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In article <1992Jul30.134734.252@falcon.navsses.navy.mil>, system@falcon.navsses.navy.mil writes:
> I have a user who has a Rainbow 100+ system.  They have many MS-DOS disks full
> of lotus speadsheets that they need to exchange with some people who have a
> '386 pc.  Is there a method to read the RX-50 formatted MS-DOS disk on a
> standard pc? Thanks!
> --
> Mike Jacobi
> NAVSSES VAXCluster system manager
> System@Eagle.Navsses.Navy.Mil
> System@Falcon.Navsses.Navy.Mil
> 
> Disclaimer - I speak for myself.  No-one else.
-- 
Mike,
 
In my experience, you have two options. 
 
1 - There is a Kermit implementation available for the Rainbow. 
Your colleagues can use Kermit to transfer the files from the 
Rainbow to the 386.
 
2 - The Rainbow and the 386 (at least if it has 5.25" disks) can 
both read/write the old IBM 180Kb floppies. They are a feasible 
(well, it does generally work) mechanism for transfering files.
 
Personally, if the machines can be connected by a Communications 
Link, my preference would be to use Kermit. 
 
I hope that the above is helpful. If you have any questions, 
please drop me a note.
 
- Bob
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In article <1992Jul31.140623.184@rlgsc.com> gezelter@rlgsc.com writes:
>In article <1992Jul30.134734.252@falcon.navsses.navy.mil>, system@falcon.navsses.navy.mil writes:
>> I have a user who has a Rainbow 100+ system.  They have many MS-DOS disks full
>> of lotus speadsheets that they need to exchange with some people who have a
>> '386 pc.  Is there a method to read the RX-50 formatted MS-DOS disk on a
>> standard pc? Thanks!
>> --
> 
>In my experience, you have two options. 
> 
>1 - There is a Kermit implementation available for the Rainbow. 
>Your colleagues can use Kermit to transfer the files from the 
>Rainbow to the 386.
> 
>2 - The Rainbow and the 386 (at least if it has 5.25" disks) can 
>both read/write the old IBM 180Kb floppies. They are a feasible 
>(well, it does generally work) mechanism for transfering files.
> 

If RAINDOS or RX50DRVR is installed on a PC that has HD drives (AT or better) 
then just bring the Rainbow MS-DOS disks to the PC.  No fuss, no muss.

With RAINDOS and DOS 5.0, you can read/write files, run CHKDSK, FORMAT, etc.
with no problems.

cjl

lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:

>In article <1992Jul31.140623.184@rlgsc.com> gezelter@rlgsc.com writes:
>>In article <1992Jul30.134734.252@falcon.navsses.navy.mil>, system@falcon.navsses.navy.mil writes:
>>> I have a user who has a Rainbow 100+ system.  They have many MS-DOS disks full
>>> of lotus speadsheets that they need to exchange with some people who have a
>>> '386 pc.  Is there a method to read the RX-50 formatted MS-DOS disk on a
>>> standard pc? Thanks!
>>> --
>> 
>>In my experience, you have two options. 
>> 
>>1 - There is a Kermit implementation available for the Rainbow. 
>>Your colleagues can use Kermit to transfer the files from the 
>>Rainbow to the 386.
>> 
>>2 - The Rainbow and the 386 (at least if it has 5.25" disks) can 
>>both read/write the old IBM 180Kb floppies. They are a feasible 
>>(well, it does generally work) mechanism for transfering files.
>> 

>If RAINDOS or RX50DRVR is installed on a PC that has HD drives (AT or better) 
>then just bring the Rainbow MS-DOS disks to the PC.  No fuss, no muss.

>With RAINDOS and DOS 5.0, you can read/write files, run CHKDSK, FORMAT, etc.
>with no problems.

>cjl

Does that apply to a Pro 350? Same floppy drive (RX50) but is the format
the same? Also, what is RAINDOS, and again is does the format work with the
Pro? 

If there is nothing to read/write/format Pro disks on an AT or better, does
anyone know the low-level format for P/OS 3.0 on the Pro? I should be able
to cobble something together myself.

Apologies if this is an FAQ.

Thanks,
keithr

I use the RX50DRVR on my AT which allows my 1.2 MB drive to read RX50
diskettes.  What this does is to create a new driveletter (F:) which
spins the HD drive as if it were an RX50 drive.  

RX50DRVR does not know anything about the directory structure on 
the disks.  If I do 'dir F:' it assumes DOS directory structure,
which works fine on Rainbow diskettes, since they use the DOS
directory structure.

To read RT11 formatted diskettes, there is a utility called RT11
which groks the RT11 file structure.  I have not yet found a similar
utility which handles the RMS-11 file structure of the PRO 3xx series.

I can use Norton Utilities with RX50DRVR to examine the RX50 diskette
in the F: drive, but then I am accessing the diskette sector by sector,
not by logical file.

I haven't explored the new utilities from the gentlemen in the Former
Soviet Union who have announced some DOS environment tools for
manipulating RX50 diskettes.

Using RX50DRVR in combination with the RT11 utility program, I can
low-level format a blank HD diskette as an RX50 diskette, then
put it in the PRO and do a high-level RMS-11 style Initialization.
This allows me to create new RX50 diskettes out of plain old unformatted
or recycled 1.2 MB HD diskettes.

Using Venix on the PRO, I can do a raw image copy of a diskette in one 
drive to a blank diskette in another drive.  (This kind of copy will fail
if the target diskette has any bad sectors, since there is no attempt
to rearrange sectors to detour around any bad blocks.)

Finally, by hooking up the PRO to a Unix or DOS machine via the
COM port (or to a Unix host via Ethernet/DECnet if you have a DECNA
card), you can transfer files via any number of techniques, ranging
from straight ASCII upload/capture using ordinary terminal emulators,
Kermit file transfers if you have Kermit on both machines, or by
DECnet file transfer using NFT or dcp utilities.

None of this is particularly trivial to implement, but the bottom
line is that there are many ways to pull files off RX50 diskettes
and transfer them to Unix or DOS machines.

Barry Kort