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I have recently acquired this compact sub notebook computer. I have installed MS-DOS 6.22 upon it as I didn't want to stress the limited system resources.
Apart from a 810 MB hard drive it only has an external floppy drive (PCMCIA) attatched.
I would like to be able to occasionally surf the web on it but I am limited by two things.
Firstly it only has the one PCMCIA slot
Secondly, the limited number of browers available for DOS.
Therefore I was wondering is there any reason why I cannot use an external modem via a serial port ? I have several available.
Has anyone actually got the Arachne browser working satisfactorily on a Laptop / Notebook ? (I have only succeeded on a desktop, and then only just - it connected but would not go anywhere ! )
Any thoughts on this issue would be gratefully received, including any advice / suggestions on other DOS compatable browsers.
Which brings me to the final part of my enquiry: What Desktop / GUI do you think is best for DOS
I appreciate that many people belive the command line is king but I would be interested in any comments.
Open Gem looks interesting (and appears to be currently maintained.
Many thanks for your time and advice which are always appreciated.
Trevor
Arachne Web browser includes a GUI so nothing else required.
External modems will only work satisfactorily if they are "Hayes" compatable, some newer external modems are not.
If you want more info on Arachne the forum where the developers are is at:
http://www.cisnet.com/glennmcc/aqc/
As to OpenGem it is very neat, if you want more information on MS-DOS could you leave your email address and I will try to get hold of the maintainer of a defunct DOS web site to see if he can send you the files.
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Inverto
Thank you for your reply.
All of my Modems are hayes compatable (in fact one actaully is a Hayes)- but I omitted to mention this important point.
I tried setting up Arachne on another laptop of mine (IBM Thinkpad 760L) and posted on these forums regaridng the issues I experienced.
Ultimately despite spending over 100 hours on the problem I could not get it working. Addtionally it did not recognise any of my external (Hayes compatable) modems.
Personally I found the program very "buggy" - I was using version 1.70 so perhaps these issues just relate to this version.
However despite being a fairly experienced P.C. user (I repair them) I did wonder if someone with more DOS experience had succeeded - on a laptop as opposed to a desktop.
I could not find any reports of such success on these boards despite a thorough search.
Your opinion regarding Open Gem was valued and appreciated. I will start by resolving the Arachne issues first and then I can decide which GUI to use (if any).
Additionally thank you for your kind offer regarding MS - DOS files. It would apear that these forums do not allow the original poster to PM another.
Therefore if you go to this page of my website:-
http://www.creightonjones.co.uk/page20.htm
you will not only be able to view my e-mail address but hopefully find something else of interest on the site.
Eventually I hope to verify that the website can be viewed with the Lynx browser.
Therefore if anyone reading this is so equiped do let me know if my site is readily accessed using Lynx (or other DOS browsers).
I would take this opportunity to reiterate my thanks.
Trevor
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Inverto
Your friend has now e-mailed me and provided some excellent resources and advice.
Many thanks,
Trevor
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I've had arachne working on a laptop (Compaq LTE 120MHz with 32Mb memory) but I'm using it through a network instead of with a modem.
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Thank you XWB.
I note your experience with interest.
I am assuming that you are connecting to the network with a PCMCIA network card ?
I do wonder if the unique architecure that each individual laptop posseses may result in it working on some systems and not others (I appreciate they would all be x86 but there the similarity ends ! ).
Thus I will try and install / configure it on my Toshiba Libretto in the hope that I may be successful on this occasion.
Unfortunately I could not get it to work on my IBM Thinkpad 760L. This system had a 75MHz C.P.U & 48 MB of R.A.M.
I need this device to be truly mobile and therefore I will try and connect directly to the internet. I have located a PCMCIA that claims to be compatable with DOS (& Linux !).
However the device driver is on a CD so I will need to install an external serial CD reader to install it. This is a bit of a nuisence as I realy don't require the CD once the driver is installed.
I may try and get online using the Lynx browser in the first instance to confirm that the laptop can make the connection before I proceed to install Arachne.
Whilst I am posting here I may as well add that I have installed the Desktop2 GUI / File Manager (at least for the time being).
If anyone is interested it can be found at:-
http://www.mevis.de/~ritter/awakeideas/desktop.htmlI would reiterate my thanks to you for your post XWB.
Trevor
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"I need this device to be truly mobile and therefore I will try and connect directly to the internet. I have located a PCMCIA that claims to be compatable with DOS (& Linux !). "
If it is going to be truly mobile I suggest Linux may be a better choice than DOS, and that is in no way intended to flame DOS!
Linux has vastly better support for modern hardware such as wireless cards.
If it were mine I would max out the RAM, and install a larger hard drive or a Compact Flash card in a CF/IDE adapter if that will physically fit. I did this with my Portege 3010CT with good results. A "frugal install" of Damn Small Linux made the machine useful and easy to work with.
Since DOS will also run from CF, you could dual-boot if you like.
Librettos are neat little machines. Good luck with it.
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