'server' and follow the instructions.

BTW, not everyone is aware that Interlnk and similar programs don't just let you copy files but actually map remote drives and printers to your local computer, so you can run programs on the 'server' without actually copying them, print on the 'server's printer, etc. just like on a real network; the one thing you can't use is a remote CD-ROM drive. A cheap and easy way to run programs on a floppy-only computer without using floppies (except to boot).

Interlink was included with DOS from 6.00 onward, and Windows up through 98; it and other LapLink type of programs have been mentioned here many times but are apparently still not as well-known as they could be...
 
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MikeS said:
a null modem or serial Laplink cable (usually blue, with female 9-pin and/or 25-pin connectors); once it's installed you can use a parallel cable (usually yellow, male 25-pin connectors)
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That's interesting. I have a couple of each variety and all of them are... gray. :)
 
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