Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
Hi Jim, Well, you can tell a CD drive to play track X using my minimalist cdrom2ui, but I think that would be sort of an INdecent open source alternative because it is too minimal :-D On the other hand, a QuickBasic solution sounds like something needing FreeBASIC in QB mode, or something which compiles into a large binary? That is probably too non-minimal? I haven't written a CD Player either, but I would think it's not too hard. If you can read the waveform from the CD track file, and send that to the sound card - that seems like that's all you need to do, Actually CDROM2UI is even simpler. It tells the CD/DVD/BD drive to play the audio track, which was a hardware feature of the drives for a long time. You have to connect the audio output of the drive to some input port of your soundcard. No messy transportation of audio data to sound cards which may be too modern to be supported by popular DOS libraries, although a few positive examples of media players for DOS with support for AC97 / HDA do exist. Just telling your CD drive to play a CD :-) On the other hand, it will NOT work if your CD drive is not wired to your audio hardware of if your CD wiring is muted in your volume control / mixer etc. Regards, Eric ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
On Sun, 19 Feb 2023, Jim Hall wrote: On Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 4:30 PM Steve Nickolas wrote: Would it be something not too hard to bang out with a decent C compiler? I've never written a CD player interface per se, but if all the information can be retrieved, and all the commands can be executed, why not? I haven't written a CD Player either, but I would think it's not too hard. If you can read the waveform from the CD track file, and send that to the sound card - that seems like that's all you need to do, no? Steve has released SJGPlay as CC0. It's a different programming language, but maybe you can look at his code to implement a similar player in C. It happens to be a language I speak, too, though it does look overengineered compared to what I'd do. I'll see what I can figure out. -uso. ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
> On Wed, 15 Feb 2023, E. Auer wrote: > > > Well, you can tell a CD drive to play track X using my > > minimalist cdrom2ui, but I think that would be sort of > > an INdecent open source alternative because it is too > > minimal :-D On the other hand, a QuickBasic solution > > sounds like something needing FreeBASIC in QB mode, or > > something which compiles into a large binary? That is > > probably too non-minimal? On Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 4:30 PM Steve Nickolas wrote: > Would it be something not too hard to bang out with a decent C compiler? > > I've never written a CD player interface per se, but if all the > information can be retrieved, and all the commands can be executed, why > not? I haven't written a CD Player either, but I would think it's not too hard. If you can read the waveform from the CD track file, and send that to the sound card - that seems like that's all you need to do, no? Steve has released SJGPlay as CC0. It's a different programming language, but maybe you can look at his code to implement a similar player in C. ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
Jerome wrote: > > 4) CDP, This is not open source software. It is Freeware without > > sources. Should this be removed. Is there an decent open source > > alternative? Robert wrote: > Maybe someone wants to ask Steve J. Gray > to release source code (QuickBASIC 4.5) for his SJGPlay TUI player: > http://www.6502.org/users/sjgray/software/sjgplay/sjgplay_dos.html Jim wrote: > I liked Robert's suggestion to ask Steve J. Gray about SJGPlay. I've > emailed Steve to ask if he will release the source code under an open > source license so we can include it in FreeDOS. If yes, I think we > should replace CDP with SJGPlay. I emailed Steve and he was very gracious and decided to release the source code to SJGPlay under the CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license. This effectively puts the code into the public domain. You can find it at: http://www.6502.org/users/sjgray/software/sjgplay/sjgplay_dos.html ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
On Wed, 15 Feb 2023, E. Auer wrote: Well, you can tell a CD drive to play track X using my minimalist cdrom2ui, but I think that would be sort of an INdecent open source alternative because it is too minimal :-D On the other hand, a QuickBasic solution sounds like something needing FreeBASIC in QB mode, or something which compiles into a large binary? That is probably too non-minimal? Would it be something not too hard to bang out with a decent C compiler? I've never written a CD player interface per se, but if all the information can be retrieved, and all the commands can be executed, why not? -uso. ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
On Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 4:10 PM E. Auer wrote: > >> What does CDP do? Can you mention some features of that? Jim wrote: > > As Robert already mentioned in this thread: > > "CDP is a non-TSR CD player." On Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 4:18 PM E. Auer wrote: > Well, you can tell a CD drive to play track X using my > minimalist cdrom2ui, but I think that would be sort of > an INdecent open source alternative because it is too > minimal :-D On the other hand, a QuickBasic solution > sounds like something needing FreeBASIC in QB mode, or > something which compiles into a large binary? That is > probably too non-minimal? Yes, I think asking a program to play one track, then stop, is too minimalistic. For a music CD player program, I think people would want to have the option to listen to the whole CD. If SJGPlay can be compiled by FreeBASIC, I think that would be okay. I know that compiled BASIC programs tend to be pretty large, but if it's the only program running (non TSR music CD player) does it matter how large the binary is - as long as it runs in available memory? ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
Hi Jim, Jerome Shidel wrote: > 4) CDP, This is not open source software. It is Freeware without > sources. Should this be removed. Is there an decent open source > alternative? On Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 4:10 PM E. Auer wrote: What does CDP do? Can you mention some features of that? As Robert already mentioned in this thread: "CDP is a non-TSR CD player." Well, you can tell a CD drive to play track X using my minimalist cdrom2ui, but I think that would be sort of an INdecent open source alternative because it is too minimal :-D On the other hand, a QuickBasic solution sounds like something needing FreeBASIC in QB mode, or something which compiles into a large binary? That is probably too non-minimal? Regards, Eric ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
Hi Eric, > On Feb 15, 2023, at 5:09 PM, E. Auer wrote: > > > Hi Jerome, > >> 1) CPIDOS, this is basically just a package of codepage font files. >> Those files have been assembled in some fashion into the CPX files and >> distributed as such. However, there is no utility or information >> present in the package to create such CPX files. We should probably do >> something to remedy that. > > Check the sources of MODE for more info. I think the method > is to rename the CPI to COM (or SYS? I think it was COM) and > tell UPX to compress that "executable". If you want the 8086 > compatibility, do not forget to use the appropriate UPX flag. > > I recommend that you test the CPX files generated, in case I > forgot something relevant. I’m very busy lately. If it is left for me to do, it will probably be a long while until I get around to even looking at the issue closer. > >> 4) CDP, This is not open source software. It is Freeware without >> sources. Should this be removed. Is there an decent open source >> alternative? > > What does CDP do? Can you mention some features of that? Non-TSR command line CD audio Player. > > Eric > :-) Jerome ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
Jerome Shidel wrote: > > 4) CDP, This is not open source software. It is Freeware without > > sources. Should this be removed. Is there an decent open source > > alternative? On Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 4:10 PM E. Auer wrote: > What does CDP do? Can you mention some features of that? > As Robert already mentioned in this thread: "CDP is a non-TSR CD player." ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
Hi Jerome, 1) CPIDOS, this is basically just a package of codepage font files. Those files have been assembled in some fashion into the CPX files and distributed as such. However, there is no utility or information present in the package to create such CPX files. We should probably do something to remedy that. Check the sources of MODE for more info. I think the method is to rename the CPI to COM (or SYS? I think it was COM) and tell UPX to compress that "executable". If you want the 8086 compatibility, do not forget to use the appropriate UPX flag. I recommend that you test the CPX files generated, in case I forgot something relevant. 4) CDP, This is not open source software. It is Freeware without sources. Should this be removed. Is there an decent open source alternative? What does CDP do? Can you mention some features of that? Eric ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
On Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 10:28 AM wrote: [..] > However, there are 4 other packages remaining with issues. All of > which are included somewhere on at least of one of the release media. > > 1) CPIDOS, this is basically just a package of codepage font > files. Those files have been assembled in some fashion into the > CPX files and distributed as such. However, there is no utility or > information present in the package to create such CPX files. We should > probably do something to remedy that. Agreed > 2) ROMOS, It appears the ROMOS sources are present. But, the package > contains several other utilities under the TOOLS directory. No sources > for those utilities are included in the package. From the original LSM file, the description is: >>ROMOS can boot FreeDOS from external ROM or system BIOS without disks This is a tool to allow power users to put FreeDOS onto a ROM, without using a floppy or hard drive. Is this really something that needs to be included in the FreeDOS distribution? This seems very niche. I expect only one or two people use this - and they can download it from the FreeDOS Files Archive just as easily. I think we should remove ROMOS from the FreeDOS distribution (next monthly). That removes a program that I suspect no one really uses, and solves the problem of no source code. > 3) OPENGEM, contains a corrupt nested zip archive that fails to extract > '/SOURCE/OPENGEM/SOURCES.ZIP/PROGRAMMING TOOLKITS AND UTILITIES AND > BUILD TOOLS/atari gem programming library hexaid manual for games.zip’ > with a CRC error. This needs fixed by someone familiar with OpenGem. I wonder if we need to have Graphical Desktops included in FreeDOS? This was a neat experiment, long ago. The OpenGEM packages were "broken" (wrong paths) for a long time before anyone noticed. But whether or not to include GUIs in FreeDOS is probably a larger discussion. I'll start a new thread for that. > 4) CDP, This is not open source software. It is Freeware without > sources. Should this be removed. Is there an decent open source > alternative? I liked Robert's suggestion to ask Steve J. Gray about SJGPlay. I've emailed Steve to ask if he will release the source code under an open source license so we can include it in FreeDOS. If yes, I think we should replace CDP with SJGPlay. Jim ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
On Wed, Feb 15, 2023 at 1:31 PM Robert Riebisch wrote: [..] > Maybe someone wants to ask Steve J. Gray > to release source code (QuickBASIC 4.5) for his SJGPlay TUI player: > http://www.6502.org/users/sjgray/software/sjgplay/sjgplay_dos.html > Good suggestion, didn't know about that one. I'll email to ask. Jim ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
Re: [Freedos-devel] FreeDOS package issues
> 4) CDP, This is* not open source software*. It is Freeware without > sources. Should this be removed. Is there an decent open source alternative? CDP is a non-TSR CD player. Jim once used CDP to demonstrate FreeDOS package management at _opensource_ dot com: https://opensource.com/article/21/6/freedos-package-manager :-D Maybe someone wants to ask Steve J. Gray to release source code (QuickBASIC 4.5) for his SJGPlay TUI player: http://www.6502.org/users/sjgray/software/sjgplay/sjgplay_dos.html Cheers, Robert -- BTTR Software https://www.bttr-software.de/ DOS ain't dead https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/ ___ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
