i was just given anolder compaq laptop a 4/25c, it has a MSDOS on it as to what version, well i am not sure my knowledge of dos commands is limited to a few basics. So, i am sure that what i need to acomplish will make a few of you chuckle, but here it goes...This lap top has only a floppy and a modem(i am assuming there is a modem inside external phone line plugs have led me to this conclusion) and in order to make this a workable computer for anyone here I need an OS with a gui, I own several versions of windows but i can not imagine breaking any one of them down to a floppy installable system. So the next thought is to direct connect the computers ...but how? Can a windows ME system actually communicate with a dos system even when connected?? Any ideas here short of buying a new laptop??

The Compaq 4/25c is a 486DX/25Mh laptop machine, normally with about 20Mb RAM and a 210MB disk drive. Pictures of one

Way to slow and small to run Windows ME, painfully slow with Windows 98 if it fits on the disk drive. Could run Windows 95. But best performance would be DOS/Win 3.1 which might already be on the system.

To get DOS version, just enter the VER command at the DOS prompt.

Use the CHKDSK command to find out the disk size and usage.

Then enter the command WIN and see if Windows 3.1 is installed.

It also sounds like You could have use for:
- " -DOS command reference guide- " -
[I'm not sure: it is the right DOS-version?!]
..I guess U gonna run an upgraded DOS version on that laptop?

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Both Windows 95 and Windows 3.X have versions installable from floppy. If you know where to look, you can even download them from the Web (this isn't quite legal however, do so at your own risk). These are also quite easily obtained on e-bay.

The other option is to use a parallel transfer cable (also sometimes called a laplink cable) and a program such as Laplink or Fastlynx. Check out this page:
http://www.powerload.fsnet.co.uk/cable.htm

It will provide you with all the necessary information.

-Darke

Good luck,
Michael

THANK YOU!!

did the WIN command and no dice
so it is off on a search for a downloadable Win 3.1 seems like the simplest way to address this problem,
VER command let me know v6.21 is the DOS I have and CHDSK has let me know that there is loads of stuff on this drive left from the former owner that needs to be cleared off before i do anything else!!
I assume a simple Fdsk and reformat will start me off clean and ready to go. Am I right on that??
There is one thing that i am botheed by, and perhaps a more enlightened soul can assist on this one too...on boot after the
Starting MS-DOS
it goes to
HIMEM is testing extended memory....done
then directly below
bad command or file name
c:\

My guess is a line to a no longer present file in my config.sys but for the life of me I can not get my config.sys to open...any help will be most welcom and thanks for alll the help to date

susan

DON'T FDISK UNLESS:

1. You have a bootable floppy disk for DOS.
2. You have DOS installation disks.

If you fdisk without 1 and 2 you'll be left with a laptop that will not boot, as fdisking will delete the hard disk and leave it empty (there will be no OS on it)

You will also be limited as to what software you can install on it if you are going DOS/Win3.1. Anything after MS Office 4.3(Pro) will not work. I beleive you will not be able to install a web browser which features strong encryption, as it was never developed for 16-bit browsers. Also, this laptop may not be able to read files created on newer machines. It can read Word 97 files (with a patch), but won't read Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc. files that are in Office95 or later formats.

Just a heads up.

The error message you see is probalby in your autoexec.bat file. (An error in Config.sys would yield "Error in Config.sys line X") Your autoexec.bat is attempting to execute a command (or program) which it can no longer find). Likely the previous owner deleted the files this command references.

At the command prompt, type PATH.

c:\ and c:\dos
should be in your PATH.

if so, then:

edit config.sys
and
edit autoexec.bat

should open up these files in the DOS text editor.

-Doug

upon entering PATH command what i get is
PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WP51

okay so now for the obvious question what is WP51??

and thanks for the heads up. Perhaps if i explain what i want to use this for you can point me down a path making this work.
I want to set up a computer for surfing, now ther won't be any secured transactions on this 'puter, no need with three other firewall protected networked ones just down a flight of stairs. I simply want the web available upstairs, for things like recipes,repair, school homework type help
and general info we use now but end up printing out all the time. This will use our normal household phone line to connect to our ISP so it's actual time on line will be limited. So a browser will be required. Look forward to your assistance,THANK YOU so very much for the assistance it is most appreciated

susan

Could WP51 be Word Perfect 5.1 for DOS. A long time ago I ran DOS and used Word perfect
5.1 word processor.

WP51 = WordPerfect 5.1. A very good DOS Word Processor.
To clean the hard disk without format, use the DELTREE command (it'll erase a full directory tree - DELTREE - don't erase the DOS directory!!).
You can use Windows 3.11 with IE 5.0 (the 16 bits version) to surfing the web, do a search in google to find where to download it.
Using Windows 95 is possible also, there are various versions, the only one I've seen in diskettes is the original release (4.00.950 in the system properties tab). If you use it go to this page:
http://www.powerload.fsnet.co.uk/win9x.htm
and to:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads
to find Y2k updates and patches for Windows 95. The latest IE version supported is 5.5SP2, but you can use another browsers like Netscape, Mozilla, Opera ...

Hope this helps.