Mail Archives: opendos/2004/01/31/20:45:04
I'm trying to get a 600K file off a small store's computer system. They
have three ancient Compaq Presario 425 machines (486, from 1993), which
appear to be networked using coax (presumably Ethernet). The machines
themselves seem to be running DR-DOS (7.02, I think) and Personal Netware.
The file is on a server volume which is viewable by the other two terminals,
but unfortunately both terminal machines I have access to have non-working
floppys - they seem to be incredibly dirty, and won't read or format a disk
- I tried cleaning one with no luck. The machines don't have CD-ROM, and no
other way to easily get files on or off the machine.
I may be able to connect a laptop to one of the machines via serial cable.
Is there by any chance any sort of terminal or file transfer program that
would be available on a basic DR-DOS install? If not, I'd probably have to
just do a COPY to the serial port and live with any noise - it is a text
file, so if I copy two or three times I should be able to compare and find
any differences.
I not in a position to do any heroic hardware upgrades on the machines, but
I do have an old 10-T hub which also has a coax port, and I was going to
plug the network cable from one of the computers into this, along with a
laptop. I'm hoping that will get me on the network. Once I am, will a
Netware client on the laptop be able to see the Personal Netware server and
log on for file sharing? Does anyone know what transport protocol Personal
Netware uses (IPX or IP)? I have a Mac laptop and evaluation versions of a
NetWare client with both IPX and IP options, but I know nothing about
whether Personal Netware looks like real Netware to a client. To top it
off, the Mac laptop doesn't have a serial port, so I'll have to find
something else to try that.
Oh, the joys of ancient hardware - it has been a long time since I did
anything with DOS...
--
David Oberst, Yellowknife, NWT, Canada
[Explore Canada's Arctic]
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