Looking for stuff that you forgot to throw out

[Ben Scott]

On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 4:19 PM, Bill Freeman <f at ke1g.mv.com> wrote:
> USB, of course, would solve many
> problems, but 3.11 drivers may be exciting.

  Don't forget that prior to Win 95 also means MS-DOS.[1]

  While it wouldn't surprise me to learn that someone, somewhere has
crafted a USB stack for DOS/Win 3.x, I've never seen one.  I don't
think you'd find much third-party software that could use such a
stack, either.  You'd prolly get the standard USB classes (serial
port, HID, etc.) but Ethernet is not a standard USB class -- you need
card-specific drivers.  Good luck finding that!  :)

  Even getting a network stack running under Miss DOS can be
interesting.  Whose TCP/IP API did you want -- Novell's, Microsoft's,
or FTP Software's ("packet driver")?

  I used to know that stuff; I'm glad to have forgotten most of it.

  Keep in mind that you can buy a well-equipped netbook for cheap.  I
got an Asus 900A (9" LCD, 4 GB SSD, 1 GB RAM) at BestBuy for $200
about 8 months ago.  You can also buy various special form factors,
such as something the size of a matchbox with USB and Ethernet ports.
That would certainly be more space and power efficient.  I realize
that saving money is always good, and recycling old hardware is nice
to do, and the technical challenge of resurrecting old hardware can be
enjoyable.  But Mess DOS was rarely enjoyable, and that 486 will only
be "free" if your time is worthless.

  Any which way, good luck!  ("You're gonna need it.")

[1] = Technically, Win 95 is really just Windows 4.0[2] bundled with
MS-DOS 7.0, but Win 4.0 provided much more useful stuff itself (such
as something like a proper network API), which 3.x did not.
[2] = We're talking the "classic" line of Windows here, not Windows
NT, which is a completely different OS.

-- Ben