I'm looking for a *really* simple communications program that will
run on a 8086 with a harddrive.  Nothing I have will run on less
than a 386.  Anyone have such an old thing around?

14 responses total.

Procomm Plus Test Drive is one good one, or Procomm 2.4.2 (both were
shareware).  In the freeware arena, I'd suggest Kermit.  I know I have
a copy of that, around 220K.   I think Valerie still uses Kermit for
DOS, so she might have a more recent version.  I think the user
interface is simpler in Procomm, but either program should work on
an 8086.  If you want something even smaller, I wrote a 50K comm
program, but its VT100 emulation isn't 100% perfect, and its 
interface is geared toward people who use speech synthesizers rather
than monitors (it still works fine with a monitor, but doesn't have
pop-up windows or pull-down menus).

I'm currently using Commo on my 8088, so it should do
just fine on an 8086.  >8)

  I was, and still am using Procomm as the term program of choice.
works for the clueless such as I am.

  I saw another one called Simple Term which was just that. 

Kermit would be a good choice.  The newer versions can be rather large,
although they do provide a stripped down version in the same distribution
that is much smaller. Kermit's VT terminal emulation is quite good.
The official site for kermit distribution is kermit.columbia.edu.
FTP there (anonymous login) and grab the file msvibm.zip in the directory
/kermit/archives.

what about doing echo text you want to send > COM2 ? :)  I'm sure that 
would work.

Procomm Plus for DOS is pretty good, easy to use, but the only downside is
that the terminal emulation isn't quite 100%.  More like 99.4%.

Well, since there is an address there for kermit, I'll try it first.  I'm on
using the XT now with a demo for a library of C routines for async programming
that I got from Chelsea Wildcat BBS about 4 years ago.  Dang it's great to
label and catalog disks.  ;)

The other downside to Procomm Plus is that it costs money.

  Yep, Procomm 2.4.2 is shareware, and Procomm Plus is commercial,
but with a functional "test drive" version.  Kermit is totally free,
and you can even get source for it.

Kermit is the way to go, then.  This thing is not something I want to spend
money on.  I have a real computer.  This is just a pet project.  ;)

If I could get Kermit to work on an Apple IIe with a Z80 running CP/M 2.2
(which leaves 54K to spare for programs), getting Kermit to run on an
8086 should be feasible.  Note, that if you think the Kermit protocol
is slow, be sure to read all the documentation, or if you want, you can
make Zmodem work with Kermit without too much difficulty (also in the
Kermit docs, I believe).

I think I still have a copy of Procomm 2.4.2 floating around somewhere. You
could also try Telix. It's got a lot more bells and whistles than Procomm, but
still runs just fine on a 8088 or 8086.

I have the Procomm 2.4.2 self-extracting archive in my directory on
another server and can send it to anyone able to receive attached binary
files via e-mail.

        I switched to kermit and was able to set it up while being totally
ignorant as to what I was doing so you should be able to get it to work no
problem.

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