dir
lists files/directories

Boot from the floppy and type sys c:
Then try booting normally.

If it's not more than 10 years old, it doesn't predate the web. But there aren't too many companies that are still providing drivers for things that old.

I don't know what you mean when you say you plan to copy the files out the PS1 jack.

You should be able to copy files that are smaller than floppy size to the floppy using the DOS copy command, but if you're copying very many files, that could take a long time.

Depending on the type of hard drive it has, you may be able to pull it out and add it as a second drive to your current system. Another option would be to get a drive enclosure and put the drive in that.

If the computer has a CD drive, you could burn a bootable linux CD and recover files using Linux. Does the PC have a network card? If so, you might be able to copy files across the network once you boot in Linux.

Here is a list of live CDs that you can use to boot the PC. I've used Knoppix for a similar purpose in the past. If you're not comfortable with Linux, you could try the Windows PE CD. I've never used it, but it's supplied by MS and looks like one of the uses is what you're describing.

Agree if that pc has a cd drive using a live linux cd is the way to go, just boot from that live cd(may have to change boot order in bios) and you can access the other hard drive and have access to the info there.
does that pc have usb ports? if so they may be 1.1 rather than 2.0 but you could still use the usb port to connect a usb flash drive or an external drive to move the data to once you have access to it using the linux.
Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer
another possible tool
Trinity Rescue Kit

Pulling the drive and putting it in an external drive enclosure to plug into another pc would be another option to try as mentioned as long as that drive is functional.

Thanks, among my typos is "PS1", I meant USB1, the old computer has 2 of these, 1.1 version.

I did find a driver from iomega. I had a typo (again) in my search string the first look. I loaded the driver and the iomega 100 mbyte (was a big deal those many years back) which uses a Parallel Port... hum, yes I have an old HP laptop that has a parallel port, so that's where I installed the iomega zip drive. I haven't yet looked to see if any of the old zip discs have what we are looking for.

As the old computer sits at the moment, I have a system floppy disc in "A" and can move between A and C by simply typing them with a ":" - and I have dir (directory) and cd (change directory) which both work. But while I don't remember them completely and thus have not typed them in are DOS commands for list (with gives the file size, I believe) and copy (which would allow me to copy files to other ports, e.g., a memory stick on a USB port. The computer has an Ethernet card, and I have Ethernet in the house, but I don't know how to get to the Ethernet port without a desktop graphic interface (e.g., Windows).. maybe Linux would work. I may take a look at that just for fun, thanks.

Searched using Dos commands. Numerous responses. The one from Microsoft is very extensive. The command dir > prn looks good if you can get it to run.

Here is a link that might be useful: Microsoft's Dir Command

Thanks, the list brings back memories, but unfortunately (for me) memories that are not there. I recall a "list" and a "grep" command that I regularly used when browsing files/folders. List [ls] I recall, gave a list of files along with details including byte size and Grep was a search routine/engine.

I suppose there have been changes, my computer days go all the way back to the punched "IBM" cards that used FAP (pre-compiler) and later Fortran to provide program inputs to a shared, yes IBM, vacuum tube computer that took up a full and large room for its installation.

I also worked a couple years as a programmer using "C" program language in DEC Minicomputers... how things change if one looks back far enough. Those minicomputers were running a duplex (for reliability) UNIX OS, and all the input was line, no graphic (windows) inputs, so back then I was very conversant on DOS and UNIX system calls and commands. But, 30+ years in engineering management (no more circuit design or software development) has just about purged my mind of all the important detail.. but no problem most of the time as I am usually just a user of Windows PCs.

The only list command I remember was actually a program, not just a command. Commands are internal to DOS, like dir, cd, etc and that's why you can run them now. Programs are external and you could run them when they were in the PATH. You probably had a utility directory with a bunch of useful programs in it.

Years ago, I used Vern Buerg's List. It was sort of a Windows explorer type of program for DOS.

When you plug a thumb drive into one of those ports, I'm not sure you'll be able to use it if you're just booting to DOS. If you use one of the live CDs and boot to Linux with the thumb drive plugged in at boot time, it may detect it and mount it. I'm not sure whether it will do so if you plug it in after boot (maybe ravencajun can help you there).

Thanks, I think the cleanest approach will be to pull the drive and connect it using an external "cabinet" to the USB on one of my working computers.

The links provided by ravencajun looked interesting, but I still have trouble understanding what to do to convert ISO to a usable CD. The "free" down loads usually give me trouble because of the attempts to get me to buy something gets me lost.. must be my age.

you don't have to do the iso burn yourself if you don't want to you can actually order several distros of linux live cd's totally free, or you can go to any bookstore that carries linux magazines and you will find most all of them have included a free live cd of some distro of linux usually ubuntu these days. But if you go to burn an iso for a live cd there is not a cost anywhere it is totally free.

I mostly use Mepis linux, with that live cd when you put it in the cd drawer and boot up the pc it will boot to the live cd and run from the cd, once you have it up and running there is a my computer icon on the linux desktop in the my computer area you have access to your windows section and can copy it directly from there to where ever you choose, be it a usb thumb drive or an external drive. It is very easy.

Imgburn is a free program you can use to burn an iso to cd or dvd, you just go to the site and download the iso to your pc then use img burn to burn it to cd. Here is a link to the direct download for imgburn
Mirror 8 - Provided by ImgBurn
this is a direct link to the download of the iso for Mepis linux.
File:
you would save that to pc then use the img burn to burn it to cd.
These are the steps for using imgburn

1. Browse to the ISO-file you want to burn
2. Select the ISO file and right-mouse-click now
3. Choose "Burn using ImgBurn"

once it is burned to cd you just stick it in the cd drawer of the affected pc, boot from the cd, select to run it not install and it will bring up the linux desktop where you will see the my computer icon. Here is your guide
Booting the LiveCD

that should give you all you need for that option.

where you can order a free ubuntu live cd
Requesting an Ubuntu CD
Everyone should have some linux live cd in their toolbox for emergencies.

Thanks again to all.

I am very grateful for the expert help I get on this forum, and I know others are grateful for the help they get too. It is amazing that such volunteer help is available. Says a lot about the great neighbors we all have on the Internet.

I will make use of the detailed help you just sent ravencajun, this is not the first time the subject of burning iso files onto a CD has come up in my computer life. It is time I do it once so I have it in my tool box.

Jerry there is a step by step guide at this link that should make it pretty simple to burn an iso. It includes a link to download free software if you don't have what you need.

Ok, I used Imgburn to create a Ubuntu Live CD using the great help in the above helpful and encouraging posts. It went smooth, albeit it took some time to download the Ubuntu.iso file with my slow 1.5 MByte DSL. I also downloaded the Mepis but have not burned a Live CD. I may do that too just to see the difference for the simple search and copy application I currently have.

It will either be later or tomorrow before I can give it a try in the subject no-boot W98 computer.

Well, gave the Live CD a try. It didn't work in the W98 problem PC, so I took it back to my XP Notebook and booted that computer. The Ubuntu 9.10 i386 took a few minutes to boot, but it did and gave me a choice of what I wanted to do. I picked a trial with no changes to my PC. The desk top was nice looking but I didn't find any tools there that would allow me to explore the Windows file system.

I may play some more with Ubuntu but my also try a Live CD of Mepis Linus. If I read ravencajun correctly that should give me a "my computer" tool that will give me access to the underlying Windows file system.

Any suggestion on what I may be missing or doing wrong will be appreciated.

I have not used ubuntu in a long long time which is why I can not really help you much using it. However if you go up to that link I gave you for the Mepis linux, Booting the live cd, is what I named the link it will show you exactly what the desktop will have on it and you will see the my computer icon. I believe in there what you want is called storage media, not on it right now sorry.

when you tried using the ubunutu did you follow these directions
Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer if you do it tells you how to get to the computer icon in ubuntu.

one thing I forget to mention when someone is wanting to utilize and old drive is a docking station, you can purchase a docking station that you basically "plug" the old drive into and then connect the docking station to your good pc by usb. Similar to the concept of an external enclosure for the old drive. Of course you have to know if the drive is IDE or SATA, I am sure that old one would be IDE.
hard drive docking station ide sata.

Back again, after a successful run of the Ubuntu Live CD on my notebook I took it back up to the subject W98 desktop. This machine is set for the CD to be the first boot device, then the floppy, then the HDD. The Compaq Restore CD does work in the CD, but does not offer any tools to do a soft restore.

Well trying again the Ubuntu CD started to work and got me to the menu which doesn't seem to offer any parallel, with Windows, mode. It also would not boot fully, just stopped after I made a selection of: Install without any changes. This is the mode that when used on the Notebook gave me a very limited set of desk top tools, and I did not find any tools to explore or copy Windows Files..

Other choices on the Ubuntu CD are: Install (I didn't try, perhaps this will then offer a dual OS mode with W98) ti also offers Check Disk for Defects (I am now running that on the W98 computer - not sure what disc is being checked). It also offers Test Memory and Boot from First Hard Drive - I assume this means give up on Linux and boot whatever you have on the HDD, W98 in my case.

I have not yet tried the Mepis, that's for when I give up on the Ubuntu.

I tried the Mepis Live CD this morning. It came up quickly and has a nice looking implementation selection "home" page.

I tried all choices from "normal" to "netbook" to "safe" and all failed with the following.

[...requires the following feature not present on the CPU: cmov unable to boot - use a kernel appropriate for your CPU]

"cmov" appears to be a hardware feature, but sounds like a DOS-type move command. I always understood Linux required less of the hardware than does Windows.

The problem is that certain CPU's, even though they are "pentium class", lack the cmov instruction.

Well at least we now know that missing the cmov ain't good.

I also tried a factory burned SuSE installation CD. This set is version 8.0 Professional and dates back to the 1990s, late 90s I think. It will not load either, just dies.. or maybe that's the one that identified the cmov problem. I've run so many attempts and didn't take notes they are all starting to run into one big failure.

I will next move to taking the HDD our and running it outboard as an auxiliary on another Windows computer.

darn it is beginning to sound like you have more problems that we thought.
I sure am sorry you could not get any of the linux live cd's to complete and work for you.
I agree pulling the drive and trying it elsewhere would be next, I think maybe there might be more than just the drive problem on that machine.

Jerry, I just put an Ubuntu live disk in my windows computer and booted up. My hard drive showed as an icon on the Ubuntu desktop as did a thumb drive I had put in a usb port. I could open both and drag and drop a file from the hard drive to the thumb drive. It should work the same way on your computer.

Remember to check the jumper settings.

Thanks again,
I did pull the HDD, and it was a big job... go figure. It was under the floppy inside a metal cage and with I/O cards blocking the way out, it even had hold down screws from both sides (a real battleship) that required me pulling the CD/RW too. I then connected it as an external storage device to one of my XP computers, and thus to my home network. So I copied all the files I needed (I think) to my wife's current desktop.

Then I wondered if I could put it all back together, and did with few problems/reworks. That done I turned it on to see if it worked, in its non-complete way, and it did. So I tried again (now that I wasn't worried about data loss) to install SuSE, my oldest Linux Live CD (Installation) and it failed again, but I noticed that during the timed decision time it offered an F2 key option for "text only" - I figured I'd hit that and see where it went. That was enough, away the installation went which automatically partitioned the HDD and moved W98 into its own partition.. and took about 1.5 GBytes for Linux. The installation automatically handled W98 and created a dual boot startup page.

The installation drug on for a long time, maybe an hour and I had to check back from time-to-time to give my decision on some items. When it was done it asked if I wanted the graphic interface, KDE, I input "yes" and I ended up with the graphical desktop. I guess the [F2 = text only] referred only to the input device for the installation. During installation the mouse didn't work, so I had to tab and hit the return to interact. It seems the CPU requirement for "cmov" came after SuSE 8.0.

I looked in the SuSE user manual, paper back book, for commands and found the list of very familiar Unix commands, like ls (List) and grep (search), I though they were DOS commands, they are not. Anyway, as the graphic interface works I don't need the Unix commands, but did note Linux will handle DOS commands too, just put an "m" in front, e.g., dir becomes mdir. I haven't tried to transfer data out of the windows area to the USB, but I can look at files in the Windows area, and doing that I'm sure I an copy and paste to an external device.

bob414 the KDE desktop has an icon for the W98 file system and I will connect a "thumb drive" to a USB and see how it shows up... it may offer the drag and drop you mention for the Ubuntu.