I am trying to get a file onto an old semi-corrupted install of win 95 on an old toshiba 620ct laptop which has:

- NO CDROM
- NO FLOPPY
- NO ETHERNET

but does have:

+ Keyboard
+ Serial port
+ Parallel port
+ PCMCIA (but no drivers for anything i try to plug in on win 95)

I am wondering if there is some way to transfer files with the available forms of input so that I can further get an external backpack cdrom driver working or the PCMCIA ethernet adapter (i have no driver on win 95 by default). I have successfully tested between two other laptops with floppies a transfer over paraller ports using LPTDOS, which sets up a client/server to transfer files over LPT ports. Can some old school linux experts help me out here? Any suggestions? This is kind of urgent...

Kristian Hermansen

There's a program minicon or minicom that's just a serial comms program. Both windows and most linux distros have it.

Under the Win 95 install on the laptop it doesn't seem to have either minicon or minicom. Remember that I can only use files that came with the original install and can't get anything else onto the computer until I can transfer files over the available methods. There is a command CTTY in dos that supposedly can connect to different terminals, i wonder if this mght work but I can't get it working. Maybe someone else out there knows more?

Kristian Hermansen

here are some things that may help.

http://www.delmar.edu/Courses/ITNW2313/par-ser.htm

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000246.htm

is there any way to access the internet from this machine? an external modem maybe? the reason i ask is i'm thinking download. hope that helps.
good luck.

The windows program RoofRabbit is refering to is called Hyperterminal. To check if it installed look at c:\Program Files\accessories\hyperterminal. I do not think the ctty command will work.

Another possibility is if direct cable connection was installed. Look at Start >> Programs >> accessories >> communications. Of course you need another windows computer with the same software installed.

Yeah no external modem and no direct connection installed in the 95 laptop :-( I did just get ctty working! I cant figure out how to transfar file though. WHat I did was setup Tera Term Pro on my XP laptop and then issued "ctty com1" on the 95 laptop which created a nice conneciton. Now, I can issue command on my XP machine just like I was at the 95 laptop. The problem is that it seems tricky to transfer files. I trid the copy command, but to no avail. I had a helpful resource to guide along, but this machine is not allowing me to copy from com1 to the 95 laptop :-( See my resource here below:

http://chrio.org/serial/

This is basically the same problm i was having. If you know what to do when it comes to the copy command that would be great! I tried issuing the edit command, but then the process in transferred back to the 95 laptop when this happens. I had planned on inputting the data into edit command and then saving it. This does not work :-(

Kristian Hermansen

i had a read at the link you provided, looks like your questions are answered in that guide. at the end of the guide, the hard work has been done as you can dowload the five pieces needed. keep reading, i think you'll be ok.

The problem is that I need to use the copy command but it is not working and fails to copy from com1. It says unable to read from device. He is not clear about just how to execute the copy command and in fact it may be different in the versions of software i amn using which might not allow me to copy over console com1 port :-( The files at the end of the tutorial are broken too just to let you know, and are useless until I can get the copy command working to get the files over there :-( Any ideas? I'm lost so much..

Kristian Hermansen

i'm just reading this how to, but, looks like you need to start the tranfer from the pc w/tera term, then issue COPY COM1 filename from the laptop. you may also want to have a look at these

http://www.easydos.com/interlink.html

http://www.easydos.com/intersvr.html

good luck.

<edit> about the files being broken, you could email the author, or use another program, or find the program and split is yourself. again good luck. </edit>

Hyperterminal supports zmodem transfers. Use it.

If interlink/intersvr are on the 95 machine that should end the problem, I hope! I will check when I get the chance to see the laptop again later. Instead of using what he has posted on the website, I am trying to get LPTDOS setup which supports transfers over parallel port. I have got that working on another machine and it works beautifully. It is about 16k, but packed with UPX it is only 8k. Thanks for the input :-)

Kristian Hermansen

post back whether you get it sorted or not. if not we'll keep trying, if so, it'd be nice to post the steps taken as a reference.
good luck.

FINALLY SOLVED -- THE CHEATING WAY!

OK, it has been a very long time since my last post, but I just got the laptop back again and solved it another way. I could have tried to hack together a solution like mentioned above, but I took the easy way out instead :-)

Since any hack for getting files onto the laptop involves having another computer, I thought why not just buy a Laptop HDD to PC HDD adapter? This IDE adapter allows me to stick the laptop drive into my PC and acess it that way! I just used a Knoppix Linux boot cd while the laptop HDD was installed, and transferred the necessary files from my PC drive (NTFS) to the laptop drive (FAT). It was that simple. I mean, it would have been nice to hack it some other way, but my time is worth money -- and this hack took about 15 seconds...

Kristian Hermansen