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Welcome To Wizard57M's DOS Internet Page

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ATTENTION ARACHNE WEB BROWSER USERS!

Arachne Web Browser has recently (September 2003) been released by xChaos, Michael Polak, the author, as free software under the GPL, GNU Public License! The old Arachne Mailing List has been deactivated temporarily, so, to help fill the void and keep up-to-date with current Arachne development, join my Arachne Fan Club mailing list hosted by FreeLists! It's FREE, no spam, no advertising. Interested? Visit FreeLists for information or to subscribe, send a BLANK email message (no signature, etc.) to Arachne-Request@freelists.org, in the Subject line put only Subscribe. That's all there is to it. The Arachne Fan Club has a "digest mode" which will put the seperate emails into a daily digest for those desiring this method. Are you using a "forms capable" browser right now? Then fill out the form below and you will be signed up with the Arachne Fan Club. You can also make changes to your status with this form, such as turning on digest mode, vacation mode, or get help with commands from FreeLists!

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Please practice "safe computing"! All files available for download were confirmed VIRUS FREE at time of upload! But, as with any file downloaded from any source, it is wise to scan the file with your favorite scanner prior to execution. I recommend F-Prot for DOS, a free scanner for personal use, from Frisk Software, click here to visit F-Prot's Home. Another excellent "command-line" only scanner, also freeware, is the free Norton AntiVirus Scanner, NAVC, available from the Symantec web site. For more help with antivirus solutions, click here and send your questions to me by email.

This page has been created with the DOS user in mind. You won't find any fancy graphics, music or Javascript on it. What you will find are recommendations and links to the software that the DOS user needs to connect to the Internet using nothing more than the DOS operating system, a modem, and lots of patience! I also am going to make a few assumptions. One being that you have at least some degree of experience using DOS, and you know a bit about how to enter commands at the command prompt. There isn't room here to give classes on DOS usage, so I will skip that. Another is that you know something about the different file types encountered, such as ZIP, EXE. You should also know how to write a simple batch file (some call it "scripts" now) for your Internet software. I can help out, but there simply isn't space enough to go into detail here. Also, there are other web pages which do a much better job of explaining this than I can!

I know what your saying now! "Wiz, have you lost your mind?" Haha, well, no, considering I never had one! And, even in this day when MS Windows powers roughly 90% of the home PCs in use, DOS is still the "foundation" OS. Most "hard-core" gamers still have to "Restart in MS-DOS Mode" to play their favorite games. Also, just try to comprehend the vast numbers of older PCs that are still functional. If you wanted to just quickly check your email, maybe a quick check of your favorite web site, or maybe you're stuck in your favorite DOS mode game with Internet support help, why "reboot" your system to Windows, or if you have an older PC available, sign on to your ISP and send for help right from DOS! No need to wait for Windows to load up! You can quickly get the help or email you need, and go right on about your gaming! Plus, in DOS you can even be "anonymous", not leaving a trail of cookies behind if you desire. Besides, it's fun accomplishing something that requires a good amount of "hands-on" work to be successful, not to mention being able to tell all of those who told me that I couldn't access today's Internet from an old, low-memory, slow CPU, DOS based PC --"Hey, I've done it! I'm DOS surfin'!"

For starters, Wizard57M recommends a minimum of DOS 3.3, with 640 kb memory, and a hard disk on your PC. A CPU is most helpful, hahaha, and at least a 386SX better! Although you can connect with a slow 2400 baud modem, faster is better, but one should bear in mind that older PCs do not support 16550 UART needed by today's "highspeed" modems, unless you upgrade your COM port. If all this sounds Greek, suffice it to say if your computer has a working modem, you can get on the Internet using DOS! Once you've learned more about personal computers in general you can worry about the more technical stuff.

Why do I recommend a hard disk drive? Although you could connect on a floppy disk system, the performance would more than likely be unbearable for any but the most basic email functions. Most if not all web browsers need a "cache" to store web documents in, even the text mode browsers. So, if you only have a floppy system, hit the garage sales...bargains galore can be found. I've seen PCs for as little as $25 that would be able to connect and browse the web.

First, you need to find an ISP that will support DOS logins...and at low cost! Check your local telephone directory, or one of the search engines on the Internet. I've found that "local" ISPs are more "open" to alternate operating systems other than Windows 9X as compared to "national" ISPs, such as America Online, Prodigy, NetZero, CompuServ, etc. You will need to know a few things about your ISP and your modem too. For your modem, you need to know initialization and dialing strings. Use a "comms" program that echoes to screen to find it if you don't know it, or don't have a manual. For your ISP, you need to know the DNS settings, domainslist, nameservers, email servers (that's the POP3 and the SMTP servers), any newsgroup servers, and the telephone access number. ( I'm assuming you will be dialing in to your ISP) You can ask your ISP help desk for these, may have to ask just for "verification" that you have them correct. If you tell them you are connecting from DOS, most will say they do not offer support for DOS users...that's because the ISP didn't give the help person an instruction sheet for DOS, hahaha. Many ISPs today just "assume" all PC users are running Windows, and more than likely WIN9X (Windows 95,98,ME,NT4). But, what they don't know is that there are many, many DOS machines capable of connecting to Internet servers!

In past years, I used a couple of ISPs that were quite good with DOS Internet software. The numbers have dwindled of late, however. If you are like me and need consistent access from a variety of locations, I recommend you visit www.AccessMasters.com DOS Internet site. These good folks have a link to a great national ISP which will support logins from ANY operating system, browser/dialer combination. SurfBest has excellent throughput rates, which means web pages and graphics load faster, your email is fetched and sent quicker! If you have ever used AOL or NetZero, you will instantly notice the difference. Also, the cost is half that of other national ISPs. With 10 megs of storage space for your personal web site, 2 email addresses, and unlimited hours connection time, SurfBest has emerged as my "Premiere Provider" for Internet access, irregardless of what operating system you choose to run on. Easy to follow instructions for non-Win9X systems are emailed to you at an address you specify at signup. Just follow the signup form instructions you will find at AccessMasters.com web site. If you need more help than what is in the emails confirming your account, you can email me at wizard57m@surfbest.net or contact the friendly webmaster at AccessMasters.com. Once you are online with SurfBest, you'll wonder how you ever managed with something like NetZero or AOL! <{:-)

The software you will need to connect your DOS computer falls into 3 basic categories. These are:

  1. Dialing software for your modem to connect to your ISP

  2. TCP/IP Driver Stack to connect to and translate data with the Internet

  3. Application software such as email clients, browsers, and IRC clients

All of the software that I am going to recommend is available for free use to the individual, anyhow at the time I put this page together! Many file archives on the web contain either "zip" or self-extracting "exe" versions of the software. You may also need an extracting tool such as PKZip (shareware) or the free InfoZIP to extract the software once downloaded.

You may have seen other DOS Internet applications elsewhere on the Internet. I've tried some of them, namely Minuet and POPMail from the University of Minnesota and YAN Browser, sort of a drop-in for the NET.EXE of KA9Q network applications. While parts of Minuet and POPMail did work for me, I had difficulties with the email. They use the same built-in TCP stack, and setup is almost identical. These 2 applications only support email servers which use a single server for both POP3 and SMTP (incoming and outgoing mail, respectively). When I used Freewwweb for my DOS Internet, and Freewwweb had 2 different servers for email, this made using these applications cumbersome. I would only recommend using Minuet for Newsgroups, FTP and Email retrieval. The last version, 18a, does support some web browsing. However, the browser in Minuet does not support re-directs very well, and often will not retrieve the web page, especially on modern servers and large sites (Microsoft, TalkCity) and on pages not ending in "htm" or "html", Minuet does not recognize them as HTML documents. As for YAN, I had no luck getting a successful session, probably due to my ineptitude! However, as I consider myself more accomplished than the average user, the difficulty setting up this application precludes my recommending it for use at this time. I also have not tried NetTamer, but know of several other DOS Internet users who do use it, and say it works well. If you are interested in trying NetTamer, you can find a link to its web site on the FDISK.COM Internet page (see the links at bottom of this page). There is some good news regarding POPMail 3.2.2 in conjunction with a SurfBest account! SurfBest has wisely realized that not everyone is using MS Outlook or MS Outlook Express, and have developed a work-around for those using "Navigator style" email clients, as well as POPMail and perhaps Minuet. SurfBest has multiple email servers now, and if you are using POPMail your email server for both incoming (POP3) and outgoing (SMTP) messages should be set to mail.surfbest.net. This network setup has worked extremely well for myself! POPMail 3.2.2 is more likely to appeal to those who like a "graphics style" interface, or GUI. If you want to try POPMail 3.2.2, click here to download. NOTE: When POPMail was released, it's intended users were on an "internal" network, and the email servers operated on a different "port" of the TCP/IP protocol than the one most often used now. Be sure and check your "network" setup, advanced setting, to assign the proper port for Internet email, which now is 110...not the "default" for POPMail, 109. Also, make sure your gateway IP settings are correct...if you don't know what they are, try putting all zeroes, like this--- 0.0.0.0 or a somewhat "generic" setting of 255.0.0.0, 255.255.0.0 also seems to work. The other note of caution is with regards to "file attachments". POPMail will "BinHex" encode all attachments by default, so you must over-ride that setting also, or your intended recipients might not be able to view or handle the attached file. File attachments in POPMail are termed "enclosures", and you would be well advised to consult the "help" by pressing F1 while enclosing anything in your composer window. Only pure ASCII text can be enclosed without BinHex encoding, so a recipient needs to have a tool to decode these attached files if they are not using POPMail to read the message. There are several available, HEX2BIN.EXE, is available from here, as well as Arachne DOS Download page as HEX2BIN.APM, and should work well. I have also found that Minuet v18 also works quite well with SurfBest. Since it uses the same TCP/IP stack as POPMail 3.2.2, you can use almost the same setup. As mentioned, web browsing may or may not work, and if you have become accustomed to NetScape or Internet Explorer style graphics display, it will take some getting used to. I plan to experiment more with Minuet and will report further findings, but preliminary results look promising for low-resource PCs. To download Minuet, click here.

For basic dialing purposes, NetDial is one of the easiest to configure and use of all I've tried. Get it here NetDial. For your TCP/IP stack, I recommend Toni Lopez' DOSPPPD, click here DOSPPPD and download it now. A note about TCP/IP stack, also termed a TCP Driver...not all ISPs support the same TCP Driver! For most ISPs, use the ethernet emulator EPPPD.EXE from the "CHAP Support" file included in the DOSPPPD distribution (CHAPSUPP.ZIP in DOSPPP06.ZIP). Another option that some users of Arachne have reported good results with, especially with ISPs that have "dynamic DNS" settings (which means they have various DNS servers, and you may not get connected to the same one each time!) is the freeware software LSPPP, which includes a built-in dial function, by David Lindauer, his home page LSPPP . If your ISP requires a different driver, check the other page links below for a possible driver to use! As for Internet applications, user tastes vary quite a bit, and a lot depends on your particular PC's capabilities. Recommendations for low memory PCs (those with 2 meg or less) are DosLynx browser, Bobcat, NetMail DOS, Getnews and Postnews for newsgroups, WATTCP FTP for file transfer/downloading, and Trumpet IRC for chat. If your PC has more than 2 megs RAM, in addition to the above, you also have a choice of using Arachne WWW Browser for graphical browsing, LYNX386 for DOS for text mode browsing and a host of other applications such as Pegasus Mail for DOS. I don't use Pegasus myself, so you will have to look elsewhere if you want to try it. Lynx 386 DOS v2.8 text mode browser also requires at least a 386 CPU and a DPMI provider, such as CWSDPMI that gives Lynx access to all of the memory available on your system, what is commonly referred to as "DOS protected mode". If you are familiar with MS Windows, especially version 3.X, you can think of this as "386 enhanced mode for DOS"!

Now for my application recommendations! You've got your ISP signed up, got a username and password, but your DOS machine still needs the software to connect it to the Internet. DOS Internet applications and packages have improved over the last couple of years, most notably Arachne WWW Browser, which can be found at Arachne Browser Homepage. Arachne may be all you need for your Internet work, and it is graphical, meaning you get pictures, etc. while browsing. Arachne works best with at least a 386DX 40mHz, with 4 meg RAM. Although it will run on a lesser PC, results vary widely, and the speed will leave some to be desired. You should also have at least a 14.4 kbps modem to speed up the download of web pages and graphics. While xChaos (Michael Polak, the author of Arachne) posts new versions periodically, even some he terms "stable releases", I do not always have stable performance from the latest release. Other users report great results. This is more a reflection of the myriad configurations available on the PC platform than anything else. Arachne Version 1.62 has consistently performed well for me, and so has Arachne version 1.66. Older releases of Arachne are located on a separate page from the primary download page. Or you can download an installer of either from my GeoCities web site at Wizard57M's DOS Internet page.

If your system does not meet the requirements for Arachne, especially modem speed and memory, I recommend going a different route. Another package is the Bobcat Text Browser package, which you can find at Fdisk DosLynx Page. While the setup of the Bobcat installation file will run quite well, I have had limited success getting a successful connection with the "dialing" batch file written by the installer. Also, some of the applications that Bobcat references are of limited value on today's Internet, namely Gopher and Telnet. I've made Minitelnet available though, click here. Other users may find them helpful, but for my "typical" web browsing, I use mainly just the Bobcat browser, along with the FTP-WIZ package. Gopher was once used as a method of retrieving document archives from libraries, while Telnet allows you to use the operating system of a "host" computer as if you were sitting at that computer itself. As the Internet as evolved, the "HTTP" protocol has replaced Gopher, and Telnetting is usually restricted to authorized users only. Bobcat uses the freeware dialer NetDial, which is a good dialer for Internet. I have stripped down the Bobcat package to include only the applications I use most, it is available from this page by clicking here for bobcat7.zip. You'll need PKZip or similar utility to extract the files.

As an alternative to Bobcat and it's "PD Curses" based keyboard only navigation, similar to LYNX386, the new DOS Internet user may find DosLynx a bit easier to use. Easily accessible menu navigation, with the keyboard or even a mouse, make DosLynx a decent choice, especially if you are low on hard disk space. I use DosLynx on my PS2 Model 55SX. It doesn't support forms well, Bobcat is better for these, but for basic web browsing it is a good choice. Please note that as newer protocols are being developed and implemented on the Internet, I've noticed DosLynx having more difficulty fetching and displaying a number of web sites. Most notable are web pages that do not have standard "HTM" extension on file names, such as you might see on many MS IIS served sites. I haven't been able to find a work around! To get DosLynx, Click here to download now, or for visiting the DosLynx home page Click here.

For email, I use the simple command line email clientNetMail DOS. To read your email, you can use a plain text reader, such as ReadIt , a text editor, such as NE (handy for writing emails and replies, it has a "multi- document interface and built-in spelling check!) or specialized mail/news reader applications such as ReadMail. For newsgroups, I use the command line Getnews and Postnews. These tools, except NE, are available in my DOS Internet Package, along with DosLynx, NetDial, DOSPPPD, Trumpet IRC and a few of my own utilities, from this page by clicking here Wizard57M's DOS Internet Page to go to my GeoCites site. Then look for Wizard57M's DOS Internet package.
My DOS Internet Package has been put together specifically for PCs with low memory, slower CPUs and modems. To better understand any DOS, or for that matter Windows too, Internet applications, read all documentation that is included with any application you choose, prior to attempting to put the application to work. You will save yourself a great deal of frustration, and you might even learn something from the insightful documents! Also, the documentation for each application will do a better job of explaining its use than I could here. My DOS Internet Package will fit on one 1.44 meg 3.5 inch diskette. Use an unzipping program (PKZip, InfoZip) to extract it. I recommend starting with a "base" directory, something named DOSINET or DOSTCPIP, then extract each program into its own subdirectory of this main one. Place your dialing program, TCP/IP drivers and configuration files (WATTCP.CFG, PPPDRC.CFG, PPPTCP.CFG, etc.) in your main directory. Then, add your main directory to your DOS "PATH" in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. This seems to help your Internet applications locate needed configuration files quicker. I recently updated my DOS Internet Package to include ReadMail version 4.1, and a READMAIL.SET file with customized header/subject/sender definition and display colors for Internet Email that I've worked up for my use. I use this configuration file for reading both email and newsgroup posts. Feel free to change the message types, and if you find a set that works better for email, please share it with me. You might want to change the colors I use for ReadMail also...I tend to use "blues" quite a bit! Also, there is a newer Beta version of ReadMail available, version 5 beta 7, which can be found at Rich Green's DOS Freeware site (see link below). I've tried it also, and it does have some useful features as it has a built-in editor. This version may be more to your liking. However, I have had a few bugs with using a mouse with ReadMail 5 beta. I recommend using the keyboard for your navigation rather than a mouse. ReadMail version 4.1 is only a viewer, you must use a separate editor, such as NE or MS EDIT.COM to write emails or replies.

Here is an updated self-extracting EXE archive of Wizard57M's DOS Internet Package including directory and subdirectory references. To extract, type WIZDOSI2.EXE -d and press ENTER key. This creates the directory tree for you automagically, and makes writing your batch files much easier. Click here to download now . Note that this file is slightly larger, hopefully it will still fit on one 1.44 meg 3.5 inch diskette. Also, you can substitute other programs for my choices if you desire. I chose these for their small size, relative ease of setup, and fairly easy to learn and use. Read the file WIZDOSIP.TXT after extracting for tips on setting it up. REMEMBER TO EDIT THE BATCH PROGRAMS AND CFG FILES TO CONTAIN YOUR SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR HARDWARE AND INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER!

The following few paragraphs contain sample configuration files to serve as a template for your ISP settings, especially if you plan to use PPPD or EPPPD as your TCP/IP driver! Your particular settings will be different, these are for example use only!

Here is a sample MYISP.DAT file. This is used to "read in" some configurations for BOOTP and in creation of IP-UP.BAT and CURRCONN.CFG to help set DOS environment variables when using "dynamic IP addressing" to connect to your ISP.

Here is a sample WATTCP.CFG file for your reference. Use settings that are specific to your ISP, and note that with BOOTP for My_IP, you can leave NETMASK at 0.0.0.0, and if you do use a setting for NETMASK, make sure is correct! Same is true for your GATEWAY, leave as 0.0.0.0 unless you use correct setting. BOOTP will get these from your ISP's servers!

Here is a sample PPPDRC.CFG to help you configure yours, these are used by the DOSPPPD TCP driver to connect your computer to the Internet via your ISP.

Well, that just about does it! Once you have the software, get it installed and configured, get signed up with an ISP, you're ready to surf the web in DOS! If you need a bit of extra help, send me an email. My email address is wizard57m@surfbest.net, or click here Email Wiz! and send email from the browser! If you have problems sending to that email address, try one of my many alternates!

Alternate email addresses:

  • Wizard57M@softhome.net

  • GlennRPH@softhome.net

  • Wizard57M@aol.com

  • GLENNRPH@aol.com

  • GGilbreath@juno.com

    Below are some very helpful links to web sites that have software or links to software and more detailed instructions for various DOS Internet applications!

  • Index Page Back to Site Index

  • Multi-Media Page If you enjoy graphics and sounds, try here!

  • Downloads Page Download software from here! Mostly FREEWARE!

  • Medical Page Pharmacy and Medical related information.

  • Other Web Sites Page Links to helpful sites on the WWW!

  • Home Page Back to Home Page

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