the xt guy
Experienced Member
In the past, I've mentioned that I have "surfed" (dog paddled actually) the Internet a bit with an 8088/V20 computer on a modem and Bobcat browser.
I've had cable Internet for a while now, and wondered what it would be like to have an 8088/V20 computer on the 'net connected through the cable modem!
Recently, I purchased a router/hardware firewall to use with the cable modem. It has four RJ-45 Ethernet ports on the back which were just begging to be connected to more than one computer.
So this weekend I dug out an old Intel 8/16 Ethernet LAN card, installed it in an 8-bit slot of my 12mhz. V20 computer, downloaded the software from Intel's site (yes, they still have the software for this 8-bit compatible card) and learned how to install a packet driver. I then installed Arachne and after some configuring and a bit of luck, soon had a cable Internet connection running on this ultra turbo XT clone.
640K won't go very far when you're on the Internet, so Arachne needs either some extended or expanded memory. If your 8088 lacks expanded memory the only other option is to use the hard disk, which is by far the slowest.
After trying this option, I installed an expanded memory board (with 26 megs. of expanded memory!) and reinstalled Arachne, choosing the "EMS" option on install. Yes, it helps and it is noticeably faster, especially when you scroll down on a page and Arachne has to redraw the screen.
Arachne is WAY better than the Bobcat browser. Bobcat doesn't use the hard drive or EMS memory, so when it runs out of conventional RAM, it simply stops the data transfer and gives you the option to flush the memory and reload the page again. Arachne may be extremely slow on an 8088 with no EMS but at least it eventually finishes parsing the data.
Obviously with no Java, Active-X or SSL there are quite a few websites that won't work. The surprise is that it works as well as it does.
I've had cable Internet for a while now, and wondered what it would be like to have an 8088/V20 computer on the 'net connected through the cable modem!
Recently, I purchased a router/hardware firewall to use with the cable modem. It has four RJ-45 Ethernet ports on the back which were just begging to be connected to more than one computer.
So this weekend I dug out an old Intel 8/16 Ethernet LAN card, installed it in an 8-bit slot of my 12mhz. V20 computer, downloaded the software from Intel's site (yes, they still have the software for this 8-bit compatible card) and learned how to install a packet driver. I then installed Arachne and after some configuring and a bit of luck, soon had a cable Internet connection running on this ultra turbo XT clone.
640K won't go very far when you're on the Internet, so Arachne needs either some extended or expanded memory. If your 8088 lacks expanded memory the only other option is to use the hard disk, which is by far the slowest.
After trying this option, I installed an expanded memory board (with 26 megs. of expanded memory!) and reinstalled Arachne, choosing the "EMS" option on install. Yes, it helps and it is noticeably faster, especially when you scroll down on a page and Arachne has to redraw the screen.
Arachne is WAY better than the Bobcat browser. Bobcat doesn't use the hard drive or EMS memory, so when it runs out of conventional RAM, it simply stops the data transfer and gives you the option to flush the memory and reload the page again. Arachne may be extremely slow on an 8088 with no EMS but at least it eventually finishes parsing the data.
Obviously with no Java, Active-X or SSL there are quite a few websites that won't work. The surprise is that it works as well as it does.
Last edited: