VOGONS


First post, by mbbrutman

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A new mTCP is available. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Much improved DNS support, including a local HOSTS file and support for a local domain name.
  • TCP/IP flow control improvements for slow/bad connections and bug fixes for improved compatibility.
  • Improved compatibility with "WiFi" modems (ESP8266 devices) running SLIP firmware.
  • Proper dynamic DNS support for the FTP server.
  • Many bug fixes and some new features for the HTTP server.
  • A slightly more accurate SNTP, an additional Telnet config to fix screen drawing problems with some Telnet BBSes, broadcast Ping support, and other miscellaneous fixes and improvements sprinkled throughout.

The bug fixes and compatibility improvements are worth the time for the upgrade.

And here is where you can find it ...

No Ethernet? No problem!

  • Packet drivers exist for SLIP and PPP so you can use a standard serial port.
  • Other packet drivers exist for IBM Token Ring and Arcnet, making them look like Ethernet
  • PLIP (IP over your parallel port with a LapLink cable) is reported to work.

Reply 1 of 17, by keenmaster486

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Thank you! I'll let you know if I experience any issues with it.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 4 of 17, by maxtherabbit

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The hostname directive disappears from the config file after DHCP is run

Reply 5 of 17, by mbbrutman

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maxtherabbit wrote on 2022-07-02, 15:21:

The hostname directive disappears from the config file after DHCP is run

Please see the PDF file ...

HOSTNAME is kind of weird in that it is both an input and output to DHCP. On the DHCP request the hostname is sent. The DHCP server may override it, so the line gets moved to the bottom of the file with the other DHCP server provided parameters.

Reply 6 of 17, by maxtherabbit

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My DHCP server doesnt issue a host name though. It just removed the line and didnt replace it with anything

Reply 7 of 17, by mbbrutman

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What router/DHCP server is this? I really need a proper bug report with a packet trace to tell you what is going on.

If your router is doing this, it seems like bad behavior but it is not really affecting anything. None of the mTCP programs use the hostname field. It is just a request to a DHCP server so that other machines can find your machine by name. But if your DHCP server doesn't cooperate, well, that seems like a problem.

Reply 8 of 17, by maxtherabbit

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Ubiquity Edge Router X

Reply 9 of 17, by maxtherabbit

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mbbrutman wrote on 2022-07-02, 16:54:

What router/DHCP server is this? I really need a proper bug report with a packet trace to tell you what is going on.

If your router is doing this, it seems like bad behavior but it is not really affecting anything. None of the mTCP programs use the hostname field. It is just a request to a DHCP server so that other machines can find your machine by name. But if your DHCP server doesn't cooperate, well, that seems like a problem.

The hostname field was populated before running DHCP. After running DHCP, it disappears from the config file and my router shows the hostname as "DOSRULES" - presumably your default.

The attachment 20220717_211909.jpg is no longer available
The attachment MTCP.CFG is no longer available

Reply 10 of 17, by mbbrutman

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I really need to see a full packet trace showing the problem. Start with your desired hostname set in your file, then run dhcp.

After that I should be able to see what is going wrong.

Reply 11 of 17, by GuillermoXT

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My 386pc has a 16GB CF using Dos 7.1 Fat32 and supports long file names. What is necessary to get the files copied with Filezilla? When I try copying Midifiles with more than 8 letters i always get an error. Any ideas?

My Retrosystems:
PIII on GA-6BA running Win98SE
AMD K6 233 on GA-586HX with Win95
Tandon 286-8MHZ Running DOS 6.22 on XTIDE-CF
M326 486DLC + 4c87dlc (Dos+Win3.11)
ECS UM4980 AMD DX2 80 5V (Dos & Win3.11)

Reply 12 of 17, by mbbrutman

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Assuming you are running the FTP server on the 386, it only supports 8.3 filenames. mTCP supports everything from DOS 2.1 and up, but only with standard DOS 8.3 filenames.

As a work-around you can transfer a zip file with the long names in it, and then unzip it on the 386.

Reply 13 of 17, by Jo22

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Thanks! Supporting DOS 2.0 would have been too tricky, anyway, I suppose, since it supported the question mark as a wildcard or joker and Unix style separators, too.
MS-DOS 2.10 already lost some of these features again, afaik. It's much more like the DOS 3 we knew and loved.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 14 of 17, by mbbrutman

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Making a long story short, I eventually did get traces from routers that honored the HOSTNAME request but did not send it back to the client as a DHCP option. I have a work-around coded in a test version of the DHCP client. You can download it from https://brutman.com/mTCP/download/dhcp-2022-10-04.zip .

This version implements HOSTNAME_ASSIGNED. HOSTNAME is back to being read-only again. This work-around doesn't solve the problem in the DHCP servers, but at least it stops the nuisance problem of having the HOSTNAME line deleted in the configuration file.

Reply 15 of 17, by keenerb

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mbbrutman wrote on 2022-07-01, 16:47:
A new mTCP is available. Here are some of the highlights: […]
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A new mTCP is available. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Much improved DNS support, including a local HOSTS file and support for a local domain name.
  • TCP/IP flow control improvements for slow/bad connections and bug fixes for improved compatibility.
  • Improved compatibility with "WiFi" modems (ESP8266 devices) running SLIP firmware.
  • Proper dynamic DNS support for the FTP server.
  • Many bug fixes and some new features for the HTTP server.
  • A slightly more accurate SNTP, an additional Telnet config to fix screen drawing problems with some Telnet BBSes, broadcast Ping support, and other miscellaneous fixes and improvements sprinkled throughout.

The bug fixes and compatibility improvements are worth the time for the upgrade.

And here is where you can find it ...

No Ethernet? No problem!

  • Packet drivers exist for SLIP and PPP so you can use a standard serial port.
  • Other packet drivers exist for IBM Token Ring and Arcnet, making them look like Ethernet
  • PLIP (IP over your parallel port with a LapLink cable) is reported to work.

Is there a trick to getting hosts file to work? I assumed it needs to be a file named HOSTS in the MTCP folder, but it's not working, no name resolution is working.

Reply 16 of 17, by mbbrutman

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You can name it anything you want to, but you have to put the name you choose in the mTCP configuration file. The instructions are in the PDF file.

Reply 17 of 17, by keenerb

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It's funny, I figured that out by downloading the source and reading utils.cpp.

Weird how that was my first reaction rather than actually reading the documentation...