Hi! > FreeDOS is "only" 16bit
Of course that only refers to address space (max 1.1 MB) and not to computation width. Your software can do any calculations with 32, 64, 80 or 128 bits that it likes, using 386+ registers or the FPU but not 64bit long mode. > I was wondering what would it take to upgrade FreeDOS to 32bit, > whether it would be worth and whether we would have the human That is the question which also inspired FD32. Basically because you want to run DOS software after all, that is a DOS where the kernel already runs in a 32 bit address space in protected mode and directly offers DOS extender services. This gives you SLIGHTLY better performance in comparison to normal DOS where both a separate DOS ext. and your 32 bit address space software have to run in a protected mode task separate to a 16 bit "virtual 8086" task for the kernel. The latter is a misleading name as 8086 only refers to address space and the normal FreeDOS kernel still uses 32 bit registers without problems :-) > would be the pros, cons, in actual terms *for FreeDOS users*? Basically it is a lot of work compared to using classic DOS kernels (e.g. FreeDOS) and a separate DOS extender (e.g. CWSDPMI, DOS32A, DPMIONE, or less-open DOS4GW...) while it only has a small effect on your app performance. > Having said this, could we have tangible benefits from a 32bit Note that you could also understand the question in a slightly different way - what if somebody took DOS and made a 32 bit OS which has no ability to run DOS apps. It would just "feel" DOS-ish to program for that 32 bit OS due to the origins of the OS. Also, it would be some extra work to have a compiler / C library in the new OS (e.g. port or write one) and again it would give better performance, slightly. In difference to FD32, you could do things not possible at all with a DOS extender, e.g. transfer larger parts of files in a single OS call... > By the way, there once was a FreeDOS-32 project being developed. Yes. But only very few people seem to work on it and, in my opinion, the gain compared to a classic DOS is too small to be much motivation to tweak on FD32. So it might be more a fascinating idea rather than some breakthough that DOS users were waiting for all those years without knowing it :-) But then, people of all times write software based on fascinating ideas... For example libraries for raw I/O based filesystem access, not even using DOS, sometimes even for filesystems they invented, with no other user anywhere in the world. Programming can be just fun :) Eric ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For Developers, A Lot Can Happen In A Second. Boundary is the first to Know...and Tell You. Monitor Your Applications in Ultra-Fine Resolution. Try it FREE! http://p.sf.net/sfu/Boundary-d2dvs2 _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
