DOS ain't dead

Hello,

I've recently tried to get networking working on FreeDOS, but for the life of me cannot get it to work. At first, the packet driver did not work, and after installing a packet driver based on what was recommended online I was pointed to Crynwr, it seems that the packet driver functions but LAN won't function. For example, when I go to test ping it won't resolve, and DOS reports that the ethernet address is "FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF".

I also get an odd "Physical hardware networking is not supported at this time.", but I find this confusing since I can see where the packet driver loads below that.

The machine is an intel nuc5i5myhe, and has working hardware per other OS/machines using the same router, cable.

Now I'm not the most technically savvy, but would appreciate any guidance I could get from someone more experienced.

Best,
Linvel

What is the network card you are testing?

Is it an "on board" network card?

On real hardware?? The chances of that working are extremely low. Modern hardware is NOT supported by FreeDOS.

But networking will function okay under QEMU or VirtualBox (with NE2000 or PCNTPK packet drivers), e.g. mTCP's FTP, Links2, or Curl.

> On real hardware?? The chances of that working are extremely low. Modern
> hardware is NOT supported by FreeDOS.
>
> But networking will function okay under QEMU or VirtualBox (with NE2000 or
> PCNTPK packet drivers), e.g. mTCP's FTP, Links2, or Curl.

I deeply appreciate both responses, and I realize that my error was installing FreeDOS on the machine directly. I'll throw it on QEMU, and go from there. For the record, it seems pretty functional on a fairly modern computer, just doesn't do networking.

But I do appreciate the clarity, hope y'all have a great day.

>
> The machine is an intel nuc5i5myhe, and has working hardware per other
> OS/machines using the same router, cable.
>

If this is the machine in-question...

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/boardsandkits/NUC5i3MYBE_TechProdSpec.pdf


Then this might get you working in 'pure DOS'.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/2...t-adapter-drivers-for-ms-dos-final-release.html

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http://glennmcc.org/

> If this is the machine in-question...
>
> https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/boardsandkits/NUC5i3MYBE_TechProdSpec.pdf
>
>
> Then this might get you working in 'pure DOS'.
>
> https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/2...t-adapter-drivers-for-ms-dos-final-release.html

Wow, thanks, that's an awesome find. I really appreciate it.

>
> Wow, thanks, that's an awesome find. I really appreciate it.

You are very welcome. :)

Please let us all know whether it works or not.

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http://glennmcc.org/

> >
> > Wow, thanks, that's an awesome find. I really appreciate it.
>
> You are very welcome. :)
>
> Please let us all know whether it works or not.

Hey, I did try it out, but it says that it's a windows only program, so I'm unsure how to proceed Any advice?

Just a stupid question, the machine has lan and wlan, did you use lan with lan cable?
As fd 1.3 installs lan automatically, it may be that there is no driver for this new machine. As much as I know fd has almost no wlan drivers. In doubt try running it in a vm with a standard network card emulation.
fdnpkg is a good tool to check if it works, see:
https://www.bootablecd.de/FreeDOS-Internet-version/help110/en/hhstndrd/base/fdnpkg.htm

> > >
> > > Wow, thanks, that's an awesome find. I really appreciate it.
> >
> > You are very welcome. :)
> >
> > Please let us all know whether it works or not.
>
> Hey, I did try it out, but it says that it's a windows only program, so I'm
> unsure how to proceed Any advice?

I fired-up my Win11 machine and extracted it.

Here it is in a ZIP file.

http://glennmcc.org/PRODOS.ZIP

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http://glennmcc.org/

> > > >
> > > > Wow, thanks, that's an awesome find. I really appreciate it.
> > >
> > > You are very welcome. :)
> > >
> > > Please let us all know whether it works or not.
> >
> > Hey, I did try it out, but it says that it's a windows only program, so
> I'm
> > unsure how to proceed Any advice?
>
> I fired-up my Win11 machine and extracted it.
>
> Here it is in a ZIP file.
>
> http://glennmcc.org/PRODOS.ZIP

And here's what I'm using right now on this i7 machine
booted to OpenDos v7.01

http://glennmcc.org/PRODOS-glennmcc.zip

In c:\autoexec.bat

call c:\prodos\pro1000\dos\start.bat

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http://glennmcc.org/

> On real hardware?? The chances of that working are extremely low. Modern
> hardware is NOT supported by FreeDOS.

Why not? I think that a lot of gigabit ethernet NICs had DOS drivers, even the intel. I have realtek 8111 and also has DOS driver that I can run native on my Sandybridge machine and also under Win98 (NDIS driver). But probably after 2020 or so nobody develops new DOS drivers for modern NICs. Then PCI/PCIe card with supported chip may be used.

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DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.