At 04:34 AM 2/15/2005 +0100, Eric Auer wrote:
Hi, trying to be an EMM386 groupie, I created http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/~eric/emm386.asm.diff.gz which is a diff to the 7 Feb EMM386 1.14 emm386.asm, supposed to implement some new features. Note that I do NOT have a compile environment for EMM386. However, the patches are pretty tame, so please try using them:
Do you have or know of any application which uses these functions so we -- I'm sorry, so I -- can test them in actual operation before release? Need-driven coding is far more useful than theory-driven coding right now.
Should you be suffering creative juices overdose, I can suggest a few ideas. You could help design the algorithm for EMS/XMX/VCPI pool sharing, as I still need to make final coding decisions on how the dynamic structures will be setup and interact.
Or, you could get together with someone who can test the MONOUMB code you want to implement. I publicly stated that I couldn't test such an enhancement here, but for some reason you e-mailed me to do it anyway. Three times.
Or, you could go through and thoroughly test applications which are or were reported as having problems with EMM386. Just because something works for me here doesn't mean it works for everyone in all conditions. Currently Lemmings 3D seems to be having problems again on my new machine. I'm working on that myself right now, but say the word and I'll let you take it on.
On a related note, collecting a stress test of complex applications or coding up a stand-alone test suite would be an excellent addition to the release process. This could automatically catch in pre-release the sort of recent EMM386 function 53h bug we got lucky on because Johnson Lam tested PCTools' MI.COM and saw it newly broken.
User documentation is still sparse, particularly on the newer HIMEM/EMM386 features. There is a wealth of technical information on the mail list and elsewhere that you are suitably talented in English to weave together for preliminary general user and technical detail documents.
Finally, here is a coding project idea which would have a big effect on FreeDOS, as well as you personally. I was going to attempt it later on as time permitted because it's such a universally needed application, but please feel free to claim it as your project right now. Writing an automated MASM+TASM -> NASM source converter in ANSI C (and possibly the reverse) would be a great help for a great many people throughout the entire open source community. Plus, it would let you fully rebuild EMM386 and other FreeDOS projects with the more "ideologically pure" NASM. And, I just bet, as a SourceForge project, it would get a _lot_ of attention and acclaim for the main developer.
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