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Wondering about a vintage computer for vintage WP5.1 DOS

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Webecedarian

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May 8, 2023
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I'm so pleased to have stumbled across this forum, as I'm hoping for some guidance.

I mostly use the antiquated Word Perfect 5.1 DOS for word processing in a computer not hooked up to the internet, just for text. It was custom-assembled for me by a friend who liked to tinker for fun, and it's about 30 years old.

It may be finally dying, though, and I'm looking for a replacement--but also something now obsolete: A computer that has both an A-Drive for floppies and a USB port. These were being made probably about a decade ago, apparently especially by Dell. It would be hard enough just to find any floppy-USB combination, but it's even harder to find one to accommodate WP5.1. And even harder because I'm not a techie myself, and I don't know the language.

So I'm hoping for something with both an A-drive and a USB port (preferably in front), preferably weighing under 28 pounds, that would be able to have WP5.1, Corel 11, Microsoft Word (preferably an older version), and Excel. I've discovered that Dell made some models maybe about 10-15 years ago (Optiplex, Inspiron, Precision), but I don't know the difference between them, whether they could be used for WP5.1, or how to choose between them. (I called Dell, ending up talking to some guy in India who was no help.)

I'd be very grateful for any guidance.
 
I think just about anything could be used for WordPerfect 5.1, I’m pretty sure even a PC or XT with an 8088, if you have enough RAM. I don’t have a boxed copy of this to confirm.

The 6.0 version box mentions a 286 as minimum requirements, and recommends a 386, but I’m not sure if that mandatory or if that’s just for performance reasons.

If you want to run it on a modern computer, desktop computers had floppies and USB from about 1997 until maybe 10 years ago. So it’s pretty easy to find something that will work. You probably want windows 98SE with the nusb drivers, or a later version of windows like windows XP. Just about any 32-bit version of windows should run DOS programs without too much issue. If you’re just concerned about 3.5” floppies, you could use a windows 10 computer and a USB floppy drive, no need for something vintage. If it’s a 64bit copy of windows there might be a little more work to get it working, but it is possible.

Here are the windows 98 usb flash drive drivers if you want to run an old windows and old computer: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/windows-98-usb-storage-driver.html

There is some info here about running old WP on modern windows: http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/

If you want to run DOS, it’s probably going to be more complicated, but some computers provide “legacy usb” support in the bios. While early implementations of this only supported mouse and keyboard, so later BIOS provided USB storage support that works in DOS.
 
I'd honestly get look towards something like a Dell Latitude D600 or D610 - both are solid, reliable, compact laptops from around 2003/2004/2005 that have support for internal floppy drives. Takes up a lot less space than a desktop! You'll probably have to buy the floppy module separately off eBay, but they aren't too expensive. Just stick FreeDOS on the internal hard drive and you should be good to go.
 
Here I go with the bonehead questions again. But if this is strictly utilitarian, why not simply run a good DOS emulator on a relatively modern system?
 
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/index.html offers both canned emulator solutions and some driver fixes if trying to run WP within a 32-bit Windows DOS box.

Most Pentium III era systems offered both a floppy drive and USB connections. Only USB 1.1 but hopefully there won't be much call for very large file transfers. CPU speed won't matter all that much unless one really pushes WP DOS to its limits.
 
Krebizfan already mentioned Pentium III machines but I have, for example an IBM Netvista with Pentium IV running Windows 7 - 32 bites. The advantage of W7: no problems with connecting to W10 machines, a problem XP has. If you don't need to connect to W10 computers, I advise to use Windows XP: needs much less disk space than W7 and yet runs fine and stable. No problems with older VGA cards and recognizes most USB sticks and devices. Windows 98 is nice but has problems with "newer" VGA cards and hardly can handle USB sticks.
I use W98 and XP in dual-boot: W98 when I need a real DOS and XP for the GUI mode.
 
jafir said:
I think just about anything could be used for WordPerfect 5.1, I’m pretty sure even a PC or XT with an 8088, if you have enough RAM. I don’t have a boxed copy of this to confirm.

The 6.0 version box mentions a 286 as minimum requirements, and recommends a 386, but I’m not sure if that mandatory or if that’s just for performance reasons.

If you want to run it on a modern computer, desktop computers had floppies and USB from about 1997 until maybe 10 years ago. So it’s pretty easy to find something that will work. You probably want windows 98SE with the nusb drivers, or a later version of windows like windows XP. Just about any 32-bit version of windows should run DOS programs without too much issue. If you’re just concerned about 3.5” floppies, you could use a windows 10 computer and a USB floppy drive, no need for something vintage. If it’s a 64bit copy of windows there might be a little more work to get it working, but it is possible.

Here are the windows 98 usb flash drive drivers if you want to run an old windows and old computer: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/windows-98-usb-storage-driver.html

There is some info here about running old WP on modern windows: http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/

If you want to run DOS, it’s probably going to be more complicated, but some computers provide “legacy usb” support in the bios. While early implementations of this only supported mouse and keyboard, so later BIOS provided USB storage support that works in DOS.
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Thank you for the detailed reply.

However, first I should perhaps have stressed more that I'm not a techie, don't understand the language, and most of what you wrote doesn't mean anything to me.

But, second, apart from what will run WP5.1, I also said I'm looking for something with a floppy drive, as well as USB ports. That's hard to find.
 
3lectr1c said:
I'd honestly get look towards something like a Dell Latitude D600 or D610 - both are solid, reliable, compact laptops from around 2003/2004/2005 that have support for internal floppy drives. Takes up a lot less space than a desktop! You'll probably have to buy the floppy module separately off eBay, but they aren't too expensive. Just stick FreeDOS on the internal hard drive and you should be good to go.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but I find laptops harder to use - not to mention that I'm likelier to knock them off onto the floor.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Here I go with the bonehead questions again. But if this is strictly utilitarian, why not simply run a good DOS emulator on a relatively modern system?
Click to expand...

The problem isn't whether or not it's a "bonehead" question. The problem is that I don't know what an emulator is.

Also, don't forget that I want a floppy drive.
 
krebizfan said:
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/index.html offers both canned emulator solutions and some driver fixes if trying to run WP within a 32-bit Windows DOS box.

Most Pentium III era systems offered both a floppy drive and USB connections. Only USB 1.1 but hopefully there won't be much call for very large file transfers. CPU speed won't matter all that much unless one really pushes WP DOS to its limits.
Click to expand...

Aha. Okay, Pentium is a new name for me to check.

If I'm doing searches is there a preferred term - "floppy drive" vs. "A-drive" vs. something else?
 
An emulator is a piece of software that pretends to be an actual computer and run all the software for it. Some emulators will use a USB floppy drive as if it was an internal drive resulting in the same experience as real hardware. It is often easier to place an emulator on a modern system than to track down and repair an older machine.

Not just Pentium; Intel has used the name for about 30 years. The timeframe of systems with both USB ports and internal floppy controller would be about 1997 to about 10 years later. The Pentium III processor was Intel's main processor for a number of years starting in 1999 with the last laptop models holding on until 2007. Most of the desktops and laptops are offered on auction sites only mention the processor in the easy to search titles. Visual examination of pictures should show both the internal floppy and the back panel with USB ports.

The Pentium III isn't the only processor with motherboards that had both floppy and USB. The earlier Pentium II and some of the later Pentium 4 were offered with both. Some AMD systems with Athlon processors also had both but I don't recall which terms would make searching easy.
 
Thanks, @krebizfan--I'll leave the OP to your tender mercies.

For the OP, emulators allow me to run Windows versions of several flavors on a Linux PC, as well as providing a command-line interface to DOS programs. Within that DOS environment, I can run a CP/M emulator which emulates an old-school Z80 system--generally faster than the original vintage equipment. I also use emulators to check out code for, say, an ARM-based microcontroller.
 
Webecedarian said:
Thank you for the detailed reply.

However, first I should perhaps have stressed more that I'm not a techie, don't understand the language, and most of what you wrote doesn't mean anything to me.

But, second, apart from what will run WP5.1, I also said I'm looking for something with a floppy drive, as well as USB ports. That's hard to find.
Click to expand...
Hello,

Basically any Windows XP machine with a floppy controller and floppy drive will work for you. As you pointed out when XP reigned many machines simply didn't get a floppy drive installed at the factory, but still have the connector on the motherboard inside and you can install one.

This is actually a good place for you, as such Pentium 4 machines are still relatively uninteresting to collectors and therefore cheap. You can go a bit more recent than that, too, if you're willing to open up the machine and install a floppy drive since the buyer most likely declined the option for one even though it was offered. If you go too recent, you'll find the connector is missing entirely. Chuck(G) and I both have a board from 2015 called the 980DE3-U3S3 (with both floppy and USB 3.0) that is apparently the dead last board released on the planet with support for a traditional floppy drive.

As WP 5.1 was (or is) still used in places like law firms on XP, there is plenty of support out there for it. To the emulator discussion, XP came out of the box with an emulator called NTVDM which runs DOS software mostly transparently without the user having to care about the OS not being DOS.

What are you using for a printer? That's actually the most complex piece here. Nothing you can't overcome, but it's easiest with a printer that supports PostScript or PCL, in which case you can configure WP for an Apple LaserWriter or an HP LaserJet 4, then use XP's printer sharing feature to share the printer with yourself, and the printer port redirection feature to make it appear to WP as an LPT port even though it's USB.

Finally, there are USB floppy drives, but they're both glitchy in my experience and can't read 720K disks (if your disks have only one hole at the bottom, they are 720K; if they have two holes, they are 1.44MBs and can be read in virtually anything).
 
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Also, among the many causes of your old computer "finally dying" could be a leaking rechargeable battery inside, and if that's the case you'll want to remove the battery to prevent any further damage.
 
Makefile said:
Finally, there are USB floppy drives, but they're both glitchy in my experience and can't read 720K disks (if your disks have only one hole at the bottom, they are 720K; if they have two holes, they are 1.44MBs and can be read in virtually anything).
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Depends on the USB drive. I've got a couple that do just fine. Generally, those containing the Teac FD05-PUB drive work fine.
 
One minor issue I overlooked. If it necessary to read 5.25" floppy disks, the problem becomes more complex since many of the later systems only supported a single internal floppy drive of the 3.5" variety. Older systems that easily handle both 3.5" and 5.25" drives were often built before USB was invented. I have systems that have both types of floppy drives and USB but finding one like that could take more effort.

There are a few alternate methods of reading a 5.25" drive that don't require an internal floppy controller but most are very expensive and complicated.
 
krebizfan said:
One minor issue I overlooked. If it necessary to read 5.25" floppy disks, the problem becomes more complex since many of the later systems only supported a single internal floppy drive of the 3.5" variety. Older systems that easily handle both 3.5" and 5.25" drives were often built before USB was invented. I have systems that have both types of floppy drives and USB but finding one like that could take more effort.

There are a few alternate methods of reading a 5.25" drive that don't require an internal floppy controller but most are very expensive and complicated.
Click to expand...

It's 3.5 Sorry I didn't think to specify.

It's complicated for an ignoramus like me because I apparently need a particular computer model AND a particular operating system, to get it all compatible. If I'm looking at ads for used computers, as in Craigslist or OfferUp, I get the impression that an A-drive is so inconsequential to the seller that it's not even mentioned in the ad.

Right now I took the computer to a local repair place, and there was an easy fix with what I think was the heat paste, but a serious problem with the hard drive.
 
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