KLH Model 195 - 286-12

 KLH Model 195 - 286-12

This is my DR-DOS system. It is one level up from my IBM XT-286. It is an AT-clone and I set it up with an old IDE hard drive and two floppies, one 5-¼ 1.2Mb and one 3-½ 1.44Mb. It has 1 MB of RAM. I installed a 3COM Ethernet card and a sound card.

I installed Caldera DR-DOS 7.03 and I run Norton Commander. I have it connected to a LPT printer and a serial modem. I also setup a serial mouse using CuteMouse. It also has a LapLink connection.

I do not run Windows on this machine. DOS only. I do run some GEM based software such as Artline and KeyPublisher (removed due to space constraints, see below). DOS programs are Alpha Four, WordStar, Quatro-Pro, and PFS:First Choice..

Web browser

I have been able to get on the web using DosLynx. Here’s what I did to get it to work:

I Installed the 3COM packet driver “3C5X9PD.COM” and I ran the command:

C:\>\pktdvr\3c5x9pd.com 0x60

I made sure the mtcpcfg.txt file had the correct packet interrupt setup:

packetint 0x60

Then I set the parameter for the mTCP configuration:

C:\>SET MTCPCFG=\mtcp\mtcpcfg.txt

Then I ran DHCP to set the IP Address

C:\>\mtcp\DHCP

Then I edited the DosLynx.cfg file to set my_ip=DHCP.

Finally I ran DOSLYNX.EXE to start up DosLynx and used the File menu to enter the URL of:

www.google.com

It took awhile but eventually it did take me to Google and I entered a search string and it gave me a list. It works!

Next I will try “Links”, which I got working on FreeDOS. [I did not get Links to work. It is too big and requires DOS Protected Mode. I’ll stay with DOSLynx].

FTP

I tried using the mTCP FTP client to connect to my FileZilla FTP server on my Win7 machine. At first I got the command syntax wrong. I did eventually connect using this command:

C:\>ftp -port 12412 xxx.xx.xx.xxx

I was then asked for my username and password which I correctly entered and then I got the FTP prompt. I attempted to get a directory:

-->DIR

I got an error saying 421 Could not create socket

(LS did the same thing.)

Eventually it timed out and I was disconnected. Now I was back at the dos prompt.

I read that I had to play with the port settings for the Passive Mode Settings in FileZilla Server on the Win7 machine. I set the ports to 49152 - 65535. That got me past the ‘Could not create socket’ error. But I still got errors. I turned off the Windows firewall and it works. So it has something to do with port settings and firewall. More reading.

OK, I decided to just turn the Private firewall OFF on the Win7 machine when trying to connect with FTP. I can turn the firewall back on or just ignore it. I don’t think I need to worry about a Private firewall. I will keep the Public firewall on.

I have FTP working from this DOS computer to my Win7 FileZilla server. But in order to move a file they must be named with the DOS 8.3 filename convention. Before transferring make sure to rename the file with an 8.3 filename. Also, files are huge. There is no room left on this DOS hard disk. In order to try other programs I have to delete something. I wanted to try “Links” so I removed the “Keypub” and “Artline” programs. I also may need more room. The Links exe file is over 7MB. After removing some programs I now have over 11MB on the drive. The entire hard drive is only 40MB.

I decided to not try to put Links on this computer. The files are too big (and require DMPI extensions) and I already have success with DOSLYNX. [Maybe w3m? No, only compiled for 386+, or Dillo? No, Dillo also requires Protected Mode. Arachne? No, Arachne requires at least a 386.]

Note: The Web Browser was not common until about 1994 with NetScape and 1995 with IE. This computer was made in about 1989. So, it is not expected that we would be web browsing, even in text, on this computer. If it was being used in 1995 then it may have been possible but it was still not popular to browse the WWW on DOS. It was more common to browse Gopher servers or use e-mail and FTP. This computer can do all that other internet stuff without the need for a Web Browser. Web Browsers came later. That it can use Lynx to browse the web is pretty amazing, even though it is less than ideal. Lynx was started in 1992 for Gopher and WWW/HTTP was added in 1993. DOSLynx was started in 1994.

Procomm

I have the Procomm program installed. It is for making old-fashioned modem connections to BBS’s. I have tested it with both the modem and a telnet connection, and I also had it connecting to a local BBS server set up on my Win7 machine using the WinXP virtual machine.

I will do some more experiments with this program. More later.

Sound

I reviewed some of the sound programs installed. I wanted to see what was working and I wanted to refresh my memory on how to set up sound on DOS. This machine has a card that is compatible with Soundblaster Pro. I have confirmed that the following sound programs work:

DOSMID - works

DOSMID is a MIDI player. MIDI depends on the “instruments” built into the sound card (or an add-on through a serial or joystick port). MIDI files are small because they only hold the commands for the instruments on the sound module (Sound Card or Add-on).

GLX - works

GLX is a MOD player. MOD is a hybrid of MIDI and WAVE sounds. WAVE sounds are samples of recorded instruments and do not have to be on the sound card but can be loaded from files. MOD files are larger because they contain the “software samples” in addition to the commands.

I removed MultiPlayer (MULTIP directory). It “kinda” works but it is made for better machines, like a 386/486. I removed it because I have the other two sound programs and I can use the space.