data conversion from old NCR Tower system

[rpaverd]

We have inherited an old NCR Tower system dating back to the 80's. It is up and running in multiuser mode. We do not know much about the system which is due to be retired shortly.

We would like to copy the data files from this machine to a Windows XP PC. It is conected via a serial cable and we can communicate and log in... Our data transfer options (on the menu) include C-Kermit which we seem to be able to use to copy single files.

Does anyone have any suggestions how we can copy multiple, or all of, the files.

Time is not an issue - if it takes us several weeks across the 9.6kbs serial connection, it is not a problem.

We also have a working dds-1 tape drive, but I gather it does a direct copy of the individual disks and so would be difficult to convert to a usable Windows format.

The files are Wordmarc and 123 -compatible spreadsheets.

Any suggestions much appreciated

 

[PHV]

Create a tar file and transfer it.
WinZip and WinRar are able to read tar files.

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ222-2244

 

[motoslide]

Since you are posting here in the SCO Unix forum, I'll assume the NCR is running some flavor of SCO. If you have enough free disk space, you can create a tarfile of whatever contents you wish to move. On the Windows box, you can use either WINZIP or UltimateZIP, both understand how to extract from tar files.


Some of the NCR systems ran different versions of UNIX, and might be based on the Motorola processor. If that's the case, you may have to use "dd" (or some other utility) to swap the bytes. If you've already copied and successfully opened a file or two, please ignore this paragraph.

 

[fredericofonseca]

If you have the DDS working one thing you MAY be able to do is to install Linux on another machine, do a manual backup on the NCR using tar with options to make it portable (can´t remember now which ones but "man tar" will tell), and then restore it onto the Linux machine (install the DDS-1 there after the backup). From there you can place where ever you wish using TCP/IP.

Regards

Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd

http://www.syssoft-int.com

 

[piperent]

It is really important to know what processor is in the NCR machine. If it happens to be one of the older Tower's, like the old XP, then it is most likely a Motorola chip. My experience with those systems (and I happen to have one sitting in storage) has me thinking that the byte structure of the data is reversed or swapped, e.g. 'ba' instead of 'ab'. If that's the case, then you'll need to use something (I'd suggest 'dd') to 'swap' the bytes into the correct format.

A simple 'man dd' should help, but, a command would look something like
'dd if=oldfile of=newoldfile obs=5120 conv=swab'.

The 'conv=swab' converts byte pairs.

Keep in mind 'dd' is a very powerful and unforgiving little tool. In the hands of the inexperienced, it can be extremely dangerous.

Good luck ..... JP

 

[PHV]

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think anybody will have endian issue between SCO and Windows ...

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ222-2244

 

[edfair]

I have used a raw dump through a serial port to capture stuff on a dos/windows based system using basic.

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

 

[cdlvj]

right on PHV
///Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think anybody will have endian issue between SCO and Windows ...

tar is the best way, winzip will work, cygwin has tar packaged in, and there are also tar for windows.

 

[cdlvj]

try tar to your tape drive, and a win tar program may be able to read it. winzip may not work, but with cygwin, you may be able to get it.

I have successfully transfered files between a SCO box and a Win NT machine. Win XP should work too, but the others will not.

 

[rpaverd]

Thanks all for the input.

I will try the tar approach - directory by directory and see if that will work.

Thanks again

Richard