A Little Help, Please, With This Old Computer!!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well, I guess this is as good a place as any to post this request.

I just got an old lap top with DOS 3.3 in it. All I need it for is a small word processing program BUT I don’t know the DOS commands to get it to access the install program on my disc for the WP, nor how to command it to install the program on it’s hard drive.

Can anyone out there give me a list of the old DOS commands? I got the CETUS word processing program from the net and I use it on my desk top, but my desk top runs windows and has a lot more hard drive room. I need to set this thing up so that when I turn it on, I can activate CETUS, load in a data disk and then save to the data disk.

I only paid $17 for the thing and the last date on it is 1985 – and it will not accept a 2000 entry. (So I just set it for 1985.) It shows it’s Microsoft DOS.

I had an old TOSHIBA with DOS and it operated on simple commands, like C>MENU opened up the main menu and C>A> switched me to the floppy drive. This thing dosn’t respond to those commands.

Any computer wizards out there?

2

My favorite thing to put on old computers like this is New Deal. I’ve been using it in one form or another for quite some time. I have a 286 laptop on which it runs fine. It’s a full-featured WYSIWYG office suite and windowing OS shell. Should work fine on DOS 3. I think (it’s been a while since I installed it) it’ll run on a machine with a 10MB (yes, TEN megabyte) hard disk and ONE meg of RAM.

Anyway, the web page is here. I’m sure they’ll be happy to have you read all about it.

3

I will see what I can find around the house, but you will be better off getting a DOS book from your library–the advantage to how libraries are a few years behind–since you sound real lost.

But I am an old DOS hand and would be happy to walk you through it over the phone tomorrow. Email me if you want to. I will try to find this CETUS in the meantime.

4

Looks like you’re screwed with CETUS. It’s Windows only.

Does this computer have a hard drive or does it just run on floppies?

5

The thing has a hard drive and a floppy. It’s only something like 12mhz and I think the hard drive is all of 10 megabytes. I know there is a command to get it to load from the A drive, but nothing I do causes it to run. The computer is in good shape, just outdated. With MS-DOS in it, I figure it can run CETUS.

I have to start it by loading in a system disk. It always asks me the date and time, for some reason. After I hit enter on those, it pops over to A drive. If I don’t install the system disk, it loads up to C drive. I have a utilities disk, but again don’t know the commands to get it to respond to it.

I read some commands the book gives to reset some of the system and they are like nothing I’ve ever used. Like ldconsydk for load configure system disk. It responds to ver for version but ignores menu, open, run and load.

6

It should have EDIT, which is the DOS word processor…

7

Ummm… not if CETUS is a Windows program. I’m not familiar with it at all, but if it’s Windows, you need Windows. It won’t run under DOS.

Otherwise, if it’s not Windows only, from the A: prompt, type dir to get a directory of the disk. Look for something called “Install.exe” or “setup.exe” or some such thing that ends in .EXE and sounds like it might be an install program.

Most DOS programs have a Readme.txt on the disk that will tell you how to install 'em. You might want to look for one of those. To actually read it, from the command prompt type:

type readme.txt

Note that you have to type the word “type”. That will write out the contents of a text file to a DOS window.

8

Addition: try “type readme.txt | more” or “more readme.txt” (without the quotes, of course). otherwise, the text will scroll off the screen. that’s IF you have more.com in your dos directory…

and unless I’m mistaken, the edit.com that was included in dos 3.3 was the crappy line editor (similar to edlin, maybe the worst text editor ever). I don’t know that I’d recommend a dos newbie to even attempt it.

Try booting to your hard drive and typing
a:
not a>. that will get you to your a drive, then type
dir
and look for the previously mentioned install programs (most likely install.exe, if it’s a dos based program).

If your machine is a 286 or higher, you can get windows 3.1 running. Good luck.

9

Easy…

First you need to have a DOS prompt, ie C:\ or something similar to that.

Put the disk in Drive A:\ (the floppy drive)

Type DIR A: and look for any file that has an extension of EXE. You should see something similar to install.exe. Change the drive name to A:\ by typing a: then type install.exe or whatever the executable file’s name was. That should then install the program onto the c drive with a little prompting here and there. You may also be able to install the software onto floppies and have them be interchangeable.

HUGS!
Sqrl

10

Unfortunately, with 10megs on a 286 (probably w/no more that 1meg ram) Win 3.1 will be pure misery. The key here is not to accentuate the systems weaknesses but to work with its strengths. A 286 can run a DOS word processor as well as a Pentium can run Word. (I’ve always suspected that Microsoft was in collusion with the hardware manufacturers, requiring hardware upgrades to keep up with Windows’ increased overhead so applications don’t slow down.)

Another problem is PRISM’s inexperience combined with an apparent lack of manuals. Following the second rule of computer trouble shooting (it follows “Is it plugged in and turned on?”) comes “RTFM,” but Prism doesn’t seem to have a manual to effing read. DOS manuals can be found at resale shops, the library (as already mentioned), and used software stores.

Which would be good places to find DOS software, too. It should come with installation instructions and often assumes inexperience and that it will be the only software you will be running.

Since Prism is obviously online, he/she/they can find DOS shareware, which usually has a README file instructing how to install it. Just make sure that it is for DOS, not Windows!

If it’s any reassurance at all, this is how a lot of us here got started, too. It’s like an adventure. At least you don’t have a boss breathing down your neck, wondering when you are going to stop playing with that thing and start making money with it!

11

Early versions of Wordstar worked well in DOS, but finding a copy might not be easy. An alternative I used long ago is an editor called VDE (Video Display Editor). It uses Wordstar commands, and can be customized quite a bit.

Early versions were free: http://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/editor.html

Then the author went to shareware: http://www.punky.com/vde/

DOS was pretty primitive (3.3 was just about up to usable), but there was a lot of good software out there. See the garbo site above ( http://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/ ) for lots more.

Funny how you can get nostalgic over something so bad …

12

Thanks all of you. I’m struggling to follow your suggestions. I found a list of DOS commands on the web, but they were a mix of old and new and roughly 6 or 8 worked on my DOS 3.3 – and nothing which would load the program. I can’t even get the thing to access the utility disk that comes with it.

I know CETUS works with WinWord. I do a lot of writing on my desktop and use the MSOFFICE WinWord for formatting, printing, special details and so on. I can take a CETUS written item, load it into WinWord, edit it extensively, and save it back to disk.

I know on my old TOSHIBA, gotten back in the early 90s – used – it booted up to an extensive menu and all I had to do was highlight what I wanted. That’s what I was hoping this thing would do. Unfortunately, the Toshiba burned out it’s screen ($500 to replace it!!).

I wonder if the DOS 3.3 could be upgraded to today’s DOS?

No, I did not get a DOS instruction book with it, just a booklet that tells me how to run the computer and two DOS disks – one a system disk and one a Utilities disk.

13

No, “today’s DOS” is more a DOS emulator than true DOS. It is built into Windows and cannot be separated out.

DOS 3.3 is a fine little operating system. The later versions added features that weren’t much use for a 286 like you apparently have. Upgrading would be a waste of time and disk space.

Give up on trying to install CETUS!!! It will not work on your machine. Put the disk somewhere where you cannot see it and download something intended for your machine from a shareware site. Try any of the places mentioned so far. Make sure that the word processor you use saves files in a format Word can read. Wordstar format is still pretty universal. RTF is real good; plain ASCII is a last-ditch.

Click here for a DOS Tutorial and here for DOS commands.

Your old Toshiba probably needed its menuing system installed by someone before you got it. Now you will have to do it yourself. Try using EasyMenu if you think you absolutely need a menu. You don’t, really! Again, if you are just going to be running a word processor, that will be overkill.

However, I don’t believe in roughing it, so the first thing I install on any DOS computer I touch is the old DOS version of the Norton Commander. It is priceless for moving and copying and all those DOS chores that are such a pain. A shareware equivalent is DOS Navigator.

Put the laptop aside, download the DOS tutorial, and run it on your “big” machine. Get an idea of what you are doing before you try to tackle the older computer. It’s not hard to learn how to use it, but we have all been spoiled by the modern stuff that it looks a little overwhelming at first.

14

YooHoo! Dos words ONLY work if there is a path to the Dos directory in the autoexec.bat …plus, their must be files in the Dos directory, cause lots of times there aren’t, the computer would still work, however.

Dos always comes with a simple word processor that works even if you don’t have any files in the Dos directory.

Here is how it works:

type:
copy con autoexec.bat
Path=c:\dos
‘control z’ [this saves this file]

spiffy. Surely some of you techy guys remember this one, I think that I typed it right?

15

I think my brain is going to explode.

I went to the sites suggested and looked at all of the commands needed to operate in DOS and praised Microsoft for making the world an easier place. I did download a DOS WP designed to operate with my antique system and will be trying to install it soon. Thanks people.

16

FWIW I was running an 8086 5 Mhz, 20 MB HD (most of it unused), with DOS 3.3, WORD 5.0 and Multiplan and it all worked fine. I also used it for email with compuserve’s basic software (text oriented).

A couple of years ago I upgraded the computer to a Pentium 233 MMX because I was hearing about this thing called the “Internet”. The computer came with Word97 and Excel and a ton of other stuff but I have kept using the old WORD and Multiplan just because I knew them, they did what I needed and I did not want to bother learning new stuff.

I have all the original disks, manuals etc. If this is worth anything to you let me know. (It’s about time I learnt word97 since it is already obsolete :slight_smile:

The directory of my DOS 3.31 disk follows. All the EXE and COM files are commands:

ADAPTEC DVR 335 10-06-89 12:54p ADAPTEC.DVR
ANSI SYS 1,709 09-16-87 12:00p ANSI.SYS
APPEND EXE 5,794 09-16-87 12:00p APPEND.EXE
ASSIGN COM 1,530 09-16-87 12:00p ASSIGN.COM
ATTRIB EXE 10,656 09-16-87 12:00p ATTRIB.EXE
AUTOEXEC BAT 105 05-31-92 8:26p AUTOEXEC.BAT
BACKUP COM 30,048 09-16-87 12:00p BACKUP.COM
CHKDSK COM 11,923 09-16-87 12:00p CHKDSK.COM
COLOR COM 1,092 04-13-87 3:45p COLOR.COM
COLOR DOC 1,305 04-13-87 11:17a COLOR.DOC
COMMAND COM 25,332 09-16-87 12:00p COMMAND.COM
COMP COM 4,183 09-16-87 12:00p COMP.COM
COUNTRY SYS 11,254 09-16-87 12:00p COUNTRY.SYS
DEBUG COM 16,000 09-16-87 12:00p DEBUG.COM
DISKCOMP COM 5,848 09-16-87 12:00p DISKCOMP.COM
DISKCOPY COM 6,264 09-16-87 12:00p DISKCOPY.COM
DISKINIT EXE 49,971 09-16-87 12:00p DISKINIT.EXE
DISPLAY SYS 11,259 09-16-87 12:00p DISPLAY.SYS
DRIVER SYS 1,385 09-16-87 12:00p DRIVER.SYS
EDLIN COM 7,495 09-16-87 12:00p EDLIN.COM
EGA SYS 2,984 02-08-88 12:00p EGA.SYS
ENHDISK SYS 3,321 09-16-87 12:00p ENHDISK.SYS
EXE2BIN EXE 3,050 09-16-87 12:00p EXE2BIN.EXE
FASTOPEN EXE 3,888 09-16-87 12:00p FASTOPEN.EXE
FDISK COM 54,051 09-16-87 12:00p FDISK.COM
FIND EXE 6,403 09-16-87 12:00p FIND.EXE
FORMAT COM 13,643 09-16-87 12:00p FORMAT.COM
GRAFTABL COM 6,208 09-16-87 12:00p GRAFTABL.COM
GRAPHICS COM 7,576 09-16-87 12:00p GRAPHICS.COM
HGC EXE 768 11-01-83 12:27a HGC.EXE
JOIN EXE 9,612 09-16-87 12:00p JOIN.EXE
KEYB COM 10,868 09-16-87 12:00p KEYB.COM
KEYBOARD SYS 41,144 09-16-87 12:00p KEYBOARD.SYS
KEYBSP COM 3,187 05-28-86 12:00p KEYBSP.COM
LABEL COM 2,346 09-16-87 12:00p LABEL.COM
LINK EXE 39,076 09-16-87 12:00p LINK.EXE
MODE COM 15,159 09-16-87 12:00p MODE.COM
MORE COM 282 09-16-87 12:00p MORE.COM
PARK COM 914 10-23-84 12:33p PARK.COM
PRINT COM 8,995 09-16-87 12:00p PRINT.COM
PRINTER SYS 13,559 09-16-87 12:00p PRINTER.SYS
RAMDRIVE SYS 6,459 07-12-85 4:42p RAMDRIVE.SYS
RECOVER COM 5,369 09-16-87 12:00p RECOVER.COM
RENDIR COM 47 01-27-83 6:56p RENDIR.COM
RESTORE COM 35,720 09-16-87 12:00p RESTORE.COM
SETUP1 COM 30,260 09-30-87 12:00p SETUP1.COM
SHARE EXE 8,664 09-16-87 12:00p SHARE.EXE
SMARTDRV SYS 10,188 02-08-88 12:00p SMARTDRV.SYS
SORT EXE 1,946 09-16-87 12:00p SORT.EXE
SPEED COM 26,139 06-01-86 11:55a SPEED.COM
SUBST EXE 10,552 09-16-87 12:00p SUBST.EXE
SYS COM 6,193 09-16-87 12:00p SYS.COM
TREE COM 3,540 09-16-87 12:00p TREE.COM
XCOPY EXE 11,216 09-16-87 12:00p XCOPY.EXE
CONFIG SYS 67 06-23-97 1:55a CONFIG.SYS

(I am feeling nostalgic now… the good old days of Jurassic computing…)

17

I cannot find the DOS 3.3 manual itself but I have this notion that if you type a question mark after the command you will get an explanation of what it does… on the other hand this may be true only for later versions of DOS which I have also used.

I do have a QUE book “MS-DOS quick reference” which explains all the commands but I cannot find the same information in a computer file.

18

Showoff. Ok, how about an even more arcane way to do it:

echo ‘path=c:\dos’ > c:\autoexec.bat

:slight_smile:

19

OK people, I’ve gotten a WP for DOS loaded into my system --that went rather well. HOWEVER, I can’t access it from C drive (the hard drive it was installed to). I can see it when I type in DIR, but typing in PCW (the name on the directory) gets me a bad command message. I type in loadPCW and get the same.

What is a command to access programs on C if load doesn’t work?

My setup is this: C> Yep. That’s it.

20

Type this (the bold stuff only and hitting the [ENTER] key after each line):

CD PCW 'this changes the current directory to C:\PCW
PCW 'this runs the PCW program, assuming that PCW is the name of the .EXE file

Alternatively, you can try:
C:\PCW\PCW
which does much the same thing except that it leaves you in the root directory. Don’t do it this way unless you have added C:\PCW to your path, or the program might not be able to find its files.

It’s 2:30AM US Central time on a Saturday night. You have some potential for wasting your life on computers, too!