Total Commander has an option to use parallel port in dos as well...

Anhaedra wrote:

This isn't very game related, but it's the most fitting section I could find. My laptop is a Compaq LTE Elite 4/75C, and I want to put some games on it. However, it has no NIC, no CD-ROM, it does have PCMCIA but I want to if networking through direct cable connection with the parallel port would be easier, and how to do it. It's running Windows 95, and I'd also like to know how I would network through DCC in DOS 6.22. Thanks.

Xircom used to make a parallel port Ethernet adapter that had full NDIS, ODI, and Packet Drivers. I've you're looking for high-speed then this is the way to go. Then go to the following URL and download MS Client for DOS. It will allow you to map Windows network shares using the same "NET USE..." style command line commands that are still in use in WinXP today.

http://www.jacco2.dds.nl/samba/dos.html#msclient

I've used MSClient and/or MS Lan Manager for DOS to get even an original 8bit IBM XT on a network and sharing files with my modern Windows PC's. It's definitely more convenient than using floppies and faster than using LapLink.

If you can't pick one up, then I agree that a parallel port xfer program like Total Commander or LapLink is the way to go.

*** Moving to PC section ***

If you just need to transfer files, I remember that that version of DOS comes with a utility called something like Interlink that lets you use a parallel cable to transfer files between two computers. I think one of them has to run a Interlink server utility (which is unfortunate because it makes that computer into a dedicated file server that can't do anything else at the same time), while the other one can load a TSR that lets it mount and access the server system's drives.

It's been like 8 years though so my memory of it is pretty foggy. I know that both myself and a BBS buddy of mine used to each use it on our own computers, since proper LANs were almost unheard of for home use in those days of transition between DOS and Win95.

Hi! You've got a cool laptop there, I had the same (well. now it's just disassembled parts, since some components died).
My solution was to buy a cheap noname 10MBit PCMCIA network card at a garage sale. It worked quite well after I spent half a day searching for drivers 🙄. Transfer rates over the network were even faster than the built-in harddisk 😁
A network card for this laptop has to be an old 16bit PCMCIA, modern 32bit PC-cards won't work...

The printer port on the Compaq doesn't feature the faster transfer modes like ECP or EPP, so the "LapLink" solution could be very time consuming.

Sometimes you can still find 16-bit PCMCIA cards at the store today. At least a year or so ago 🤣. Yeah all of today's cards are cardbus 32-bit, which is a sooper fantastic version of PCMCIA.

Call a local computer shop too. Many of them have collections of old stuff they get from customers and sell it cheap.

No. We don't. Please do not call and ask for used parts. We don't have any. Fuck off. Thanks. 😀