Re: 1) Virtual to run DOS 6.2 ? 2) To run Micro Focus COBOL/2 Version 1.2.29 L2.2 revision 003 ?



"Mel_3" <MyEmailList@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6d2379e4-9652-4d2d-a4aa-d45d309f20ef@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DD, thanks for the response... I guess :)

If everyone Googled carefully, or read their doc's carefully, then
there would be no for newsgroups or forums... except to flame poor
unsuspecting souls :) Virtually all the answers are online somewhere
and/or in the available documentation and/or aftermarket books at
Barns and Noble... so if this is your criteria... no one need post
anything anywhere 'cause it's all already available :)

I'm trying to help soneone out here and don't need a lecture about
what they should have done to mitigate the problem... nor what I
should do to try and do a little research to help them.

I have found that the best way to do quickstart research is ask
someone who knows the answer... and that is what newsgroups and forums
are all about...

Thanks to the kindness of many experts around the world knowledge is
shared and many problems can, as a result, be fixed quicker and easier
than if someone starts repeating all the research from scratch.

So, hopefully some kind soul who can advise on virtual DOS 6.1... and
getting this old app running in a virtual machine... we would be quite
grateful.

And hopefully... down the road... I can return the favor... or pay it
forward to some one else in need.

Thanks.


Very well expressed, Mel.

Here is my .02

1.I am using VM increasingly to test different environments but, so far, I
have not needed to set up a DOS 6.2 VM. However, I DO have an old machine
somewhere that is running it, so could check out things like autoexec.bat
and config.sys.

2. If you get the hard drive powered up you probably won't need a VM. If
this was a boot drive just boot from it... if it wasn't, THEN you need
either a VM or an old machine you can mess about with.

3. IF you go the VM route, you will need autoexec.bat and config.sys... in
fact, you will need everything that was on the original machine, in terms of
the OS. (At least you won't have to worry about registry hives :-))

I just read the rest of the thread and found your update...

OK guys, here is an update. I found a little extra time this afternoon
and picked up the machine.

- I removed the hard disk and pluged it into my XP Pro laptop USB port
via a USB to IDE adaptor cable.
- Thing came right up and I drug/drag'd the entire disk to a folder on
my desk top.
- It is a 503 MB hard disk with 305 MB used.
- Seemed to copy fine. No notices from windows about any files that
couldn't be copied.

- I wonder if it really copied everything... hidden files and all?
[Pete]

Probably not... it doesn't do an image copy when you drag and drop.


- I wonder if going to the command line and entering Copy F:\*.* /v
would work better? (Is there a DOS command to copy everyting including
hidden files? (If there were hidden files in DOS 6.1 :)

[Pete]

Yes. XCOPY. and yes, there were hidden files in DOS 6.1 Here's the command:

XCOPY F:\ *.* C:\DOSDISK\*.* /E /S /H
Note that this will reset any "Read Only" files to be writable in the target
environment. If you don't want this add /K to the parameters.

- I wonder if "Robo Copy" would work better?

[Pete]

XCOPY is a very experienced piece of software... :-)

- I guess I would really like to get a complet "image" of the disk to
be sure I got everything but not sure how to do that with old hard
disk.

[Pete]

You would need something like Acronis to get a true "image copy", but that
is an overkill here. The command above will get you everything you need (if
your Drag 'n' Drop didn't already...)

- Anyway I now have at leas 'most' of the files on the hard disk
backed up.

- If my info is correct this is Micro Focus COBOL/2 Version 1.2.29
L2.2 revision 003

- I'm going to put this hard disk in as a boot disk on another old
machine and see if it boots up... I guess.

- What are your suggestions for what I should do next?

[Pete]

You laid it out for yourself pretty well when you said:

1 - Verify that the disk will still spin-up and is readable... [Yep.]

2 - If the disk is still working then try to get the old hardware to
work, boot up, and run..... [Yep.]

3 - Root around to find a DOS 6.1 disk and some old hardware & try ti
migrate app... [OR build a VM for it.]

4 - Try to get it going in a VM running DOS 6.1.... [get it running before
you try to migrate it]

5 - Use Ed Guy's ParseRat to try and parse the data into delimited
records.... [IF there is no COBOL source available, ParseRat is probably
your best option. If there IS COBOL source, and there are file definitions
for the indexed files (these will be SELECTs and FD/01 COBOL definitions;
they are often included in source by means of COBOL COPY statements) you
will need a migration.

As you are doing this to help somebody, I'll convert these files to database
using the PRIMA tools for you (as long as you have a reasonable number of
files; if there are hundreds we would need to talk :-)), for free. Read
about COBOL migration at: http://primacomputing.co.nz/mig.aspx You can
overview the PRIMA Toolset there from a link on that page. I am currently
putting together the full details and a walkthrough for download but it is a
lot of work and won't be ready for a few days yet.]

Still wondering if anyone has tried to run an old COBOL app in a
Virtual DOS Machine running under XP Pro...
[Pete]

An interesting combination of the old and the new... :-)

Good luck with your venture.

Pete.
--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything".


.

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