Forgot to update everyone on the thin client DOS project. It's an HP t5740e thin client PC with 2GB of RAM and a 4GB drive. I formatted almost 2GB for th system boot drive and 2GB for the extended DOS partition.Originally, I installed DOS 6.22 on it, but I decided to put FreeDOS on instead. FreeDOS already has most of the drivers needed, so I can install stuff using the USB port. I still have programs on floppies that I bought way back in the early '90s; I was able to just install them from a cheap USB floppy drive.I literal paid like $14 for it, the floppy disks cost more than the drivethese days, $2 for 10 Disks locally! The DOS machine is up and running like a charm. I actually played the original DOOM from way back. Now I am getting back to writing a few batch files. I haven't done that in over 30 years."

That is good news. Glad it is working out. I had not heard of floppy
drives with USB connectors so that is good to know. Is it a 5.25 or 3.5
drive?

---
þ BgNet 1.0á12 ÷ moe's tavern * 1-502-875-8938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27

Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: MIKE POWELL to DENN on Sun Jan 11 2026 09:34 am

That is good news. Glad it is working out. I had not heard of floppy drives with USB connectors so that is good to know. Is it a 5.25 or 3.5 drive?

I've only seen 3.5" USB floppy drives; I don't think they make 5.25" USB floppy drives, but I suppose I could be wrong.

Nightfox

---
þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

That is good news. Glad it is working out. I had not heard of floppy drives with USB connectors so that is good to know. Is it a 5.25 or 3.5 drive?

I've only seen 3.5" USB floppy drives; I don't think they make 5.25" USB

>floppy drives, but I suppose I could be wrong.

Some of the external USB 'Boxes' have connectors on them that should
work with either size Floppy Drive. I think.. I haven't tried it myself.

I keep an older system running for transferring old Floppy disk
info onto a Flash drive or something.. Actually, I guess I don't
have one that takes 5.25" floppies anymore. I transferred all that
stuff several systems ago.. B)

---
þ SLMR Rob þ I appeal to a very confused group of small people
þ Synchronet þ CAPCITY2 * Capitol City Online

3.5 floppy, I have not seen any USB 5 1/4 floppies.
a 3.5 USB floppy can be purchased on Amazon for under $15.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25
from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

---
þ BgNet 1.0á12 ÷ moe's tavern * 1-502-875-8938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27

MIKE POWELL wrote to DENN <=-

3.5 floppy, I have not seen any USB 5 1/4 floppies.
a 3.5 USB floppy can be purchased on Amazon for under $15.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25 from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC
with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing
elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

You should probably get those 5.25's copied off and archived somewhere
more safe/stable. Those floppies WILL eventually fail and be
unreadable.



... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

MIKE POWELL wrote to DENN <=-

Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25 from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC
with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing
elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

At my last job, fairly recently, the organization had phased out a
server room full of AS/400s. They had one remaining system remaining.

In the server room, they kept a system running to use as a local means
of testing and restoring individual tape backups.

It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running
OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer. IBM "pointing
device", a heavy 2-button mechanical mouse.

That was the exact system I'd used at my first job - in 1991!



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
þ Synchronet þ .: realitycheckbbs.org :: scientia potentia est :.

Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: poindexter FORTRAN to MIKE POWELL on Wed Jan 14 2026 06:56 am

It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer. IBM "pointing device", a heavy 2-button mechanical mouse.

That was the exact system I'd used at my first job - in 1991!

That sounds like a fairly iconic early-mid 90s computer setup. If I collected retro computers, I wouldn't mind having a setup like that. I've also thought it would be cool to have an old Amiga (maybe a 2000 or a 3000). I'd need to have room for a computer collection first..

Nightfox

---
þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: MIKE POWELL to DENN on Tue Jan 13 2026 08:21 am

a 3.5 USB floppy can be purchased on Amazon for under $15.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25 from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

I had dual 5.25 floppy drives on my old TRS-80 Color Computer 2 in the 80's.
When I went to at-386 I just used 3.5 floppies and a 20 MB hard drive, later I bought a 486 and added a CD-Rom drive.
my 1st PC though was a 286 and it had a 5.25 and a 3.5 floppy drive.
Used to have a floppy template I would use to punch a hole on the 5.25 floppy disk's to make them double sided.

... Shin n. device for finding furniture in the dark.


---
þ Synchronet þ the Outwest BBS - outwest.synchro.net - Home of BBSBASE 6.0

Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer. IBM "pointing device", a heavy 2-button mechanical mouse.

That was the exact system I'd used at my first job - in 1991!

That sounds like a fairly iconic early-mid 90s computer setup. If I collected retro computers, I wouldn't mind having a setup like that.
I've also thought it would be cool to have an old Amiga (maybe a 2000
or a 3000). I'd need to have room for a computer collection first..

They were great systems - Micro channel architecture, with a fast bus
ahead of its time. ESDI drives. Toolless construction, you could take
the entire thing apart with a coin.

We were running OS/2 2.1, sharing files over a Token-Ring LAN with an MS
LAN MAN file server and a Novell network, connecting to AS/400s over
Twinax, and doing it all when most people in the company were running WordPerfect and 1-2-3 in DOS.

The only downside was an office full of Model M keyboards clacking
away...



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
þ Synchronet þ .: realitycheckbbs.org :: scientia potentia est :.

Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: Nightfox to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jan 14 2026 12:56:57

It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer.

That sounds like a fairly iconic early-mid 90s computer setup.

Late '80s, actually. The PS/2 80 came out in '87 and the 4019 in '89.

---
þ Synchronet þ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com

Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Thu Jan 15 2026 08:15:44

They were great systems - Micro channel architecture, with a fast bus
ahead of its time.

It's also what killed the PS/2. IBM was hoping it would replace their current line of PCs, but because of the PS/2s higher price and incompatibility issues with various hard/software, it was hard to find enough developers willing to work with it, so that never happened. Also, 5.25" floppies were still very much the norm, and since the PS/2 used only 3.5" disks, that was just another nail in the coffin.

---
þ Synchronet þ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com

Mortar wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

It's also what killed the PS/2. IBM was hoping it would replace their current line of PCs, but because of the PS/2s higher price and incompatibility issues with various hard/software, it was hard to find enough developers willing to work with it, so that never happened.
Also, 5.25" floppies were still very much the norm, and since the PS/2 used only 3.5" disks, that was just another nail in the coffin.

In a corporate environment, they were great. That first job I mentioned
had 4 IBM midrange computers, IBM laser printers, IBM token-ring
networking, and a dedicated account rep from IBM. We ran OS/2, and had
one vendor for everything - probably the last time that's happened.

IBM made sure to throw lots of FUD at any third-party tools in the
field, when we bought a company that was all Compaq and third-party
token ring cards, our rep was beside himself blaming third-party
components. It was all from a generation ago.

That went against the IBM PC, which made inroads in the home market
because of it's relative openness. Not many years later, I was buying
white-box servers and desktop PCs custom-built to our specs.



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
þ Synchronet þ .: realitycheckbbs.org :: scientia potentia est :.