Am 28.12.21 schrieb deon@21:2/116 in FSX_RETRO:

Hallo deon,

Btw, is there an alternative to the web client and the VMware Remote
Console, which has to be launched from the web client?

I have also VMware fusion on my laptop - and I can connect to it with that. You may be able to use VMware player (if it's still around) - but I only ever use VRC.

I've looked and VMware Player is still a product, but if I've read
correctly, it is only a standalone VMware product (to use locally).
But I've found out that the VMware Remote Console can be launched
using parameters to log in on the ESXi server, so it is way easier and
I don't have to use the web interface :)

Oh, another NetWare user! :)
Are you using it for something special?

Yeah BBSing :) I run my old BBS from 1995 in DOS 6.22 and wanted to run a couple of other DOS 6.22 VMs representing different nodes, and try out the different mailers. Its not really running - I've been distracted with something else, but when I get back in the mood, I'll turn it on and keep playing with it.

Have fun :)

I was a Netware (3.1) admin back in the day, so was (and still am) a huge fan of netware.

Same here, but with 4.11 :) Now I'm trying 5.1.

I was running Netware 6, and it was great, I could NFS mount it on linux, making it super easy to edit and compare files from the many backups I have (I've wanted to get rid of all my duplicate copies from DOS machine images that had no shared disk).

I'm using FTP to connect to NetWare from my Linux machine; I have to
look if NFS is available for 5.1

But VMware 6 is very bloated (and so different to my fading memories of v3.11), so I went back to VMware 4, but couldnt get NFS working. With
VMware 4, I found a 5 user license, which is just enough - I did look for a 10/50/100 user license but couldnt find it - but folks are still trying to sell them on ebay.

Same here :) I only have a 2- or 3-user license for 4.11, but
(original) licenses for 25 or 50 users for 3.12.
For 5.1, I do have a license for the "Small Business" edition, but it
is time-bombed and stopped working ~2003 or 2004. Meh.
But I found a "unlimited server and client" license for 5.1 on the
web, so I'm fine at the moment :)

If I could get NFS working on NW 4, I'd probably use it more.

;-) Maybe using FTP could be worth a look? I don't know what desktop environment you're using, but sometimes 'mounting' a FTP server is
possible. But I haven't tried it yet - and the NetWare FTP server is
printing the directory listings a little different, so the FTP client
has to be able to parse them.

[serial ports for VMs]

Can you pass the USB device through to the VM, and have the VM (with the appropriate driver) talk to it? I'm sure I've done this.

That would work, but not with Windows NT 4 :)
I've set up an NT4 server to play with an old Citrix MetaFrame
version, and have connected an ISDN phone via serial port to the ESXi
server. When using a 'real' (/dev/ttyS0) port, I can forward it to the
VM and it is working - so I can use the telephone software to control
the phone from NT4, and even use GroupWise to dial a number (via
TAPI).
But that might only work as long as the ESXi host has a real serial
port that ESXi recognizes...

I think I had myO5D USB to serial adapter, where the DOS machine
talks to the ESXi serial port, and the USB/serial dongle connect to
it, back to another VM running tcpser. (Now I have that USB/serial
dongle in a Pi running TCPser.)

I fail to understand that setup, sorry.
Did you manage it so that DOS talks to COM1: (in DOS) and the data is
coming out of an USB-to-serial adapter?

Have a nice weekend!

Regards,
Anna

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* Origin: Imzadi Box Point (21:3/127.1)

Re: Re: Retro virtualization platform?
By: acn to deon on Fri Jan 07 2022 10:49 am

But I found a "unlimited server and client" license for 5.1 on the
web, so I'm fine at the moment :)

Do you remember where ;) I'm wondering if they would have a NW 4 license - or I might try 5.1 as well.

Do you have a DOS machine talking to NW5 using TCP/IP?

If I could get NFS working on NW 4, I'd probably use it more.

;-) Maybe using FTP could be worth a look? I don't know what desktop environment you're using, but sometimes 'mounting' a FTP server
is possible.

Hmm, maybe.

My working environment is CLI - and I use automount a lot. I've never tried mounting with other protocols other than NFS.

I was doing a google search today, and found a german website with a lot of utilities - one that interested me was an RSYNC NLM. That would work as well for me.

I just want to use my linux tools "diff", "vi", etc to figure out which is my good "bat files" and delete the excess.

I think I had myO5D USB to serial adapter, where the DOS machine
talks to the ESXi serial port, and the USB/serial dongle connect to
it, back to another VM running tcpser. (Now I have that USB/serial
dongle in a Pi running TCPser.)

I fail to understand that setup, sorry.

Did you manage it so that DOS talks to COM1: (in DOS) and the data is
coming out of an USB-to-serial adapter?

So yes. My ESXi host has a serial port, which I gave to DOS and it used it as COM1. So anything going to the DOS's COM1, came out of the ESXi host's serial port.

Connected to that serial port, was a USB->Serial (DB9) cable. Thus the Serial side was connected to the ESXi's host serial port, and the USB side also connected to the same ESXi host USB interface. I gave that USB device to another VM, running linux and TCPser. (I actually did it with a Pi first...)

So DOS could talk to Linux via a serial connection, on the same host, but 2 different VMs. TCPser, via a "phone number" could connect to any host, so my DOS machine (running FrontDoor) could dial up my fidohub (running QICO) and transfer mail/files.

Have a nice weekend!

You to!


...δεσ∩
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