On 11/13/2015 05:10 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
FWIW, DOS 6.xx will boot on anything 100% PC-compatible, 8088 on up, and it shouldn't have a problem reading filesystems created by earlier DOS versions. Assuming you can write a bootable floppy and get INTERLNK onto it, that would probably be the easiest option.
A couple of weeks ago, I dug out an old XT with a Quantum Q540 drive in it. It didn't want to start at first, but a couple of tapes on the side of the HDA caused the drive to spin up and come ready.
Not wanting to tempt fate, I copied over the Interlink files from DOS 6.2 onto the XT system and booted a P3 system here running Win98SE and connected them with a Laplink parallel cable (I've still got a box of them). I think I ran interlnk on the XT and intersvr on the 98SE one (or maybe it was the reverse). At any rate I discovered that it was indeed possible to transfer files over even though the XT was running DOS 4.00 and the 98SE was running from a FAT32 partition.
So yes, it can be done. Just in case, I also had a network card in the XT (an Artisoft AE/2T) and MSLANMAN ready. But I didn't need it.
I do hope the Q540 will keep running for at least another decade, but if it doesn't, I've got the files backed up. I can always run it with an XTIDE card and a small CF card, if worse comes to worst.
--Chuck
