Comments on: Desqview/X

By: Michal N.

Michal N. — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:43:47 +0000

It has been almost 5 years since I saw this website. In the recent days, I have managed to run DESQview/X in Virtualbox. What you actually need for networking is lsl.exe (Novell’s Link Support Layer), an ODI driver for your network card (in my case I used the PCNET-Fast III), netware’s TCP16, a copy of DESQview (obviously) and a correctly configured net.cfg file.

I got the network driver here: https://www.lazybrowndog.net/freedos/virtualbox/?page_id=321
you need to grab the ODI driver, which has a (almost) preconfigured net.cfg and also contains lsl.exe.

TCP16 can be obtained here:
https://ftp.zx.net.nz/pub/archive/novell/lwp/doswin5/
I went with the TCP1607.EXE one, that has several bugfixes.

Now for the setup. Assuming you have DOS and DESQview installed already, you need to add a static IP, netmask and gateway by adding lines similar to these three under Bind PCNTNW:

IP_Address 172.16.1.2
IP_Netmask 255.255.255.0
IP_Router 172.16.1.1

You also need to have mempool 8192 and buffers 6, 1600 in the Link Support section.

Next, before launching DESQview/X you need to load the three EXE files in this order: LSL, PCNTNW, TCPIP (extracted from TCP16/TCP1607).

The final step is to select Novell LAN WorkPlace TCP/IP in DESQview/X’s network setup and enable network virtualization.

Now, DESQview/X also has an rexec server, which I have also been able to use. GNU inetutils still contains source for rexec, but most distributions disable it for whatever reason, so I had to build it myself. Also, you have to have a two-way path between your UNIX/Linux PC and your DESQview/X VM, as well as enable TCP listening on your X server and disable authentication on it.

By: Sti

Sti — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 22:48:42 +0000

Not sure what’s happened here but the screenshot disappeared.

By: ForOldHack

ForOldHack — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 13:16:06 +0000

In reply to DOS.

Just wanted to update the link:
ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/misc/DESQ/
No longer works, he moved the files:
ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/misc/softeware/DESQ/
Which has both tcp16.exe and tcp1607.exe

By: DOS

DOS — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 11:21:20 +0000

There are multiple mirrors of that chsoft.com page out there, e.g. ftp://mindcandydvd.com/pub/misc/Software/DESQ/dv.html If that site disappears, I assume the file you’re after is either tcp16.exe or tcp1607.exe, and the latter is a reasonably unique filename to search the web for.

By: DOS

DOS — Sun, 15 Sep 2019 09:32:22 +0000

In reply to DOS. @Michal: Sorry, thought you were someone else, so I haven't emailed you. @neozeed, when you get time, if you can't find the files but are happy to mirror them, let me know!

By: DOS

DOS — Sat, 14 Sep 2019 07:00:06 +0000

@Michal: I might have it, I’ve emailed you.

@neozeed: Good luck with the relocation and preserving all those old bits!

By: neozeed

neozeed — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 14:40:57 +0000

I thought I did, I need to dig more.

I think I was using a G5 quad proc back then to be obtuse.. In that case I had to abandon it all when I had to leave America.

And I’m going through something similar again having to quickly relocate to Japan before the fall of yet another iron curtain.

By: Michal N.

Michal N. — Sun, 08 Sep 2019 07:51:30 +0000

Do you still have the network driver? the page you mentioned in the second paragraph is now defunct and I would really like to try it.

By: Nick B.

Nick B. — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 10:38:51 +0000

Thanks neozeed for redirecting me to this post.

I used to be a user of DesQview in the 386 and 486 days and DesQview/X featured in the DesQview User magazine a few times. It was totally overkill for anything I needed in the day job though so never got purchased.

I eventually came across 2.0 and 2.1 in a.b.w and I think those copies got archived on the chsoft website. I did have it running at one point on a Pentium mb with a Western Digital Paradise VGA card.

I did scan the magazine articles which are still available on chsoft.