Network access from a DOS PC
THIS WEEK's NetSpeak discusses how you can access the network resources using a PC running on DOS (Disk Operating System).
Some of you may wonder why one should bother about accessing the network services from a machine that runs on DOS which is an obsolete OS. This is not justified. In fact, if you are a network administrator, you will find many situations in which you need to link to the local network or Net from a DOS box.
For example, suppose the hard disk of a machine which does not have a CD drive gets corrupted, you need to install the Windows OS over the network. You can make the machine live and access the required files from a server by booting with a DOS boot disk that has the necessary tools to link to the network.
There is then the organisation that has many old DOS-based 386/486 PCs and wants to provide the users the facility to access such Net services as Web, e-mail and FTP.
Thus there will be situations in which you need to connect to a network with DOS. You can make a machine live using a DOS boot floppy which can be created easily. But, unlike other modern operating systems like Windows and Linux, DOS does not have any built in tools that help a DOS user connect to the network. That is, you need certain additional programs in the DOS boot floppy to enable you to connect to a network and use its services. Here we will explore a service that lets you create a DOS network boot disk.
Bart's Network Boot Disk
The freely downloadable program available at "Bart's Network Boot Disk'' (http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/network/) can be used to create a network boot disk that allows you to link your DOS box to a network and access shares available on it. The site hosts a program that can be used to automatically generate a DOS boot disk. The only constraint is that you need a Windows 2000/XP machine for creating the boot disk.
To create the boot disk, download the full package and expand it to the local drive of your Windows machine. The program, as mentioned in its site, comes with support for a few network cards and if your card is not included, you need to download the driver for your card and put them into the ndis (example: C:\bfd\cabs\drivers\ndis) sub-directory. Once all the required files are in place, insert a floppy and start the command `bfd msfnet,' which will make the floppy a bootable one with network support. Now, boot the machine with this boot floppy. During the booting process the `boot program' will create a RAM disk. Copy the necessary network tools on to it so that you can use them later. Towards the end of the booting process you will have to provide such network details as log-name, password and workgroup name.
Apart from accessing the network's shared resources, once the network link is established this way, you can access other network services also. That is, if your machine is on a network connected to the Net you can use all the available Net services. Of course, for this you need client programs that run on DOS. Here, we will have a look at one such program called the Arachne web browser.
Arachne WWW browser
Arachne (http://browser.arachne.cz/) is a DOS-based Net client that can be used both as a Web browser and a mail client. Download the file archive, execute it and install Arachne on to a local drive directory. Now, move on to this directory and type the command `arachne.' When you run the program first time you will have to respond to some set-up queries. In response to the `Arachne TCP/IP set up' screen query, select the `Packet Wizard' option if you are on the Net via LAN (the set-up described earlier) or select the 'PPP wizard' option if you want to link to the Net through the modem.
Once the set-up is ready, the browser will become live and you will be automatically taken to the `Arachne' home page. By pressing the `F10' key, you can access the `Arachne' desktop where you will find many program short-cut icons that can be used to access different features of the Arachne software.
For example, you can select the icon labelled `Your e-mail' to access the Arachne's e-mail client component.
FuseMail
It is certainly convenient to have multiple e-mail IDs as they can be used for separate needs; but it will be difficult to access each of these mailboxes via the Web. As many of the popular free mail services do not have POP access, a user has no other alternative than reading the mails through the web interface. In this context, the `Fusemail' service assumes significance. It automatically fetches your mails from various mail services and stores them on its IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol ) mail server so that you can access them later either through your favourite mail client or Web.
This feature packed free service, brought to my attention by the NetSpeak reader Mr. Shrinivasan, supports popular mail services that include Hotmail and Yahoo. For more details, check out: http://www.fusemail.com/.
J. Murali
Email the author at: murali27@saytam.net.in
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