Mail Archives: opendos/2002/08/03/12:16:45
On Sat, Aug 03, 2002 at 11:57:22PM +1200, Michael Snowden wrote:
> 1) In attempt to expand the size of my RAM drive using DOS 6.2, I
> recently purchased considerably more memory for my Compaq Armada
I don't know much about MS-DOS syntax, but they did provide a very
useful "help.com" utility which documents almost everything. (It
requires a help.hlp file as well as qbasic.exe. Win9x included these in
an "other/oldmsdos" directory on the CD. If no such CD is handy I'll
wager you can download these files from microsoft.com.)
Personally, if this machine is at least a 386 I would recommend that you
consider GNU/Linux rather than MS-DOS. Networking functionality is
built-in to the Linux OS; you won't have to chase all over the Internet
to get what you need. Distributions include all the tools you'll need.
IMO DOS is still useful for pre-386 CPU's and for less than 4MB RAM. You
have more than enough RAM, obviously. I don't know how much you paid for
that RAM, but if it's proprietary, you probably paid too much. You can
get used Pentium-class notebooks, excellent for GNU/Linux, from auctions
like eBay for around US$100. (It might be difficult and/or expensive to
have something shipped to Sri Lanka, of course.)
> 2) I continue to search for some way to use telnet and ftp with DOS.
> I have tried minuet, pegasus, bobcat, and arachne softwares and
> cannot make any of them work. Is there a way?
This page says you need to buy a commercial TCP/IP stack:
http://www.anzio.com/support/troubleshooting/dostcp.htm
This one says otherwise. The following link is the free TCP/IP stack:
http://www.smashco.com/wattcp.asp
http://www.wattcp.com/
A couple of good overviews of what there is and how to put it together:
http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/
http://www.dendarii.demon.co.uk/FAQs/dos-apps.html
You'll need a low-level network interface first. Packet drivers for most
NIC's can be found here:
http://www.crynwr.com/
If you're using a dialup connection, you need a PPPD. You'll find some
mentioned in the above overviews. I saw at least 2 pppd's archived here:
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/pktdrvr/
Florian and others who post here maintain their own DOS Web pages which
probably tell you exactly what to do. You're not alone; there are others
who are using DOS for Internet access. I can't recall his URL, but
perhaps he will tell us (or you can search the list archives.)
HTH, good luck.
Rob - /dev/rob0
- Raw text -