Looking for some help on reading file or files tranfer

[call]

Sorry this is long.
I have a system rs6000 model 230 old but running 4.3
Question We dont know the software at all.
we are looking to try to convert file over to a spread sheet
or excel.
I tried to look into the files and all I get are code that i cant read.

Thier two file system mounted
usr/mqsl
usr/wc
the tapes seem to be no good so I will make a backup
of the system, what would be the best way to do this?
Should I just backup the mqsl and wc file system
or should i backup everything we are just trying to get the info off the system so we can read it.

To some up everything.
1. can I copy the file to diskett and beable to put it on my pc and read the file.
Or should I copy the file onto a tape and get a company to convert the file to a formatt that we can read.
I know a company who can do this.
thank you.

 

[aixqueen]

type file usr/mqsl and file usr/wc
i.e. #file smit.log
smit.log: commands text

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/doc_link/en_US/a_doc_lib/cmds/aixcmds2/file.htm

It depends what format it is in. If we are talking it is stored in
a third party programs format...you would need that format on the
PC in order to read it.. It also depends on how big the files are

Perhaps you can do an ls -la of the file names or ls -la in the directory.
the same with the file command above...if it is a file it will work
if it is a directory, you need to do for each file to find out what kind of file it is.

If it is an executible...well you will need the program to convert it...or use
the same program on the pc.... if it is command text, it should be ascii text...
getting it field delimeted etc for a spreadsheet is another issue.

I guess let us know what kind of files they are and their size and we can see
how we can help you.

 

[crowe]

you can do a "file" on the files to get some idea what they might be. ($ file filename). size is important in order to xfer the file to your pc. You can always ftp the file if it is too large for a floppy. AIX has dosutilities to xfer a file to/from a dos formatted disk. I believe it is dosread and doswrite. You might have to install the dosutils from an OS cd. you can also do a strings on the file to see the ASCII stuff in the file ($ strings filename|more). If you post up a ls -l of the files in question, that might help.

crowe

 

[call]

Thanks i will give it a shot.
I will let you know what happen if I can get over to the place where the machine is at.