02 Feb 2000, Tom Butz, 100372.1036@compuserve.com This is how I got things going. I use the system for CompuServe (DOSCIM.EXE) and for the Internet through Internet Service Provider (ISP) Paradise.net.nz in Wellington/New Zealand. 01) The operating system DOSMinix runs on PCs from XTs (8088/8086) to ATs (286/386/486/Pentium). It doesn't need a lot of memory, so will work on a basic XT with exactly 640kb of memory. How did I install it and get it going? Here goes... --------------------------------------------------- 02) My XT is a Commodore PC 20-III with a 5 1/4 " floppy-drive (360kb capacity) and a 40 MB harddisk. It features 1 built-in RS232-interface. I added a modem-card (1 slot, for XTs) doing 2400 baud. Modem-cards for XTs are relatively easy to get at flea-markets these days, and they are cheap, about 3 jugs of beer. An external modem didn't connect to my ISP, though it did work with CompuServe. I changed the jumpers on the card to COM2: (instructions how to do that were on the card!) and made sure the modem-card's IRQ wasn't already being used by an existing card. Commodore's BIOS will display the IRQ-values when booting. I used TELIX.EXE to check and confirm values. 2400 baud is not fast by today's standards, you can't listen to the guy reading a newspaper to you on-line through the Internet, yet okay if you want to read the paper yourself; see below for an example on how to 'browse' the Internet. Theoretically an XT should be able to support higher speeds than that, but getting the modem(card) for them seems to be the trick. But hey, what about users in remote areas where telephone lines are already struggling to support 9600 baud? 03) I use ISP Paradise.net.nz. They have an unusually comfortable access-server (does PAP, CHAP and scripted access). And they also support 2400 baud. 04) Downloaded 'PPP16.ZIP' from minix1.hampshire.edu or one of the mirror-sites using FTP on another PC, unzipped it and copied the 2 files (DOSMIN16.MNX and BOOT.COM) to the XT. Transferring between PCs is easy using the MS-DOS programs INTERSVR.EXE on the XT, INTERLNK.EXE on the AT (in its CONFIG.SYS), and a null-modem cable between the two PCs' RS232-ports. A null-modem cable can be bought or made up. Booted the XT first, ran INTERSVR.EXE on it, and then booted the AT. You need files CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on the AT, preferably set up by yourself, so you know what you've done. The system is DOSMinix, meaning that it runs inside a big DOS-file. You don't have to re-partition your harddisk to install it. All you do is load MS-DOS, type BOOT DOSMIN16.MNX (= a 4 MB file), and you're done. And if you or the boss don't like it, just delete the 2 files. Remember to disable EMM386.EXE, DOSMinix will do memory-management itself. 05) How did I transfer stuff such as an updated 'ppp.drv' from DOS to DOSMinix? Transferred from other PC to XT, as described in the preceding paragraph, wrote file(s) to DOS-floppy on the XT, booted DOSMinix on XT and typed dosread fd0 ppp.drv >/usr/local/bin/ppp.drv where fd0 is the first floppy-drive. Then typed chmod 777 ppp.drv, to be able to run it (that's called 'setting the execution-bit'). Without the execution-bit, 'ppp.drv' won't run. This is not a DOSMinix-problem, it's rather due to the fact that MS-DOS downloaded it as an ordinary binary file, and DOSMinix's 'dosread' didn't know about the missing execution-bit. File-attributes are a lot more sophisticated in the Unix/Minux-world than under MS-DOS, but you already knew that, didn't you? 06) Amended file /etc/resolv.conf to my own ISP's address, using 'mined', DOSMinix's small editor, like so: mined /etc/resolv.conf name server 123.123.123.1 (not the real address) Ctrl+X Y N You don't need to know 'mined', just use the DEL-key to delete characters, and the cursor-keys for movement. 07) Also changed the entry for tty01 in /etc/ttytab to "unknown" (rest empty). Didn't worry about the other files Claudio Tantignone mentioned and left them unchanged, as I didn't use scripts (the ones with *.scr in /ppp/scripts/). 08) To connect to the Internet Service Provider (ISP), used 'term' in a script, like so: term 8 2400 /dev/tty01 -atdt086727234 where 8 means 8 bits, 2400 is the baud-rate, /dev/tty01 is the modem-card and the rest is the dialling-sequence. After the system said CONNECT 2400, pushed and typed username and password when prompted. At the end, I pushed Ctrl+] and typed q, then ppp.sh. There were several 'ready'-messages on my screen now. I pushed go http://www.smh.com.au/text/ 1 quit This dropped me back to system-level, the #. By the way, 'smh' stands for the newspaper SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, Australia. I lost some text in 'w3.log': apparently there's no proper handshaking. Could have tried writing to /dev/ram instead, if memory hadn't been so tight on an XT. You could still do away with the | tee, and just read your screen without writing to a logfile. 15) Mail/News application programs Claudio is currently working on programs for this, so users can spend less time typing telnet-commands, and consequently save connect-time. --------------- original header and introductory message -------------- Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 08:14:10 -0300 From: Claudio Tantignone To: 'Albert Woodhull' Cc: "'100372.1036@compuserve.com'" <100372.1036@compuserve.com>, "'Claudio '" Subject: FW: >XT 640k/ppp documentation (3) Albert, this is an excellent paper that Tom Butz prepared about using PPP in a XT machine. I do not know how you can add it to minix1, so anyone can play and enjoy it. I also will add it in my home page. Let us know your comments. Regards, Claudio. > -----Original Message----- > From: Tom Butz [SMTP:100372.1036@compuserve.com] > Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 6:15 PM > To: Claudio > Subject: >XT 640k/ppp documentation (3) > > Hi Claudio, > > I'm back from Auckland and have just put the finishing touches to > my file (and fixed typos). Please feel free to amend it yourself, > Claudio, this should become a reference-document for many users. > > Let's see what happens to 'popclient' and 'smr'. Once they're up > and running, plus some News-program, many people should be able to > get their XTs out of the cupboards. Almost like the VW-beetle, > isn't it? Or the Mini. > > Have fun, and let's hear how you're getting on with the > above programs, regards, > >Tom. > *** > |