Very Computer

Hey all,

I've got two old PCs - an XT and an XT Turbo.

Their value is so negligable its not funny :)

Since I've got no hope of getting rid of them I thought I'd put em to
some kind of us.  

Would it be worth hooking these up as terminals to the FreeBSD box ?
How would I do this ?

--
David Henshaw

: I've got two old PCs - an XT and an XT Turbo.

: Their value is so negligable its not funny :)

I think it is, I chucked my XT turbo about 10 years ago.  Anything
pre-i386 is generally avoided now.

: Since I've got no hope of getting rid of them I thought I'd put em to
: some kind of us.  

Paper weight or boat anchors would work.  :)
Dial 1-800-ANTIQUE and maybe you can pay them to take them off your
hands.  :)

: Would it be worth hooking these up as terminals to the FreeBSD box ?

Yea, that's about the only use for them outside of scrap.  :)

: How would I do this ?

Use a null modem cable.  You're going to need a serial port, video
card (w/monitor), floppy (to boot the things) and a keyboard.  You could
if you really want to be *ic is drop in a networking board and
run an MS-DOS TCP/IP suite and rlogin.  This will save IRQ resources on
the FreeBSD box unless you are already using one of the supported
intelligent multiport boards and have the serial ports to spare.  You might
get ok performance with a decent 8-bit ethernet card that can take up the
slack of the 8088.  You're basically limited to the NE1000/2000 and
SMC/WD80x3 ethernet cards.

This would make for an interesting experiment while consuming a six pack
of Fosters.  :)
--
/*                            | Spam violation - e-mail dumped...


*/

Quote:> This would make for an interesting experiment while consuming a six pack
> of Fosters.  :)

Cya all soon,
David H.

: I'd probably go the extra expense of the Ethernet Card....
: That way I can still use the FreeBSD box's serial port for my modem....
: Set it up as a router :)
: Pity you can't get X running on such an antique beast...
: Or can I ???  Upgrade the monitor and card and I could use the FreeBSD
: box as an Xserver....  anyone know how to do this ?

I don't think there is an XT based X client software out there.
Desqview/X even requires a 386 or better to my knowledge.

: > This would make for an interesting experiment while consuming a six pack
: > of Fosters.  :)

: How do you know about Fosters ?? :)

Even the corner 7-11 stocks Foster's here in the states.
--
/*                            | Spam violation - e-mail dumped...


*/

Quote:> Hey all,

> I've got two old PCs - an XT and an XT Turbo.

> Their value is so negligable its not funny :)

> Since I've got no hope of getting rid of them I thought I'd put em to
> some kind of us.  

> Would it be worth hooking these up as terminals to the FreeBSD box ?
> How would I do this ?

FTP a copy of NCSA Telnet, and look in it's configuration files.  NCSA
supports
lots of 8-bit ethernet cards natively, as well as the general packet-driver
interface.
Packet drivers are available for practically all Ethernet cards, and if you
cannot
find one you can use odipkt in conjunction with a Novell LSL/ODI driver.

I think that you can also, using NCSA Telnet, set the XT up as a remote
print server,
for printer sharing.  If you have a lot of users printing, you can set them
up to spool to the FreeBSD box via Samba (for Windows users) which then
prints via LPR to the XT which has a printer plugged into it.

http://www.linux.org.uk/Linux8086.html

Good luck,

Luis

Honorable Chooka

=Or can I ???  Upgrade the monitor and card and I could use the FreeBSD
=box as an Xserver....  anyone know how to do this ?

Correction: Your XTs will be the Xservers...

How about connecting through parallel port(s)?

        -mi
--
        "Windows for dummies"

Quote:> How about connecting through parallel port(s)?

Thanx in advance,
David Henshaw.

--

Honorable Chooka

Quote:>> Correction: Your XTs will be the Xservers...

Only for the first part. Second part: "No FreeBSD -> No XFree86"
is obviously wrong -- XFree86 runs on a variety of platforms. The
third part: "No XFree86 -> No X-server" is wrong theoreticly --
there are other X-servers. Some of them, may run on 8086 (over DOS
or some other OS).

So, theoreticly you can set the XTs as X-servers (to be more
precise, to _RUN_ X-servers).

Setting them to run X-clients (also possible theoreticly), I thought
is not what you intended -- you want the applications to run on
the FreeBSD displaying on the XTs' screens, do not you?

        -mi
--
        "Windows for dummies"

Quote:> The third part: "No XFree86 -> No X-server" is wrong theoreticly --
> there are other X-servers. Some of them, may run on 8086 (over DOS
> or some other OS).

Quote:> So, theoreticly you can set the XTs as X-servers (to be more
> precise, to _RUN_ X-servers).

Quote:> Setting them to run X-clients (also possible theoreticly), I thought
> is not what you intended -- you want the applications to run on
> the FreeBSD displaying on the XTs' screens, do not you?

Thanx.

David H.

: >
: > Honorable Chooka

: >
: > =Or can I ???  Upgrade the monitor and card and I could use the FreeBSD
: > =box as an Xserver....  anyone know how to do this ?
: >
: > Correction: Your XTs will be the Xservers...
:
: Ah....I must be confused :)
: An XT is based on the 8086 and so cannot run FreeBSD and therfore
: XFree86.  Hence it would be impossible to set the XT up as an X server.
: Correct ?

The Original IBM PC and the XT are based on the 8088,a weak sister to the
8086 that only has an 8-bit data line.The 8086 is a full 16-bit machine.