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Just whining - looking at a 360KB disk and frustrated

Tomn8tr

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2013
Messages
51
Location
N.E. Ohio
Just whining... My 5150 PC is up and running. I received some 360KB disks from fellow member Stone and formatted one with /s to reduce needing to use my vintage and genuine IBM DOS 2.1 disk.

My MFM hard drive has failed and I have no way to talk to the 5150 (file transfer). I purchased a parallel Zip 100MB drive on eBay for dirt cheap, but I cannot get the guest.exe driver onto a 360KB disk, as the file lives on my quite modern desktop. I wish I had held onto some of my older gear now. Moving and divorce has led to the elimination of almost all my old-school gear (like those dual 5.25/ 3.5" floppy drives). Anyhow, I am just whining that I am so close but cannot get my files to my 5150. My dad has an old Packard Bell he is going to give to me, and I hope that machine has what I need to bridge this gap.

I think the long term solution lies in the CF to IDE solutions that are being worked out using an 8bit ISA slot.

Rant/ whining over, as you were...

Tom.
 
The parallel port Zip 100 is a great device for older machines, but I don't think the Guest drivers that Iomega supplies work on an 8088. They do work on a NEC V20 or an Intel 80286 (or better).

Long term, a better alternative is "PalmZip", which is a 3rd party driver written for the Atari Portfolio but it works fine on any DOS machine. There is a freely available demonstration version. I found it well worth the money to register my copy of it.

And of course the XT-IDE and related cards are great alternatives to the ancient MFM hard drives these machines used to use. Don't overlook networking - with a hard drive and an Ethernet cable you can get by without touching a floppy disk for a long period of time.
 
Am I correct that after your MFM drived failed you replaced it with another? If so, you can split a large file into pieces, copy the pieces to the HD and then re-assemble them into the original file on the HD. Or, if you need another MFM HD I might have something you can use.
 
SyQuest EZ Flyer and EZ Drive will also work over the parallel port with vintage computers. IIRC, the DOS driver works fine with a real 8088 -- I used one with my Leading Edge Model D for a while. I've found the disk cartridges to be more durable than Zip disks as they're actual hard disk platters in a removable cartridge.

EDIT: Or if you've got a serial port, get someone to put file transfer utilities on a floppy for you. Then you can use them from the 5150 with a USB -> Serial adapter on a modern PC.
 
The parallel port Zip 100 is a great device for older machines, but I don't think the Guest drivers that Iomega supplies work on an 8088. They do work on a NEC V20 or an Intel 80286 (or better).

Hmmm. I wonder if swapping my 8088 out for a NEC V20 would allow me to use guest.exe? I am definately going to look more into PalmZip also.
 
Hmmm. I wonder if swapping my 8088 out for a NEC V20 would allow me to use guest.exe? I am definately going to look more into PalmZip also.

Yes, with a V20 installed in an IBM 5150 PC, I was able to use a parallel port Zip drive with the GUEST.EXE driver. With the regular 8088, it would just lock up when trying to run GUEST. And you don't need to copy all of the drivers that come on the disk -- a lot of them are for SCSI Zip drives.
 
Am I correct that after your MFM drived failed you replaced it with another? If so, you can split a large file into pieces, copy the pieces to the HD and then re-assemble them into the original file on the HD. Or, if you need another MFM HD I might have something you can use.

My drive failed failed was a Hardcard 20MB. I have no other ISA adapters or drives. The machine I need to talk to (unless my Dad's vintage Packard Bell will work) is a modern PCIE bus.
 
Yes, with a V20 installed in an IBM 5150 PC, I was able to use a parallel port Zip drive with the GUEST.EXE driver. With the regular 8088, it would just lock up when trying to run GUEST. And you don't need to copy all of the drivers that come on the disk -- a lot of them are for SCSI Zip drives.

That's some good news! Now to find a V20, eBay me thinks...
 
I have no other ISA adapters or drives. The machine I need to talk to (unless my Dad's vintage Packard Bell will work) is a modern PCIE bus.
Does the modern machine have a com port and a floppy drive? Otherwise the P-B would probably make a fine file server if you can get your files on to it.
 
Does the modern machine have a com port and a floppy drive? Otherwise the P-B would probably make a fine file server if you can get your files on to it.

No floppy at all on the modern, although a 3.5 HD is possible. I also have a USB 3.5 1.44MB HD external.
 
My drive failed failed was a Hardcard 20MB. I have no other ISA adapters or drives. The machine I need to talk to (unless my Dad's vintage Packard Bell will work) is a modern PCIE bus.
So the first thing you need is some storage device for the PC. Until you get that you don't need to transfer anything. :)
 
So the first thing you need is some storage device for the PC. Until you get that you don't need to transfer anything. :)
He could use the P-B as an Interlink server and then he wouldn't need any local storage other than the 360K; has anyone tried booting DOS and Interlink on a USB stick?

Come to think of it, I've never tried Interlink on an 8088; I assume it'll work? May have to dust off a 5150 this weekend and check out a few things...
 
Come to think of it, I've never tried Interlink on an 8088; I assume it'll work? May have to dust off a 5150 this weekend and check out a few things...
It definitely works with a NEC V20, I've used it. I think I've used it with my Model D as well which is running an 8088.

Used to run Windows 3.0 on my XT over a parallel Interlink connection :D
 
I thought this connection was just for transfers. I haven't actually run it in many years. Is it also able to run programs on the host without them physically residing on the workstation?
 
I thought this connection was just for transfers. I haven't actually run it in many years. Is it also able to run programs on the host without them physically residing on the workstation?
That's why I keep recommending it, although it's usually ignored in favour of more complicated and expensive solutions ;-)

In the previous thread I was suggesting it as a way to effectively add a floppy drive instead of a hard disk as in this case.

As long as they're format-compatible the host drives and printer(s) appear as drives/printers on the client, just like a 'real' network. A null-modem cable, a 2 minute remote install and Bob's your aunt's husband.
 
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Are the results the same with a parallel cable instead of a serial cable?
Faster, but you need a serial connection for a remote install (and the parallel cables are a little harder to find). Of course once installed you can switch to the faster parallel cable.
 
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