need help getting very old computer going

[computer newbie]

6.0? Hmm....we might be dealing with something even older then, early 90s. You might even have win 3.x on there, it's tough to say.

Do you have a brand name (HP, packard bell, etc.) on there? Sometimes you can find a model # on the front or a sticker on the back or bottom of the case.

Do you have a cd-rom or just a floppy? And how big is your hd? You can type "DIR" at the dos prompt and it will display the files and give the hd size in bytes at the bottom.

it just has a flopy. it's got 42 files on the HD and has 24440832 bytes free. i'll turn it off and have a look around the case and see if i can find a brand name or a model but on the top of it it sas RAS dial-in server.

what's the chances of it been just a server.

 

[computer newbie]

couldent find much. there is how ever 2 stickers on the bottem of it one with parts of the computer and how many each component's are in it.

 

[Jorsoft]

HD is only 2.4 gb, floppy only. Okay, that helps somewhat.

I think you're right that it might just have been a server. In any case, software wise, it's not doing so well. You should probably just wipe the hd and install Freedos to get it useable. Then select a gui OS, like Linux or something.

FREEDOS Ripcord BootDisk

 

[computer newbie]

HD is only 2.4 gb, floppy only. Okay, that helps somewhat.

I think you're right that it might just have been a server. In any case, software wise, it's not doing so well. You should probably just wipe the hd and install Freedos to get it useable. Then select a gui OS, like Linux or something.

FREEDOS Ripcord BootDisk

so that freedos will wipe the hard drive. and than i install an OS on it right

 

[computer newbie]

if it help's it has a conetion thing on the back of it to use AUTO CAD. so maybe it is a actul computer but it might be able to double as a server. but i think that is very doubtfull

 

[computer newbie]

it's an actul computer i think, it's just that the HD is soo small. i just google that RAS dial in server and it sound's like that's there so you can accese other network's

Remote Access Server (RAS) for Dialing-In

my knowldge is limeted.

 

[Jorsoft]

Sounds like an old *** dial in server. It can be used as a standard pc, though, just need an OS.

FreeDOS will wipe everything and let you use DOS. But you can find a linux distro if you like. It doesn't sound like you have an optical drive in there so it may be tricky getting a non-DOS OS on there. Do you have a spare? Pop the case open and check if it uses IDE connections. It probably does. Then you should be able to pop in a spare cd-rom and that'll make life easier.

My suggestions are either DSL (Darn Small Linux) or IBM OS/2.

 

[computer newbie]

Sounds like an old *** dial in server. It can be used as a standard pc, though, just need an OS.

FreeDOS will wipe everything and let you use DOS. But you can find a linux distro if you like. It doesn't sound like you have an optical drive in there so it may be tricky getting a non-DOS OS on there. Do you have a spare? Pop the case open and check if it uses IDE connections. It probably does. Then you should be able to pop in a spare cd-rom and that'll make life easier.

My suggestions are either DSL (Darn Small Linux) or IBM OS/2.

i think it dose use IDE and no i have no spare cd-drive's in my house. it look's like i might have do it the hard way. what is involved???

 

[Jorsoft]

This would be easier if you had USB.....

Without a spare cd-rom you'll have to use floppies. I will PM you shortly...

 

[computer newbie]

This would be easier if you had USB.....

Without a spare cd-rom you'll have to use floppies. I will PM you shortly...

ok cool. what do you mean by This would be easier if you had USB??.