TCP/IP, FTP, and MSDOS?

[Tothwolf]

On Thu, 7 Dec 2006, Jules Richardson wrote:

> Out of interest, what do I need in the way of TCP/IP software / 
> configuration and FTP client software so that I can connect to a remote 
> FTP server from MSDOS?
>
> I don't think I've ever set up such a config from scratch. I can live 
> with 10Mbps speeds if required (would DOS drivers even drive a card at 
> anything more anyway?)
>
> NIC cards I seem to have available:
>
>  Netgear FA310TX (PCI)
>  HP 88809L (ISA)
>  3Com Etherlink III (PCI)
>  3Com Etherlink III (ISA)
>  Asix NV100AM (PCI)
>  'Network Everywhere' NC100 (PCI)
>  3Com 3C905 (PCI)
>
> The ISA boards perhaps have the drawback that they're software 
> configurable, so I have no idea what settings they'll want to use (or 
> which interface), or how well they'll behave in the new-ish system I 
> need to put a card in. The PCI boards on the other hand are newer so 
> maybe DOS drivers don't even exist for them...
>
> (Etherlink III's were always reliable I seem to recall, but I never did 
> like the idea of them being software configurable; it was much nicer to 
> have jumpers on a card and *know* what it was configured as!)

All of the 3Com cards are software configurable. The utilities and drivers 
are even available on 3Com's FTP site :)

3Com did tend to support their cards pretty well, and I never had any 
problems getting different cards to work under dos with a packet driver. 
The 3C905 is the faster of the 3Com cards you have there, as it supports 
100mb. The Etherlink XL 3C900, etc also tended to work pretty well, though 
they are limited to 10mb. The Etherlink III series 3C509, 3C509B are also 
very well, supported, though again limited to 10mb. I'd choose a 509B over 
the original 509 if you need to go with an ISA card though, as it has FIFO 
support.

Some of my personal favorite cards were the so-called NE2500 cards (not 
NE2000). The chips were made by AMD and their design was a lot more 
refined than the original NE2000. They weren't as well supported as the 
generic NE2000 though. All the NE2500 compatible cards I used also made 
use of a software configuration utility much like the 3Com cards do.

-Toth