matti157 wrote on 2024-01-25, 10:44:

Can Windows 3.11 for Workgroups connect to a TCP dialup connection? (Classic 56K internet)

Hi! Depends. Internet Explorer versions for Windows 3.1x can, they have a dialer.

matti157 wrote on 2024-01-25, 10:44:

Can Windows 3.11 "normal" connect to a TCP network and access network shares?

Indirectly, it can. Windows 3.x can use DOS networking (NetBIOS). So if DOS can see network shares and printers, so can Windows.

Jo22 wrote on 2024-01-25, 11:10:

matti157 wrote on 2024-01-25, 10:44:

Can Windows 3.11 for Workgroups connect to a TCP dialup connection? (Classic 56K internet)

Hi! Depends. Internet Explorer versions for Windows 3.1x can, they have a dialer.

But to get the IP address, is the TCP part inside internet explorer?
Because for the LAN I have to install Trumpet Winsock or Microsoft's TCP version B package, but being for the LAN I don't know if they also apply to the modem

Jo22 wrote on 2024-01-25, 11:10:

matti157 wrote on 2024-01-25, 10:44:

Can Windows 3.11 "normal" connect to a TCP network and access network shares?

Indirectly, it can. Windows 3.x can use DOS networking (NetBIOS). So if DOS can see network shares and printers, so can Windows.

Thank you!

Neither version has any form of TCP/IP support out-of-the-box. You've got to provide your own winsock implementation which may or may not support dial-up internet service.

Windows 3.11, like Windows 3.1 and 3.0, has built in support for networks but no built-in network client or server - you've got to supply that yourself. If you install the Novell NetWare client then Windows 3.11 can access NetWare shares and make TCP/IP connections via Novells TCP/IP stack. If you install the Microsoft Workgroup Add-On for Windows then it can access Windows networking/SMB shares, etc.

Back in the early 90s there were many competing networks. NetWare was by far the biggest, but there were a bunch of others including DECnet/Pathworks, Banyan VINES, Artisoft LANtastic, IBM/Microsoft/3Com/etc LAN Manager, etc. Microsoft was only a small player in this area until Windows 95 and NT4 came out so for most companies/universities/schools any networking built-in to Windows went unused because their servers were probably running NetWare or VINES. Windows 3.11 (not WFW 3.11) was primarily a patch to Windows 3.1 which fixed various issues in Windows' support for these 3rd-party network clients.

+1

Tip: Shares should have names of 12 characters or less, for compatibility reasons.