Forgot to update everyone on the thin client DOS project. It's an HP t5740e thin client PC with 2GB of RAM and a 4GB drive. I formatted almost 2GB for th system boot drive and 2GB for the extended DOS partition.Originally, I installed DOS 6.22 on it, but I decided to put FreeDOS on instead. FreeDOS already has most of the drivers needed, so I can install stuff using the USB port. I still have programs on floppies that I bought way back in the early '90s; I was able to just install them from a cheap USB floppy drive.I literal paid like $14 for it, the floppy disks cost more than the drivethese days, $2 for 10 Disks locally! The DOS machine is up and running like a charm. I actually played the original DOOM from way back. Now I am getting back to writing a few batch files. I haven't done that in over 30 years."

That is good news. Glad it is working out. I had not heard of floppy
drives with USB connectors so that is good to know. Is it a 5.25 or 3.5
drive?

---
þ BgNet 1.0á12 ÷ moe's tavern * 1-502-875-8938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27

Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: MIKE POWELL to DENN on Sun Jan 11 2026 09:34 am

That is good news. Glad it is working out. I had not heard of floppy drives with USB connectors so that is good to know. Is it a 5.25 or 3.5 drive?

I've only seen 3.5" USB floppy drives; I don't think they make 5.25" USB floppy drives, but I suppose I could be wrong.

Nightfox

---
þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: Nightfox to MIKE POWELL on Sun Jan 11 2026 17:02:06

I've only seen 3.5" USB floppy drives; I don't think they make 5.25" USB floppy drives, but I suppose I could be wrong.

I've been looking for one as well, but so far, no luck. I got some commercial disks from the '80s I'd like to get converted.

---
þ Synchronet þ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com

Mortar wrote to Nightfox <=-

Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: Nightfox to MIKE POWELL on Sun Jan 11 2026 17:02:06

I've only seen 3.5" USB floppy drives; I don't think they make 5.25" USB floppy drives, but I suppose I could be wrong.

I've been looking for one as well, but so far, no luck. I got some commercial disks from the '80s I'd like to get converted.

I don't think the 5.25" drive is available in USB/external version. I
see none on Amazon or Ebay.



... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: Gamgee to Mortar on Mon Jan 12 2026 08:27:44

I don't think the 5.25" drive is available in USB/external version. I
see none on Amazon or Ebay.

Those were my first stops as well; zip, zero, nadda. However, I did see several external 5 1/4" drives using the Shugart interface. Digging further, I came accross the Device Side Data FC5025 USB 5.25" Floppy Controller. It'll allow you to connect std. PC 5 1/4" floppy drives (as well as many 8-bit computer floppy drives) to your PC. It's not a perfect solution. It's a read-only setup and You still have to provide power to the drive from somewhere.

Here's a link so you can read all the gory details: https://shop.deviceside.com/prod/fc5025

---
þ Synchronet þ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com

Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: MIKE POWELL to DENN on Sun Jan 11 2026 09:34 am

Forgot to update everyone on the thin client DOS project. It's an HP

That is good news. Glad it is working out. I had not heard of floppy drives with USB connectors so that is good to know. Is it a 5.25 or 3.5 drive?

3.5 floppy, I have not seen any USB 5 1/4 floppies.
a 3.5 USB floppy can be purchased on Amazon for under $15.

... Rate yourself as a programmer on a scale of 0 to F.

---
þ Synchronet þ the Outwest BBS - outwest.synchro.net - Home of BBSBASE 6.0

Mortar wrote to Gamgee <=-

Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: Gamgee to Mortar on Mon Jan 12 2026 08:27:44

I don't think the 5.25" drive is available in USB/external version. I
see none on Amazon or Ebay.

Those were my first stops as well; zip, zero, nadda. However, I did
see several external 5 1/4" drives using the Shugart interface.
Digging further, I came accross the Device Side Data FC5025 USB 5.25" Floppy Controller. It'll allow you to connect std. PC 5 1/4" floppy drives (as well as many 8-bit computer floppy drives) to your PC. It's not a perfect solution. It's a read-only setup and You still have to provide power to the drive from somewhere.

Here's a link so you can read all the gory details: https://shop.deviceside.com/prod/fc5025

Nice find, and very interesting. Seems like it would work for getting
data from old disks, and storing it safely on modern media. Cool stuff!



... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

That is good news. Glad it is working out. I had not heard of floppy drives with USB connectors so that is good to know. Is it a 5.25 or 3.5 drive?

I've only seen 3.5" USB floppy drives; I don't think they make 5.25" USB

>floppy drives, but I suppose I could be wrong.

Some of the external USB 'Boxes' have connectors on them that should
work with either size Floppy Drive. I think.. I haven't tried it myself.

I keep an older system running for transferring old Floppy disk
info onto a Flash drive or something.. Actually, I guess I don't
have one that takes 5.25" floppies anymore. I transferred all that
stuff several systems ago.. B)

---
þ SLMR Rob þ I appeal to a very confused group of small people
þ Synchronet þ CAPCITY2 * Capitol City Online

3.5 floppy, I have not seen any USB 5 1/4 floppies.
a 3.5 USB floppy can be purchased on Amazon for under $15.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25
from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

---
þ BgNet 1.0á12 ÷ moe's tavern * 1-502-875-8938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27

MIKE POWELL wrote to DENN <=-

3.5 floppy, I have not seen any USB 5 1/4 floppies.
a 3.5 USB floppy can be purchased on Amazon for under $15.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25 from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC
with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing
elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

You should probably get those 5.25's copied off and archived somewhere
more safe/stable. Those floppies WILL eventually fail and be
unreadable.



... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

MIKE POWELL wrote to DENN <=-

Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25 from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC
with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing
elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

At my last job, fairly recently, the organization had phased out a
server room full of AS/400s. They had one remaining system remaining.

In the server room, they kept a system running to use as a local means
of testing and restoring individual tape backups.

It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running
OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer. IBM "pointing
device", a heavy 2-button mechanical mouse.

That was the exact system I'd used at my first job - in 1991!



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
þ Synchronet þ .: realitycheckbbs.org :: scientia potentia est :.

Re: Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: poindexter FORTRAN to MIKE POWELL on Wed Jan 14 2026 06:56 am

It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer. IBM "pointing device", a heavy 2-button mechanical mouse.

That was the exact system I'd used at my first job - in 1991!

That sounds like a fairly iconic early-mid 90s computer setup. If I collected retro computers, I wouldn't mind having a setup like that. I've also thought it would be cool to have an old Amiga (maybe a 2000 or a 3000). I'd need to have room for a computer collection first..

Nightfox

---
þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Thin Client Pc To Run Dos
By: MIKE POWELL to DENN on Tue Jan 13 2026 08:21 am

a 3.5 USB floppy can be purchased on Amazon for under $15.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I still have a lot of things on 5.25 from back when that was all I had. Luckily, I do still have a DOS PC with both sizes so, if I ever want to start converting/storing elsewhere, I can start there. ;)

I had dual 5.25 floppy drives on my old TRS-80 Color Computer 2 in the 80's.
When I went to at-386 I just used 3.5 floppies and a 20 MB hard drive, later I bought a 486 and added a CD-Rom drive.
my 1st PC though was a 286 and it had a 5.25 and a 3.5 floppy drive.
Used to have a floppy template I would use to punch a hole on the 5.25 floppy disk's to make them double sided.

... Shin n. device for finding furniture in the dark.


---
þ Synchronet þ the Outwest BBS - outwest.synchro.net - Home of BBSBASE 6.0

Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

It was an IBM PS/2 model 80, 13" CRT and a Model M keyboard running OS/2. Connected to it was an IBM 4019 laser printer. IBM "pointing device", a heavy 2-button mechanical mouse.

That was the exact system I'd used at my first job - in 1991!

That sounds like a fairly iconic early-mid 90s computer setup. If I collected retro computers, I wouldn't mind having a setup like that.
I've also thought it would be cool to have an old Amiga (maybe a 2000
or a 3000). I'd need to have room for a computer collection first..

They were great systems - Micro channel architecture, with a fast bus
ahead of its time. ESDI drives. Toolless construction, you could take
the entire thing apart with a coin.

We were running OS/2 2.1, sharing files over a Token-Ring LAN with an MS
LAN MAN file server and a Novell network, connecting to AS/400s over
Twinax, and doing it all when most people in the company were running WordPerfect and 1-2-3 in DOS.

The only downside was an office full of Model M keyboards clacking
away...



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
þ Synchronet þ .: realitycheckbbs.org :: scientia potentia est :.