thanks for the tips
It was one of those posting before reading the original article moments.
The primary issues I see are a network card driver or sorts for Dos to interface with VMware by and the tcp/ip stack.
(Then there is the issue of how many of my win3.11 install diskettes have rotted but I have ways around that one.)
I'll see what that links has to offer though if you spot any other dos tcp/ip in passing I'd be interested to look at them also.