Professor

First, the computer has not been turned on in over 20 years.

Next, there is a file on the hard drive that I'd like to get off.

Here are the problems: 1) It only has a 5 1/4 inch floppy. The best I can do is a CD/DVD drive with any of my semi-current computers.

2) The file was either a Leading Edge proprietary word processing package or Wordstar... no GUI at all, and I don't remember the function buttons.

3) I think I can find a cable to plug into my printer, but there are no drivers available for the system.


Any suggestions?

TeknoKing

Should be fun, do you have a floppy?

I don't remember this system, what OS simulation is on it? and you can print to LPT1 (serial port)

TeknoKing

I'm having a dejavu moment, I think you've already asked this...

Is it CP/M or DOS?

CPM
http://discordia.org.uk/px4/cpm.html

DOS
http://www.lsi.upc.edu/~robert/teach...f/doshelp.html

DOS I know well, so ask away.. CPM, not so much, it's too limited

doopstr

Your best bet may be to find an old PC that has both 5.25 and 3.5 drive. Copy the file to 3.5. You should then be able to find an external USB 3.5" floppy drive.

Professor

I think it is DOS and I don't have a 3.5 drive at all. I don't have any of the disks either.

Maybe I'll carry it to the Sheriff's office and tell them it's full of child porn. Let them spend 20 or 30 hours extracting files of old term papers to get the file I need.

TeknoKing

nothing like 2 pixels worth of porn

Damn, this is considered to be cheap nowadays.. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maxell-5-25-...item4cfd5b7e2d

TeknoKing

http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html

Professor

Thanks, but if I can get it on a 5.25 floppy, how can I get it to a USB drive, bluetooth or something????

On the backside of the computer, I think it has a parallel port and maybe a serial port. No modem. And to think I paid $1700 for the sucker new.

Maybe I'll google to try to find a company that specializes in retrieving data from a 5.25 into a 21st century format.

TeknoKing

Umm, take it apart remove the floppy drive and connect it to the controller..

Or try to find an old ass system 286/386/486 system for a few bucks.. see ebay..people sell this junk for a few bux, most of them have a 3.5 floppy that you can use.

TeknoKing

Or let them do it...
http://www.floppydisks.com/items.php?itm=8&pgnum=1

#1 STUNNA

Take the hard drive out and connect it to a USB to IDE adapter? If it's an ATA 33 drive it should work

#1 STUNNA

Oh it's on a 5.25 floppy, nevermind then...

phee

iTrader: (5)

you havent needed it for 20 years, is it really worth the effort?

Professor

Yeah after Ken got me stirred-up.