This document is for those interested in using a old dos machine (x86) system on a network for various tasks.
It is assumed that the computer is running Dos 6.22 with all its utilities available.
To network in dos you will need the PACKET DRIVER for the specific network card in the computer. This can usually be found on the disk that came with the NIC card, but if not you can usually find them on the Internet.
Many NIC cards are compatible with the NE2000 driver, so if you cant find your card try that one.
If the card is Plug and Play you will probably have to find some utility that runs with your card that will ascertain the IO address and Interrupt of the card. This is card dependant so look on the internet if no disk is available for your NIC card.
A very simple server to use is one called JAFFA (see file www0005.zip).
1. Unzip the files to a directory call JAFFA
2. create a directory were the webpages will be found (by default it is called c:\www this can be changed in the SETIP.BAT file below)
3. Jaffa comes with a file called SETIP.BAT. The default is as follows:
:: change
to suit your configuration... don't just make up values!
:: NOTE: some networks may have BOOTP available. Try
loading
:: ntcpdrv without setting up any ip=, netmask=
variables to see
:: if it can successfully configure itself via
BOOTP.
:: this is used with an existing packet driver. this
batch file is
:: not used if you are using the supplied PPP
driver.
set ip=203.30.15.68
set netmask=255.255.255.224
set gateway=203.30.15.67
set dns=203.30.15.67
rem set wwwroot=d:/www
:: uncomment and change to suit if desired, default
= /www
BOOTP (an older version of DHCP), receives IP address assignments and IP configuration from a DHCP server. If your network has a DHCP server you can change the above file to read:
:: change to suit your configuration... don't just
make up values!
:: NOTE: some networks may have BOOTP available. Try
loading
:: ntcpdrv without setting up any ip=, netmask=
variables to see
:: if it can successfully configure itself via
BOOTP.
:: this is used with an existing packet driver. this
batch file is
:: not used if you are using the supplied PPP
driver.
set ip=
set netmask=
set gateway=
set dns=
rem set wwwroot=d:/www
:: uncomment and change to suit if desired, default
= /www
If a DHCP server is NOT present on your network or you wish to use a static IP for the server set IP, netmask, gateway and dns to the appropriate values for your network.
Do the following:
1. cd \jaffa
2. setip.bat
3. ntcpdrv
4. www
Note: to end just hit esc, but ntcpdrv remains in memory until you type:
ntcpdrv –u
I created a batch file that would allow you to bypass the above steps. This batch file allows you to use either static or DHCP addressing:
rem To envoke Jaffa WWW Server in two modes
rem if "WWW" is entered, Jaffa will start
using DHCP Assigned address
rem if "WWW -s" is entered, Jaffa will
start using the static address as
rem
defined on line #32
if "%1" == "-s" goto static
cd \jaffa
:: Do NOT change the following (Blank for DHCP
Assignment)
set ip=
set netmask=
set gateway=
set dns=
ntcpdrv
pause
www
goto exit
:static
cd \jaffa
:: change to suit your configuration... don't just
make up values!
:: NOTE: some networks may have BOOTP available. Try
loading
:: ntcpdrv without setting up any ip=, netmask=
variables to see
:: if it can successfully configure itself via
BOOTP.
:: this is used with an existing packet driver. this
batch file is
:: not used if you are using the supplied PPP
driver.
set ip=192.168.0.51
set netmask=255.255.255.0
set gateway=192.168.0.1
set dns=192.168.0.1
rem set wwwroot=d:/www
:: uncomment and change to suit if desired, default
= /www
ntcpdrv
pause
www
:exit
ntcpdrv -u
cd \
The sshdos package can be found here (or on the disk as ssh2011b.zip). To install just unzip the files to an appropriately named directory path (multiple sub directories will be created).
You must edit the wattcp.cfg file for the following:
1. line 82 of the default must be changed to either:
i. my_ip=static_ip_address
ii. my_ip=dhcp
SSH2DOS.EXE is a ssh telnet program. It is invoked by:
Ssh2dos username ipaddress
Where:
Username is the user login name
Ipaddress is the ip address of the box to be connected to
EXAMPLE:
Ssh2dos dkohn 192.168.0.50
Will connect to 192.168.0.50 and login as dkohn.
Ssh2dos –t linux –k linux.kbd –s fred dkohn 192.168.0.50
Will connect to 192.168.0.50 and login as dkohn with the password as fred. It will use a linux character set for the video and linux keyboard layout.
Other Options:
|
-s password |
allows for the password to be entered on the command line |
|
-v |
verbose mode – shows what ssh2dos is doing during the login process |
|
-t terminal |
terminal type – known types include: linux, xterm |
|
-k |
keyboard mode – known types are: linux.kbd, vt100.kbd and x-color.kbd |
NOTE: startup on this program is slow (MINUTES). Be patient! Once you get the prompt the program works very well.
SCP2DOS.EXE is a ssh file transfer program. It is invoked by:
Scp2dos file1 file2
Where:
file1 and file2 are the files to be copied from and to (respectively)
the local file uses normal dos file names but the remote file name uses the following format:
where:
User name is the account name
Ipaddress is the IP of the remote computer
Filename is the file to be transferred (including path from the root of the account)
Examples:
Scp2dos hello.txt dkohn@192.168.0.50:public_html/helloworld.txt
Will connect to 192.168.0.50 and log in as dkohn. It will then transfer the local file “hello.txt” to dkohn’s public_html directory with the name of “helloworld.txt”
Other Options:
|
-s password |
allows for the password to be entered on the command line |
|
-v |
verbose mode – shows what ssh2dos is doing during the login process |
NOTE: startup on this program is slow (MINUTES). Be patient!
This program has not been used successfully many times. Most times I get a “Protocol error: Expected control record”
These programs have not been run due to memory limitations (not enough extended memory)
Arachne is a graphical www browser for dos (file: archn170.exe).
The following was taken from their website ( http://browser.arachne.cz/dos_install.shtml ):
(Arachne for DOS can be used with any 100% DOS compatible operating system, such as MS-DOS 3.3+, DR-DOS 7.0+, Windows 9x, ROM-DOS or PTS-DOS.
Arachne for DOS will
run on i8086 compatible CPU with as little as 475 KB of DOS memory (540 KB if
you want PPP connection) and EGA or VGA video card. However, recommended
configuration is PC with 80386 or better CPU with 4 (or more) MB of memory,
more than 600 KB od DOS memory, 512 (or more) KB VESA compatible SVGA card,
with mouse, soundcard and color monitor. If you want dial-up access to
internet, you of course need standard serial modem; for local networks, you can
use any device with packet driver available for it (eg. Ethernet card). You
will probably like to download Arachne self-extracting distribution package
using some networked PC (for example at some Internet cafe, using Netscape or
MSIE) and store it to single floppy disk, for example as file named
INSTALL.EXE. Older versions of Arachne used to be quite hard to install. Since
Arachne 1.50 beta 2, all you have to do with the downloaded file is to execute
it (eg. by typing a:install) and follow the instructions on the screen.
(If you don't like self extracting installator, you can download traditional
ZIP file isntead, and run setup.bat after unpacking it).
When installation of
Arachne is finished, type arachne command to start arachne - this
launches arachne.bat. Largest executable in the package, file core.exe,
is just one component of the browser, and can't be used standalone - this is
not any kind of shareware restriction, this is simply only way to run Arachne,
never mind registered or unregistered.
The setup is quite easy to follow and takes
you though it step by step very nicely. Therefore I will NOT explain it in
detail here.
One note: If you answer the “Available memory
types for swapping” or the “Available video card” questions wrong it will hang the
install. I just rebooted and went back to the c:\arachne directory and typed
arachne and it asked me those questions again then continued on with the
install wizard.
This package can be found here (file tel2308b.zip). It is MUCH MORE than just telnet as their website states:
NCSA Telnet allows a PC running MSDOS on a TCP/IP network to connect to other machines with the telnet protocol. The package includes a Telnet client, an FTP client, and LPR, Setclock, RSH, REXEC, Finger, and Whois utilities. The Telnet client has VT100 support, can open multiple connections, has a scrollback buffer with mouse support, can cut and paste from the scrollback buffer, allows keyboard remapping, uses a packet driver and has internal drivers for some hardware, and emulates a Tektronix 4014.
It forgets to tell you that the Telnet Client also acts as an FTP server as well.
1. Unzip to an appropriate directory
2. edit the config.tel file for the following:
i. myip= (either BOOTP or the static IP address)
ii. netmask= (appropriate netmask for your network)
iii. interrupt= (your NIC card interrupt)
iv. ioaddr= (your NIC card address)
v. myname= (remove # in front of line and give appropriate name)
vi. ftp= (do you want FTP server enabled yes/no)
vii. ftpwrt= (do you want FTP to be able to write to disk yes/no)
viii. passfile= (password file for ftp – use program TELPAS.EXE to create password file)
ix.
Telnet.exe is a telnet client as well as a FTP server. When evoked using TELNET it will listen for incoming FTP requests.
An ALT-A will make the program go into telnet client mode. You will be asked for a “machine name/address” of the machine you wish to telnet to.
If you do not hit ALT-A you remain in FTP server mode. It will listen for incoming FTP requests. It will only listen for requests if ftp=yes is set in the config.tel file. (ftpwrt and passfile options, see above, help define ftp behavior)
This command sends a file to the print server. Use the following format to send a file to a known printer:
lpr –Sprinter_ip –Pprinter_name
filename
where:
printer_ip is the ip of the print server
printer_name is the printer name
filename is the name of the file to be printed
Example:
Lpr –S192.168.0.75 –Plpt3 fred.doc
Will print “Fred.doc” to the print server 192.168.0.75 and print it to the printer named “lpt3”
Note: This does not automatically generate a form feed at the end of the document so you might have to generate a file to send a form feed to the printer. To do this do the following
Copy con ff.doc
CONTROL-L CONTROL-Z
Then when you need to force a form feed just send ff.doc to the printer.
Ethload is a program for monitoring networks (see file ethld200.zip). It collects statistics about the network traffic.
After being unzipped to an appropriate directory, run ethload. First time run it will go though a process of “Reconstructing” a bunch of files but then will run normally.
Wattcp is a library for ‘C’ that will allow you to add TCP/IP connectivity to a program. Many programs written for DOS networking are based on this library that is freely available from http://www.wattcp.com/ . To find out how it works, it will cost you $50 to order the manual but the library can be downloaded for free. Also check out the file http://www.jkmicro.com/documentation/pdf/wattcp_start.pdf (on this disk as wattcp_start.pdf).