Need Help Salvaging Data From an Old Xenix System

Milo_Mindbender writes "I've recently gotten ahold of an old Altos 586 Xenix system (a late '80s Microsoft flavor of Unix) that has one of the first multi-user BBS systems in the US on it, and I want to salvage the historical BBS posts off it. I'm wondering if anyone remembers what format Xenix used on the 10MB (yes MB) IDE hard drive and if it can still be read on a modern Linux system. This system is quite old, has no removable media or ethernet and just barely works. The only other way to get data off is a slow serial port. I've got a controller that should work with the disk, but don't want to tear this old machine apart without some hope that it will work. Anyone know?"

Comments

I'd do it the slow but secure way.

[Securityemo]

Even if it would take weeks. You're handling a historical relic, don't want to mess it up.

Re:I'd do it the slow but secure way.

[HBI]

I would expect a 16450 in something with an IDE drive. Though the smallest IDE drive I ever saw was a 40MB one. 10MB makes me think MFM. So you might be right on that.

Re:I'd do it the slow but secure way.

[djlowe]

Then there's the matter of making a cable for X-on/X-off... and the plucky archivist can proceed

Wow, that brings back memories... since X-on/X-off is software flow control over serial communications, making a cable was a simple matter: Tie together the hardware flow control transmit/request signal lines together and loop them back to the receive lines on the same connector and so ensure that they'd always be high on each side... and then let the software handle it from there...

I still have a soldering iron and solder in my service toolkit, which is in the trunk of my car - but I haven't used them in more than 15 years at this point. Hell, I can't remember the last time I used anything from my toolkit except for screwdrivers and needlenose pliers, but I still keep it around, just in case... I still have a serial breakout box, too *grin*

I did service for a customer that had an Altos system, and after they remodeled their offices, had to add some terminals in the reception area. They insisted that it be neat, and so, I ran the cable into the walls, mounted old work boxes to the sheetrock (measuring everything so that they lined up with the electical outlets, of course), and then soldered DB-25 female connectors onto the cable, mounting them to stainless steel wallplates that had DB-25 cutouts... labeled the wallplates, and the cables on the far end, then made "patch cables" to go from the wallplates to the terminals. Neat, clean - and I had a blast doing it.

And from that point on, I always tried to make any cabling I installed not only work properly, but be as neat as possible and documented as well.

Regards,

dj

Re:I'd do it the slow but secure way.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does the summary/author really act like 10MB should surprise most of us. Most of us aren't in our 20s last time I saw the marketing demographic for slashdot. And claiming a late 80s OS would be home to one of the first multi user BBS? Don't even make me laugh!

(Get off my lawn, etc)

UUCP

[John Hasler]

It'll take a few hours at 9600 baud. It's your best bet. Let it run over night and the job is done.

audio

[nadaou]

if the thing has a pc speaker you can (with a bit of work) and a noisy export via modulated audio.

of course if you have access to a serial port controller that's easily the simplest method.

NO DISASSEMBLE ALTOS!

[NNKK]

Seriously, don't go there, not until you get the data off via the serial port (or flatly establish that you _can't_).

You are dealing with a system that is lucky to be functional _at all_ after 25+ years, and presumably got heavy use while it was active. Corrosion, brittle plastics, dust worked into dangerous areas, etc..

If it's working now, taking it apart stands a good chance of breaking something that is difficult or impossible to fully repair, and you don't want to go there until the information is preserved.

Re:No Removable Media?

[NNKK]

This assumes that a 25-year-old 5.25" floppy drive still works, not to mention that the floppies are actually physically and/or track-compatible with anything he might have around. Both may be quite a leap.

Is this worth it?

[Profane MuthaFucka]

The porn from that era just wasn't as good as you remember it to be. Perhaps you're better off with the good memories that you have. The reality can only diminish them. Leave the data on that old machine and you'll be happier.

Re:Serial port.

[TheRaven64]

Hmm, well 'Xenix' is actually an old SCO product which SCO originally bought off Microsoft

Not exactly. Microsoft bought the code from AT&T then hired SCO to port it to 16-bit systems. SCO did the development under contract and Microsoft did the marketing.

If it runs Xenix 3 or later, it supports FAT, so copying to a floppy might be an option (if you have another machine with a 5.25" disk drive.

Compress is probably not worth bothering with. It's a 10MHz 8086. The time taken to compress the files is likely to be more than the time saved copying them.

Re:Not meant to be funny...

[Anonymous Coward]

What a load of bullshit...