Accessing SCO Unix server 3

[3n1]

I have a predicament in which a friend of mine has a VERY old Altos SCO UNIX server (which still runs fine) and I am needing to get some wordperfect data off of there and convert it to Word or something from this century. I have the root password, but I don't know how I am going to get the data off of the server. i just found out that the server DOES have TCP/IP installed, which wasn't the case for many years. However, I don't know how to get to the data and copy it off.
I am hoping that I will be able to ftp to the server and login with root and the password, but I don't know if SCO UNIX installs an FTP server by default. I booted the server to four different LINUX distributions, but none of them could even read the hard drive partition. I don't know if SCO used an inaccessible format in the 1980's (when this server was setup) or if my Knoppix and Ubuntu CDs just didn't support the SCSI controller in the server. I am terribly unfamiliar with the UNIX command line and would prefer to access the server and retrieve the old files from a different PC, or worse case, by booting a CD with an OS that can read the hard drive. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I am not adverse to even sending the hard drives off and having the data extracted by a UNIX pro if I can't gain access any other way if someone can recommend a reliable company that can do that.

 

[edfair]

Probably best to use WP to load the files then save them in text format. Then doscp them to the floppy, assuming that it still works, and sneakernet them across.

You can get terminal packages with file transfer capabilities.

I've used basic to capture stuff dumped from a serial port in text format.

Never did ftp on the 4 level so don't know if it is available. But if it is, you would want to convert the files to text before you suck them off.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[patw]

Does your friend make any telnet connections to the box? Telnet and FTP are normally enabled by default (1980's remember).

To see what the boxes net addr is, login as root on console, and type in:

cat /etc/hosts

The first address should be the boxes IP. Once you have a connection, transfer one of the WP files to a windows machine, and see if Word still can import or open WP files. If it can't, try installing OpenOffice and see if it can do the job. If that fails to open, you'll have to load each file and save as flat text as Ed suggested.

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[Annihilannic]

It may not have an FTP server installed or set up... but no reason why you can't go the other direction; if it has TCP/IP configured it will surely have an FTP client.

Annihilannic
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