Subj : Re: Day to day uses for retro computers
To   : Spectre
From : poindexter FORTRAN
Date : Mon Aug 07 2023 08:55:00

-=> Spectre wrote to Bob Worm <=-

 Sp> The first cards and networking I had were Etherlink II's and NetWare
 Sp> lite (IPX/ODI). This was really straight forward.  Like you sans help
 Sp> once you got off the beaten path it was tricky getting stuff to behave.
 Sp>  I recall having no idea what IRQ, IRQ Vector and Ports were for.  It
 Sp> got harder if you had extra serial ports kicking around too taking up
 Sp> common address/irq locations.


 Learning about PC hardware and getting DOS networking to work was
 exciting. I inherited a LANTastic setup from work when we moved a small
 network over to Novell, and took it home.

 I was able to run the DOS BBS box with LANTASTIC and share the serial
 printer connected to it with my OS/2 desktop box. I could share drives
 from the BBS to my desktop to back it up and use a QWK reader locally.
 There was a screen redirector that let you remote control another
 system over LANTastic. It was pretty wild that all that ran on a
 single-tasking DOS system.

 Sp> It got really tough when we tried integrating crynwyr drivers and using
 Sp> TCP/IP I farted around with SHIMs for the IPX drivers and all manner of
 Sp> black magic.  Best result I could ever manage was the various devices
 Sp> able to see each other and retrieve basic information, but refusing any
 Sp> serious data transfer. ALways just showed up as generic drive failure
 Sp> to DOS.

 Running Windows 3.1, using DOS IPX/Netx redirectors for Netware, then
 Crynwyr drivers for IP, while running Appletalk on the same wire was a
 mind-mangling experience.

Windows 3.11 with its built-in IP made life much easier.





.... It's a bold strategy, Cotton, let's see if it plays out for 'em...
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
 * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

.