Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 115249 2011-01-09 20:52:00 Serial ports and Dos Machines mask77 (16166) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1168377 2011-01-09 20:52:00 Im trying to figure out how to build a computer to run a very old engraving machine which runs on a Serial port and in Dos. Ideally I would like to run a win95 machine but I don't know how possible that would be without actually finding a very old computer.

I have found the most motherboards these days lack a serial/com port, but there are still some around. I have been told, however, these serial ports aren't "true" serial ports and may give me problems running my old equipment. Anyone have any knowledge in this area? Any idea's on what I could do?

Thanks. :confused:
mask77 (16166)
1168378 2011-01-09 20:59:00 You could look on trademe for an older pc, I have seen a few on there that would run it perfect nedkelly (9059)
1168379 2011-01-09 21:04:00 You could look on trademe for an older pc, I have seen a few on there that would run it perfect

+1 trademe is your best bet. Even if you could find a new mobo then chances are its not going to support 95. Some stuff doesn't even support xp anymore.
icow (15313)
1168380 2011-01-09 21:11:00 Yeah, I just don't know how reliable those old PC's are. I have been running the engraving machine on a computer that runs XP but it recently broke. That why I'm wondering about new motherboards and whether they have "true" serial ports. mask77 (16166)
1168381 2011-01-09 21:29:00 Probably not a good idea to get an old machine. It would be best to fit a serial PCI card, and probably have a dedicated HDD with MSDOS 6.22 loaded onto it.

www.pp.co.nz
Terry Porritt (14)
1168382 2011-01-10 04:25:00 I have standard serial and parallel ports installed on my new computer and they work fine under XP-Pro so you may be ok running the DOS software as well . For some strange reason the serial port comes up as Port 4 not Port 1, but that is no problem .

One DOS program runs quite normally but I do have problems with another DOS instrument software program so I intend to set up a virtual machine using W95 or possibly WFWG3 . 11 in due course .

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
1168383 2011-01-10 08:47:00 I use "Dos Box" a free Dos emulator to run my Dos software on,
"Professional file" & "Neo Paint".
This is running on Windows 7 Professional. As already mentioned you can add a Serial port card. You may be able to use a serial to USB adapter.
mzee (3324)
1168384 2011-01-10 08:59:00 www.nwequipmentsales.com
www.google.com
feersumendjinn (64)
1168385 2011-01-10 09:03:00 Im trying to figure out how to build a computer to run a very old engraving machine which runs on a Serial port and in Dos. Ideally I would like to run a win95 machine but I don't know how possible that would be without actually finding a very old computer.

I have found the most motherboards these days lack a serial/com port, but there are still some around. I have been told, however, these serial ports aren't "true" serial ports and may give me problems running my old equipment. Anyone have any knowledge in this area? Any idea's on what I could do?

Thanks. :confused:

Heard you fixed it... RAM issue was it?

chiefnz AKA IT9
chiefnz (545)
1168386 2011-01-10 21:49:00 If you want a dedicated machine to control the engraver, then installing something like XP just to run a DOS box is a bit of a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

Also getting a new 486 board seems a bit expensive and retrograde, can't see the benefits in that compared to getting a decent more uptodate computer.

MSDOS will run on anything, either 6.22, or you could install DOS7 from a Win98 disk.

For interest, I just installed DOS 6.22 on a SATA drive plugged into an e-sata docking station, having first made a 1GB partition with FAT32. That boots up ok despite some people according to Google having problems with that.
Terry Porritt (14)
1 2