putting a dos program on a new machine

[CHR15]

I've bought a piece of equipment, which was manufactured in 1989.

the machine communicates to a pc through an interface box, the pc then runs a dos program to give you the info you need.

the problem is, if the computer toasts itself, im a bit stuck.

so, question is, can i somehow suck the program out this pc, make a few copies for safety and put it on something modern.

i also need to be able to connect the interface box to the new pc, i dont know what kind of connector it is and the expansion card doesn't look like any kind of expansion socket from any pc i've seen.


the program im interested in is called geopak, but i'm not sure if other things need to come with it for it to work.

any suggestions?

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3587_zpsxhu1lxax.jpg

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3588_zpsp1irlip5.jpg

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3589_zpsop1bbw3q.jpg

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3590_zpshswzenfw.jpg

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3591_zps4ktvsxuk.jpg

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3592_zps6y64qco8.jpg

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3593_zpsrsuu3s9h.jpg

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3594_zpssfypfehz.jpg

https://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad233/chris-bracey/IMG_3595_zpsqnnnmw3f.jpg
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Turbocharged drag thing / project death weapon / GK73A
Ste: I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about verbally abusing someone with a potato but I'm sure it's possible.

[Pjay]

It uses the dongle as a verification system, unless you know some 1337 ha><0rs, you're stuck.

In the meantime, put the HDD into a newer box and copy the data.

[Pjay]

To expand on that:

The card is more than likely an ISA parallel port card, as this is usually what dongles plugged into back then.

You can find a modern card to fit into a new PC, but then you might find that you have timing issues and would need to slow the card down so that the software can read the dongle hardware.

Try moving the software to a new pc, get a parallel port card, try it.
This would be a very cheap way of seeing if it will work.

If you get a problem with it reading the dongle, let me know.

[Andy_Pagin]

Details first please, what piece of equipment, and what does it do?
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[Andy_Pagin]

Details first please, what piece of equipment, and what does it do?
The working life of most IT equipment is about seven years, whatever you're trying to achieve, it's not a good idea to use antique hardware.
____________________
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the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
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[CHR15]

The machine is a mitutoyo bx303 cmm.

It's basically a very accurate measuring machine that uses a probe attached to a gantry to produce point cloud data, ie. Hole centres, faces, edges ect...

The idea being that you can verify that components are manufactured to drawing, or copy existing components that have complex features that would be difficult to measure by hand.



https://www.cmmsales.co.uk/cmmsales/machines/Mitutoyo%20BX303.htm
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Turbocharged drag thing / project death weapon / GK73A
Ste: I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about verbally abusing someone with a potato but I'm sure it's possible.

[Andy_Pagin]

Ok. The thing on the interface port is a dongle, basically this is an electronic licence for the software, take off the dongle and the program refuses to work.
The interface itself is I strongly suspect IEEE488, which back in the day was the de-facto choice for interfacing computers with stuff, like USB today really.

You can still buy IEE488 cards, so in theory you could bung one on a modern PC and run the old DOS program through an emulator.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[MarJay]

[Andy_Pagin]

Interface is IEE488.
You can still buy them, even one that plugs into a USB port.
Likewise you can buy 3.5" Disk drives.
Hardware shouldn't be a problem.
Finding a DOS emulator that works may be an issue, but until you have the hardware you'll never know.
Quick Google shows IEE488 cards for about £200 new, and 3.5" Drives for £20 or less.
I'm guessing your investment in that super-duper measuring thingy justified a £220 punt on interfacing stuff.

Ultimately the weak point will always be the dongle, if that dies you're buggered, unless the software or hardware manufacturers are still around and willing/able to help.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[wodge]

[CHR15]

It hasn't actually failed, the computer works fine.

This was more about long term and also reducing the size of the whole job. It would be nice to have a tiny computer with a usb card that I can connect to the interface box and tuck it all out the way. I can then mount an lcd on the wall behind the machine and it's all nice and modern.

Also, I opened both ends of that grey cable, there's no microchips or anything inside, it's literally just a cable with the cores crimped to pins at both ends.
____________________
Turbocharged drag thing / project death weapon / GK73A
Ste: I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about verbally abusing someone with a potato but I'm sure it's possible.

[Andy_Pagin]

Silly me for not looking at the pics properly. Agreed, it isn't a dongle.
Whatever you decide to do, definitely copy those 3.5" disks to something.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[wodge]

It is very difficult to predict how old dos software will behave on new hardware. There may be timing problems because the software is not expecting everything to happen so quickly with faster computers. There wil almost certainly be driver issues if you want to run it in a windows dosbox.

However, IEEE488 is an old standard communications system for Instrumentation. You can get modern PCI to IEEE488 interface cards and there is a good chance there is other software which can understand the device. In fact you link to one for sale which is using something called inspect3d software.

TBH the last time I linked up something with IEEE I think it used an 800khz (yes, kilohertz) Hewlett Packard computer (HP85) the interface was called hp/ip then!

[Pjay]

Geopak uses a dongle, this is inbuilt into the adapter on the parallel port.

[CHR15]

So what we're saying is I need a computer with an isa connector, and try using the original 488 card out of this computer. (Because is has the dongle built into it)

Can you get something like a usb to isa or pci to isa?

How do I suck the software out of the orignional computer? (I think the floppies are calibration backups rather than the program) you have to calibrate the machine to square of the axis and other things.

Is it normal to snigger when saying dongle?
____________________
Turbocharged drag thing / project death weapon / GK73A
Ste: I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about verbally abusing someone with a potato but I'm sure it's possible.

[Evil Hans]

[Pjay]

[Pete.]

[Andy_Pagin]

[CHR15]

Yeah it was in Surrey,

I've just found the orignional order paperwork, it says the card that connects the interface box to the pc is called a 'hpib interface'

Also, for people that were around then, what did £13.5k buy you in '89?
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Turbocharged drag thing / project death weapon / GK73A
Ste: I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about verbally abusing someone with a potato but I'm sure it's possible.

[CaNsA]

I'd be tempted to chuck a 1-4gb ide hdd in there and copy the data over.

[Pete.]

The BIOS on a 1989 pc is unlikely to support that size of drive.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[CaNsA]

Possibly, but at worst it will let you create a partition upto... say... 250mb maybe.

[Andy_Pagin]

[wodge]

To backup your computer the easiest way is to get a couple of boxes of new floppy disks and copy everything off the drive.

You have xcopy.exe which can do it
i.e.
xcopy c:/geopak a:/ \s
xcopy c:/ a:/

The problem with old computers is that all storage systems are based on magnetic media which deteriorates after a few years. So its then best to copy your new floppy disks to a more modern pc.

IEEE488, hp/ib gb/ib its all the same thing..

I still cant see any dongle!!!