#Win 95 and DOS Network
3 messages in this thread
The question of how to best implement a DOS/Win 95 network came up recently and
this solution seems to be the best one going so I thought I'd pass it along.
There is a Microsoft Workgroup Add-on for MS-DOS which allows a DOS machine to
talk to Windows 3.11 WFW, or Win 95 or NT. However, if you install it the same
way you would for Windows you have a problem with violating security priviliges
on the Win 95 machine. The solution is to install WFDOS in the Windows
directory instead of the NET directory. Doing so will over-right the NET and
related files in Win 95, which are only Client in Win 95. The Win 95 version is
newer but both NET versions are 16 bit real mode apps, and are completely
independent of the Win 95 protected mode 32 bit networking drivers. You can
create a batch file in your Windows directory called Startdos.bat which when
exit to DOS will automatically load whatever is listed including NET START to
start a DOS link with your Workgroup.
For those that are unfamiliar with WFDOS, its similiar in syntax to Netware and
Lantastic. Win 95 comes with Client for DOS but not server. WFDOS has both. The
cost is around $49.00 and is fairly easy to obtain once you're aware that it
exists.
BTW you don't need Win 95 if you just want to run 3DS Blue on a DOS platform
and MAX et al on NT as WFDOS logs to NT as well using the Netbeui Protocol.
CIAO,
Alex
Thanks for this tip. I have posted this to my things to check out when the
time comes to install win95.
What a disaster! No you don't want to follow the advice I recieved from Win 95
support! They said it would be no problem. WRONG. I spoke with WFDOS tech
support after messing up all my net files and they said the *only* way to do it
was as a dual boot with the old dos still intact.
Which means for me, I've had to go back and re-load DOS 6.0 and 6.22 upgrade
and then run Win 95 again to get the files straightened out. There's probably a
faster way but its not obvious.
Then what you need to do is under the old DOS load WFDOS into the default NET
directory just as it says in the instruction manual. When the Win 95 screen
pops up you rapidly hit F8 and it gives you 8 options, the last one is boot
into old DOS. And it does work quite well, had no problems with NT or Win 95
just need to make sure you have a Workgroup name that is in common with all.
You don't need a Domain name as the WFDOS books suggests. One down side
already, although there may be a solution, is no CD-ROM access. Maybe that can
be fixed with more files and buffers in the config.sys. The conventional ram
overhead is outrageous with 100k for the full REDIR.
BTW on the Win 95 CD the resource toolkit is included. Which is pretty neat and
there's a section on Lan 5 and Lan 6 which may be of interest. I need to check
it out but I suspect that it only gives you client privilege as is stated in
the LAN manual.
There is no clean way to do this as far as I can tell except maybe with Banyan
Vines or Wollywong's Pathways, and they probably cost as much as Lanastic;
hardly worth it. While WFDOS is a cost effective soluton its nowhere near as
good or flexible as Lantastic. It does work and its hard to say which is better
running 3DS under Win 95 and using its 32 bit drivers or a WFDOS connection
between workstations. I can throw my original configuration into the mix and it
comes up about the same. They all have their shortcomings but at least WFDOS
will let you Network render. I don't have any idea how robust it is or even if
it can handle the traffic of network rendering. I may give it a try its getting
very tiresome.
Alex