Request: dBase III+utilities disks (Ashton Tate)

pj_robinson

I have the original hefty 'Programming with dBase III Plus' (volume 2) tome published with dBase by Ashton-Tate (no publication date). The loose-leaf manual comes with four pockets for 3 1/2" disks and reading through the additional documentation I have with the manual (provided by a British company called Research Machines (RM) who provided PCs and software for British public educational bodies, such as schools and colleges), it would appear that the package would consist of:
1. the dBASE III PLUS manuals
2. four dBASE III PLUS disks
3. one RM Installation disk
4. the RM installation documentation

In addition, if the package had been bought with the network LAN Pack, it would also have included:
5. the dBASE III Plus LAN Pack manuals
6. one LAN Pack disk
7. one RM installation disk
8. the RM installation documentation.

I am not too bothered about RM installation disks, nor LAN installation disks, but apart from the core dBase III+ software disk (which fits on a single 3 1/2" disk), I'd be interested to obtain images of the other dBase disks. Reading through the manual, it would appear that at least one of the disks is entitled 'Sample Programs and Utilities', which includes a 'Checkbook (sic) cashing' program. There are also references to a dBase compiler program ('Runtime+' that consists of dBCODE and dBLINKER) and to an applications generator program disk (with the program 'appsgen.prg'). Does anyone have access to ISOs or IMGs of these disks? I have seen elsewhere on the internet that others have suggested the appsgen.prg could easily be replicated by a competent dBase programmer, but I would be interested in seeing what that original Ashton-Tate program consisted of.

I do have a copy of dBase III+ on a 3 1/2" elsewhere, but don't have a working floppy drive reader on my Windows 11 PC, so have dBase III+ (and dBase IV, Clipper 5) set up using a download from the WinWorldPC library running in a MS-DOS 6.22 (also downloaded from WinWorldPC) VirtualBox. I would like to see what the additional disks include as I want to try and recreate some of my earlier dBase programs I constructed in the early 1990s.

Thanks for any suggestions or help.

Peter Robinson

ibmpc5150

Obtaining a 5.25-inch FDD is expensive in terms of cost. Since 3.5-inch FDDs are relatively cheap, it may be better to buy and dump the drive yourself.

And in the case of dBASE III+, the initial version has disk copy protection, so it would be better to purchase SCP (Super Card Pro) or greaseweazle, a USB type FDC and copy/dump tool supported by Windows, as well as the drive, and do the work yourself.

If I were in the same situation as you, I would purchase two or more 3.5" 1.44MB FDDs, purchase SCP or greaseweazle, and try to do the dump myself.

pj_robinson

IBMPC,
Thanks for your reply. I'm not too bothered about adding a FDD to be honest. I have dBase III+ installed already in a VM (as I mentioned). I'm more concerned about seeing if anyone has ISO or IMG copies of those other application disks that came with the A-T manual, so that I can investigate what they do (as I don't have those original disks myself).
But thanks for the info, which I am sure will benefit others who might have floppy disks that they want to 'insert' into the present day computers.

callmejack

I’m not sure to understand : Are images of those utilities disks not included in the different versions of dbase III plus on winworldpc ?

ibmpc5150

To be honest, getting a floppy drive these days isn't difficult, even if 5.25-inch drives are a bit more expensive.

However, it is more difficult to obtain floppy disk software.
You have to take that into account.

pj_robinson

Callmejack, the version of dBase III+ I downloaded from here didn't have those particular disks, but I managed to find some img files of the other disks elsewhere in the 'archive', albeit as files on 'floppies' which by a bit of shared drive jiggery pokery using a VM of Windows XP I managed to save as .img files and successfully install/run.