How to find a file

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Night Train

Maker of Things
I have a 'lost' book I wrote decades ago. It is saved on an old Amstrad 386 laptop (though could also be on a floppy) from the 80's.

Having dug out the laptop and been amazed that it still works and starts up faster then my TV I now need to remember how to use it.

I have done C:\ dir and it brings up a list of programmes including WS5, Word Star 5, in which the book was written.
How do I search for a file?

I can't remember what the title would have been as file names were short then and could have been anything.
Alternatively it could be on a 3 1/2" floppy so I would need to be able to search a pile of those too.

Thank you.
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
The DIR command will do the job for you.

DIR *.XXX where XXX is the file extension for your word process files will list all your word processed files

DIR *.XXX |MORE will list files a screenful at a time - pressing the space bar will list the next page

DIR *.XXX /S will search through sub directories too
 

rusky

CC Addict
Location
Hove
A quick google shows that wordstar files didn't have a file extension!

Can't you open wordstar & see if it all comes flooding back!?!
 
OP
OP
Night Train

Night Train

Maker of Things
I've opened wordstar and typed a few words in it but I couldn't figure the commands system anymore. I've been playing and found different ways of getting to the directory of programs.

I'll try some of the suggestions.

I remember Xtree Gold. It made a lot of sense back then and I still, I think, use a similar method to lay out my files and folders in explorer.

Thanks. :smile:
 

Davidc

Guru
Location
Somerset UK
Blimey, that's almost a museum piece! Imagine it next to a modern netbook, or iphone!

Great that it still works though - built to last!

Good computers in their day, apart from the crappy original hard drives with a MTBF of about 2 minutes
 

Cardiac

Über Member
[sub]Xtree Gold... Now that brings back memories :smile:[/sub]
And if you miss it, there's ZtreeWin - a modern version, just as fast and flexible but fully Windows and long-filename compatible.

http://www.ztree.com

I use it every day, several times a day. It beats Explorer hands down for handling files in multiple folders, etc. Highly recommended.
 
The tricky bit will be importing the file to anything as I get the impression that Microsoft stopped including import capabilities for wordstar sometime in 2000 or possibly 97 though some indication that OpenOffice might handle it.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
And if you miss it, there's ZtreeWin - a modern version, just as fast and flexible but fully Windows and long-filename compatible.

http://www.ztree.com

I use it every day, several times a day. It beats Explorer hands down for handling files in multiple folders, etc. Highly recommended.
Blimey - XTree - that's a blast from the past! Actually, I was a fan of XTree Gold and hate Windows Explorer so I think I'll give ZTree a go - thanks!
 

Bman

Guru
Location
Herts.
Thats the stuff (looking at the screenshots in the above link) :thumbsup:

I think I used it to manage folder structures before Win3.1 as I was still getting to grips with DOS.

After 3.1, it kind of became obsolete as I used "File Manager" and concentrated on using more and more DOS commands/batch files

thanks for the link tho :smile:

Anyone remember FX (FastLynx) it was a program you could use to transfer files from pc to pc using a serial/parallel cable. I still have a copy, and probably could still be used to copy the OP's whole Old Laptop HDD to his new pc (providing it has a serial port)
 
Anyone remember FX (FastLynx) it was a program you could use to transfer files from pc to pc using a serial/parallel cable. I still have a copy, and probably could still be used to copy the OP's whole Old Laptop HDD to his new pc (providing it has a serial port)
Not come across FX, but I used to use LapLink, which worked rather similarly I think. Worked under DOS, and didn't need any fancy drivers installed, as far as I recall all you needed was a 'null modem' (i.e. cross-over) cable to link up the two PCs. And it was nice and easy and friendly to use.

Of course, that was back in the good old days when every PC had a COM port or two, built in for free... :sad:
 
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