Old computer program "VW Mechanic"

Oct 11, 2006 9 Replies
S

Hi... I'm new to the group and wanted to first say "Hi". I have been a long-time bug owner (for about 20 years) with miscellaneous bug over those years. Most recently a '71 standard bug. My last one was a '58 that I had to get rid of because I moved and it just wasn't going to work out. (Wish I still had it now). I was "bugless" for about the last



3 years and just picked up the '71 about a month or so ago.

I was wondering if anyone here remembers (or hopefully has) an old program that, well, I know I have it, I just can't find it right now, called "VW Mechanic". It was an older, non-Windows program that would step through questions about your car and trouble you are having and makes suggestions about solutions.



I am on a search through my many boxes in my garage and will probably come across it when I'm not actually looking for it. But until then, I was curious if anyone else has this little program around.



Thanks. -- Tom [SeventyOneBug] - Medford, Oregon



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M

Is it called speedyjim.exe?

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S

No, it was actually called "VW Mechanic". -- Tom

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T

............ speedyjim.exe would be way better

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S

I've not heard of it and will look for that. I also need to make a correction... the program is "PC Mechanic". I just happened to look in the right place and found the floppy disk. It's a 1990 program from Meta-Cog. Anyway... sorry for the incorrect guess on my part. Now I just need to figure out how to get the files off the floppy! (It's a 5 1/4") :) -- Tom

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A

You haven't been here long enough to get the inside joke about Speedy Jim.

Go to any thrift store and buy some old junker computer that has a 5

1/4" floppy drive and connect the drive to what ever computer you're using. I have a couple old 5 1/4" drives in my junk box in case I ever need to do the same.

Tony

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T

LOL !!!

Hey Tom

Try posting here with 'Speedy Jim' as the subject.

Then ask your question about your VW.

Speedy Jim.exe is a newsgroup exe - you'll be suprised how quick you get an excelent answer !

Rich

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A

I would get those files of the old floppy since those things get demagnitized and become unreadable with time.

Ant> Seventy> >>>> Is it called speedyjim.exe?

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H

Yeah, only DOS has a limit of of chars, so you'll have to name it something like... SPDYJM.EXE

he he

Seriously though, if anyone could find that program VW Mechanic, post it on a website somewhere!

-- Howard Rose

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1966 Volkswagen 1300 Deluxe 1975 Volkswagen 1303S 1962 Austin Mini Deluxe
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H

It's easy to do, I have recently backed up a ton of files from my IBM

5160/XT on to Windows XP this way.

You can either put the 5.25" floppy drive (providing it is a 1.2MB HD drive rather than a 360kB) in your Windows machine and use a software like WinImage

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to make an Image of the disk to dump to a 3.5".

Or you can use a DOS-based imaging software like DSK2IMG, then transfer that to a modern computer and dump it back to 3.5".

Let me know if you need any help!

Howard

-- Howard Rose

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1966 Volkswagen 1300 Deluxe 1975 Volkswagen 1303S 1962 Austin Mini Deluxe
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