# Going on the WWW with Dos 6.22 or 5.0

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 03-Jun-2009 0:10:49

Last retro post for tonight but figured I'd ask, since we apparently have some very knowledgeable people here and searching on the net is giving me a big headache. How, basically, do I connect to the internet using dos 6.22 or 5.0? I'd like to try Freedos-32 but it's probably not accessible. Anyway, what are the things I'll need to have, the account types I can use etc? I read about Telnet and BBS and am also interested in those but for now, I'm talking about the world wide web. Do I need to go through a Unix emulator or is there an easier way? I just wanna figure this all out so I don't have my 486 computer sitting in front of me with the C prompt and my brain going"what" and no account to connect to cause I didn't know what I needed. Thanks. Seriously, I've been trying to figurethis out for 11 years and took a few off but am back now. lol

## Post 2 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 03-Jun-2009 0:48:07

Well this is proving interesting.
I've been here drinking beer, watching / listening to the birds outside my window, and, if you don't mind, watching the show.
Everytime I've popped back in here I've seen something else on this.
Here are your options:
- a telecommunications program such as Telix or Procom, there were scores of them. Look up Procom as that was the most common.
With that you could use the shell account you've been asking about, and yes, they're harder and harder to find.
Your second option is a DOS-based PPP stack and browser / email client, and I only know of one: NetTamer.
Don't know how well it works, last I saw in an archive most of the universe probably doesn't care about, it's been made open-source.
That doesn't mean you'd have to compile it, it just means you would get the source with it.
I don't know how well it works.
Should you decide to use a network card instead of a modem, there used to be a 16-bit compiled Linux - but the last time I saw it, was 1997.
Plus if you get a network card, you basically have to install - manually - all the network driver, client and stack support.
Novell 4.0 anyone? I was a technical writer - my pre-programmer days - when that shit was widely used! What a beast!
So here's the reason why:
Remember in 1995 when Netscape hit the streets? That was really the first mainstream web browser - not mainstream like I've seen Used here, but I mean outside of the university setting.
By then, Windows for Workgroups 3.11was - barely - network-aware.
With Windows 95, when most Windows users started using the web, you already had full network support plug and play (such as it was) and dial-up networking, most people then of course only used broadband at work.
So in short, what you want to do, is retrofit new technology onto an old machine, whose architecture came to be before the commercial internet came to be. And yes, I realize TCP/IP and DNS had long since been invented, but no OS was using it.
I suggest you get a 28.8 or 14.4 modem - not a 56K modem as I don't know if the old UART chips will handle it - and put that inside your 486.
Or better yet, get you an old Hayes-Compatible external modem and hook it on your serial port.
You'll have some fun echoing the modem calls and experimenting with init strings - unless NetTamer does this pretty well.
I remember doing it as a service tech for users who were first getting computers so they could use the Internet!
One final thing:
DOS 5.0 should handle everything, and as I said I don't know how NetTamer works but I imagine it's goint to want a sizeable chunk of your memory.
So you'll need to make sure and load your device drivers high and specify the command shell envirronment size, files buffers stacks God I can't believe I actually remember this .... kutos to the beers I gucss ...
And you have to account for your screen reader, whatever that's going to be. Personally, I had JAWS for DOS then, but I wasn't supporting screen readers so don't know what to tell you.
JAWS took up a whopping 98K in memory.
You will need to learn how to manage memory in DOS, and you may want to skip the sound blaster card, unless you want to fight with Direct Memory Access channels and device drivers.
Just remember whatever PPP client you try and patch in, it came after the graphical web came, and hence is only as retro as the 90s, but it ought to work.

## Post 3 by SingerOfSongs (Heresy and apostasy is how progress is made.) on Wednesday, 03-Jun-2009 4:26:52

I think your best bet is going to be using a shell account, and then using your text based browser. (links or linx is the only one that comes to mind, don't remember which spelling is correct.)
Can I ask why you're attempting such a feat? I mean I loved my dos days, but wow.

## Post 4 by bozmagic (The rottie's your best friend if you want him/her to be, lol.) on Wednesday, 03-Jun-2009 11:07:27

Easy but rather expensive way round that, update to Windows XP or Vista. I was never able to use the Web in the Dos days since the School computers only had stupid cheapo Hal 95 on them, a total nightmare with Internet Explorer.

## Post 5 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 03-Jun-2009 12:01:51

Yay! I forgot that NetTamer has all of that built-in! And yes, it is screenreader accessible from what I've heard. But why is it better for me to use a shell account? Not that I don't want to, just curious. Anyway, now I realised that I can just get another regular dial-up account with toast.net and use that. I'm definitely using a modem, though, as I have several lying around andno clue what to do with a network card. If, for some stupid reason, I can'tget one of the Keynote Golds or IBM Insight (486s with 6.22) to work, I've got an IBM Thinkpad/Pentium 133 laptop that I can gut (has Windows with nothing else) and put dos 5.0 onit. Don't like that laptop though... piece of junk. If pushed to the limit, I'll do it on my Compaq Armada 1750 6333t but that's an absolute last resort, since I'm trying to have it upgraded from Pentium II to III and the motherboard changed so I can put XP on it and use it as a stable back-up machine. That thing has everything imaginable on it. I screwed up my Vocaleyes disks like an idiot so now have to get JAWS for Dos. Up to 1994 is fine with me.

## Post 6 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 03-Jun-2009 18:06:37

Well if NetTamer works (not talking the screen reader thing, but memory consumption) you should be good to go.
JAWS for Dos doesn't have a talking install, so maybe you want to install it to a directory on a Windows XP machine and then copy or rather xcopy all the data to a floppy from which you can run it and copy to the hard drive of your old PC.
The only advantage to a shell account - if you can find access to one - is the only software in memory besides your screen reader would be your telecommunications software like Procom. As I said I don't know but I imagine that such tasks as caching web pages and disassembling attachments from email could put quite a strain on memory usage.
Remember DOS has 640K of low memory and up to 1024K I think it is, of high.
Memory is not infinite, you don't have swap space, and programs typically don't store their memory data to disk in temp files like they do in Windows.
Now I'm curious enough, at least at some point, to go find the source for NetTamer if it is in fact open source, and see how they're doing it.
When you shell into a unix box (use a shell account), the server does the caching and everything. Your PC is basically a dumb terminal at that point.
Who knows, maybe instead you'll get up an 80s-style BBS network with multiple phone lines coming in and Wildcat or some other software to admin it with?

## Post 7 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 03-Jun-2009 20:06:26

lol Dont give me ideas! I just read about that the other day while looking up bbs. As for Nettamer, I downloaded it from the manufacturer's page
http://www.nettamer.net/
They said it was Shareware so I'm not sure what's going on there. Maybe, it's freeware now but they didn't update the official site? I wish I could use it in XP to giveit a shot. It sounds like a great piece of software.

## Post 8 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 03-Jun-2009 21:05:16

Yes, I was afparently wrong about Open Source. I saw the site, and you'll find what you need in the .doc file.
Apparently, it's got its own PPP stack and depends on your use of a modem - something I haven't used in oh, 10 or 11 years ...