Re: [Freedos-user] Coding in BASIC for Freedos?

[Ben Collver via Freedos-user]

> Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2024 19:26:05 +0100
> From: tom ehlert 
> To: "Discussion and general questions about FreeDOS."
>  
> Subject: Re: [Freedos-user] Coding in BASIC for Freedos?
> 
> > On Sun, Mar 17, 2024 at 6:26 AM Liam Proven via Freedos-user
> >  wrote:
> > [..]
> >> There are good reasons that DOS went away some 35 years ago. It has
> >> its uses but not being able to flip to another window or another
> >> screen to consult documentation, or try something out, or look it up
> >> online, is a *massive* handicap.
> 
> +1

This is an example of limited imagination.  In this day and age it is
common for people to use their phone to take a photo of an error message
for troubleshooting.  The idea that someone is stuck on a single
dedicated computer in a vacuum without any other technology available
is very retro indeed.  It can be both, or something in between, or just
for fun.

Even when DOS was still commercially produced, professional developers
often preferred to do their development on another operating system.
Many classic DOS games were developed using more powerful systems.
This includes originals like Zork.  They used DOS as their runtime.

But before they became professional developers, while they were still
learning, they probably used all kinds of gross technologies, and
wrote shoddy code, and probably had fun along the way.

> Nope. AFAICT it's a person wanting to learn programming; no mentioning of 
> FreeDOS.

If it isn't FreeDOS related, then is it off-topic on this mailing list?

There's a lot of snobbery in the programming world.  A famous expert
declared that students who learned to program on BASIC were ruined
forever.  It's all too easy to debate a dead person, but i would
respond "Whew!  Now the pressure is off."  Since i am ruined forever
as a programmer, now i get to have fun.  I don't have to take myself
too seriously.

> I fail to see the advantage.

Your failure of imagination is not helping this person.

If i were wanting to tinker with BASIC on DOS, I'd probably start
with QBASIC.EXE because there has been so much written about it.
Once i got the hang of that, then i'd graduate to something free.

Here are some links.  I hope they help.

BASIC Techniques And Utilities Book:


Programmed Lessons in QBasic


QB Express Magazine & Tutorials


QBasic 1.1 Web-based, runs in a web browser


QBasic 1.1 Download


-Ben


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[Freedos-user] jq 1.7.1 for DOS

[Ben Collver via Freedos-user]

Greetings,

Here is a link to download jq 1.7.1 for DOS built with DJGPP and lightly
tested on DOSBox and FreeDOS.  jq is like sed for JSON data - you can
use it to slice and filter and map and transform structured data with
the same ease that sed, awk, grep and friends let you play with text.

https://archive.org/details/jq171-for-dos

-Ben


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[Freedos-user] Walden for computer programmers

[Ben Collver via Freedos-user]

"""
If there's a "Walden" for computer programmers, it would be a 4:3
display running DOS where coding can be done without any modern day
annoying interruptions.
"""

From:
https://fernandomeyer.com/microblog/2023-12-03-111519076247101245/


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Re: [Freedos-user] freedos, or dos based mail clients?

[Ben Collver via Freedos-user]

Karen also asked about this on the lynx-dev mailing list.  They reported that 
panix.com tested squirrelmail and roundcube in lynx and found that neither 
works because certain controls in both apps are proprietary controls not 
standard web controls.

I don't do email on DOS, but if i did, i would probably telnet or SSH into an 
Internet-enabled BBS and mail from there. 
 Below are links to DOS email applications.  I cannot recommend any of these 
because they are old versions and i have no experience using them on DOS.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/net/mutt/

https://darrengoossens.wordpress.com/2023/07/01/email-on-freedos-in-2023-pegasus-mail/
http://www.dendarii.co.uk/FAQs/HOWTO-Install-Pegasus.html

https://mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.cac.washington.edu/mail/windows/old/PC-PINE-3.96/pcp_wat.zip
http://www.ii.com/internet/messaging/pine/

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Re: [Freedos-user] Epson dot matrix printer emulator?

[Ben Collver via Freedos-user]

I wrote a post about how to do this on FreeDOS.  It converts Epson printer data 
to image or PDF.  DOSBox-X has similar Epson printer emulation built in, and 
you can install FreeDOS on that.

Basically, the process goes like this:

* Run prn2file to capture the printer data to a file.
* Print from a DOS application as desired.
* Run prn2file again to close the captured file.
* Run escparse to convert the captured file to PDF.

Details:

https://gopher.tildeverse.org/tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/log/2022-06-15-print-quest/

-Ben

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Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS and the Gemini protocol

[Ben Collver via Freedos-user]

Another option is to use a gemini proxy.  For example:

C:\>lynx https://portal.mozz.us/gemini/geminispace.info/search%3Ffreedos

This is an indirect way to access gemini://geminispace.info/search?freedos

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Re: [Freedos-user] Freedos, laptops, and the internet?

[Ben Collver]

I realize this is not exactly what you are looking for, but another option is 
an RS-232 WIFI modem.  Below are eBay links for four ready-made products, plus 
a link describing how to DIY with a Raspberry Pi.  All of these options are 
powered by a USB cable.  I am guessing that a system with a Pentium 3 processor 
will have a USB port.  The DIY option looks promising to me because i could run 
SSH on the Raspberry PI, effectively offloading the crypto from the DOS CPU.

ArcaneByte RS232 WiFi Wireless Modem for Vintage Computers DB25
https://www.ebay.com/itm/203949086189

Simple Wifi RS232 Modem v2 DB25
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265519698197

WiFi Serial Modem for Retro Vintage computer Zimodem DB9
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204292941579

WiRSa v2 WiFi Wireless RS232 Serial Modem Adapter and SD card reader DB9
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175299622202

DIY internet access from a vintage computer using Raspberry Pi
https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/add-internet-access-to-a-vintage-computer-using-raspberry-pi

Another option is dual-booting.  I have a Pentium 3 laptop with FreeDOS 
installed, but i also carry around a Puppy Linux live CD just in case.  Puppy 
Linux has drivers for the laptop's built-in WIFI and i can use the live CD to 
do a quick download and save it to disk.  Just for fun, nothing serious.

-Ben

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[Freedos-user] gopherus 1.2.2 DJGPP build

[Ben Collver]

Here's a DJGPP build of gopherus 1.2.2 packaged for FreeDOS.  I did not test it 
thoroughly.  If you run into any problems, please let me know.

https://archive.org/details/gopherus-1.2.2-djgpp

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Re: [Freedos-user] Feelings on lfn

[Ben Collver]

I've seen code will only compile with DJGPP if LFN is enabled.  But anyone who 
is seriously using DJGPP probably knows how to enable LFN.

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Re: [Freedos-user] Semware has released TSE as Freeware

[Ben Collver]

I used Qedit (Q.EXE) as my primary editor on my first PC.  It has the same 
Wordstar key bindings that i grew accustomed to using Borland's Turbo-Basic and 
Turbo-Pascal in school.  It continued to be my editor of choice until i started 
using Unix.  So i am pleased that TSE Pro 2.5 has been released as freeware. :-)

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Re: [Freedos-user] clipboard support utilities

[Ben Collver]

> And, for those of us not running any kind of Gopher client, I presume the 
> link  
> https://gemini.spam.works/x/tilde.pink/~bencollver/files/dos/util/clip/ will  
>   
> also work, yes?

Yes, that link ought to work.

curl and lynx can access gopher if they are present.

-Ben

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[Freedos-user] clipboard support utilities

[Ben Collver]

Hi,

Back in 2019 i tinkered with a few real-mode clipboard utilities and i am 
sharing them here in case someone might find them useful.

gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/files/dos/util/clip/

* winoldap.com is a TSR that provides the WinOldAp API for a system-wide 
clipboard on FreeDOS.  It is limited to 64K of data.  It is based on code from 
dosclip.arj and it has been modified to be assembled using nasm instead of A86.

Run: winoldap.com

* mouseclip.exe is a TSR that provides a mouse-driven copy/paste feature on the 
FreeDOS console.  It has been modified to always use the WinOldAp clipboard.  
It has also been modified to increase the maximum buffer size to 32K.

Run: mousclip.exe /B32767

* clip.com reads up to 64K from stdin and copies it into the WinOldApp 
clipboard.

Run: clip.com file.txt

-Ben

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Re: [Freedos-user] DOS ASM resources

[Ben Collver]

I made a mistake pasting a URL into my last post.

OLD: http://ref.x86asm.net/coder32.htmlhttp://www.eji.com/a86/
NEW: http://ref.x86asm.net/coder32.html

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Re: [Freedos-user] DOS ASM resources

[Ben Collver]

I learned DOS asm from the following book, recommended by a friend.
Using Assembly Language by Allen Wyatt, published by Que

At that time i preferred to use the a86 assembler.
http://www.eji.com/a86/

Below is a link to PC Assembly Language by Paul Carter:
https://pacman128.github.io/static/pcasm-book.pdf

Below are some other references:

DEBUG tutorial
gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/files/dos/devel/debug/

FreeDOS DEBUG tutorial
C:\FREEDOS\DOC\DEBUG\DEBUG.TXT

Writing 16-bit DOS code in NASM
https://www.nasm.us/doc/nasmdoc8.html

SeaBIOS developer references
https://www.seabios.org/Developer_links

X86 instruction set references
https://c9x.me/x86/
http://ref.x86asm.net/coder32.htmlhttp://www.eji.com/a86/
http://www.unixwiz.net/techtips/x86-jumps.html
http://www.c-jump.com/CIS77/CPU/x86/lecture.html

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[Freedos-user] Printing to PDF on FreeDOS

[Ben Collver]

This message is based on a recent log entry of mine.  It describes
how to print to PDF on FreeDOS.  In my example, i take a
screenshot and print it using the COPY command.  However, the
method should work with most DOS programs that can print to an
Epson printer.  All of the utilities used in this post include source
except for Ladybug LOGO, which is what i took a screenshot of, and
it is merely freeware.  You can fetch the gopher links using either
curl or lynx.

-Ben

# Printing to PDF on FreeDOS

I wanted to print from DOS applications, but i no longer have a
hardware printer.  After some tinkering, i came up with the following
solution in FreeDOS.  Note that this process does not work in dosbox
nor in dosbox-x.

The first thing i learned is that the most common type of printer for
DOS is Epson Esc/P.  See the link below for a detailed reference to
Esc/P printer language.

* Esc/P Reference
  https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/general/escp2ref.pdf

First, the ingredients for this recipe:

* Ghostscript (FreeDOS)
  
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/unix/ghostscript/8.71/gs871.7z
* Ladybug LOGO (Simtelnet)
  http://cd.textfiles.com/simtel/simtel20/MSDOS/LOGO/LADYBUG.ZIP
* NetPBM (DJGPP)
  http://www.delorie.com/pub/djgpp/current/v2apps/npbm916b.zip
* PRN2FILE (Garbo)
  http://cd.textfiles.com/garbo/PC/PRINTER/PRN2FIL3.ZIP
* SNARF screen shot utility
  http://pixelmetrics.com/Snarf/Snarf.zip
* EscParse Esc/P to PDF/PS/SVG converter by Nikita Zimin
  gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/files/dos/util/escparse/escparse.zip
* Filter to fix Epson printer graphics output by NetPBM
  gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/files/dos/util/escpfltr/escpfltr.zip

For this example, i chose to use Ladybug LOGO, which i described in
an earlier log entry:

* Ladybug Quest
  gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/log/2018-01-27-ladybug-quest/

I unzipped all of the "ingredients" and made sure they were in my
path.

I saved a simple LOGO program called flwrlife.bug:
```
C:\>cd \ladybug
C:\ladybug>copy con flwrlife.bug
to circle :size :angle
repeat ( 360 / :angle ) [ fd :size rt :angle ]
end
home cs ht rt 90 repeat 6 [ circle 1 1 rt 60 ]
^Z
```

I ran the snarf screen shot utility, then ran the LOGO program:

```
C:\ladybug>snarf.exe
C:\ladybug>ladybug.exe
? load flwrlife.bug
```

I pressed Alt+S to take a screenshot.

* Ladybug flower of life screenshot
  
gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/log/2022-06-15-print-quest/ladybug-screenshot.png

I quit LOGO:

```
? bye
```

I converted the screenshot to Esc/P data using NetPBM.  By the way,
when i run NetPBM's Epson graphics through a printer emulator, the
graphical output is staggered and incoherent.  For this reason i
wrote escpfltr to add a carriage return before each line of graphics
and unstagger them.

```
C:\ladybug>bmptoppm.exe SNARF000.BMP >flwrlife.pnm
bmptoppm.exe: Windows BMP, 320x200x4
C:\ladybug>ppmtopgm.exe flwrlife.pnm >flwrlife.pgm
C:\ladybug>pgmtopbm.exe flwrlife.pgm >flwrlife.pbm
C:\ladybug>pnmmerge.exe pnminvert flwrlife.pbm >inverted.pbm
C:\ladybug>pbmmerge.exe pbmtoepson inverted.pbm >inverted.esc
C:\ladybug>escpfltr.com flwrlife.esc
```

I found an old utility named prn2file that captures the print job
being sent to the printer.  It works even when there is no printer
attached.  I used options to save to C:\print.out using a 64KB
buffer.  Note that prn2file does not work in dosbox nor in dosbox-x.

```
C:\ladybug>prn2file.com /b64 /f C:\print.out
 PRN2FILE 1.1 (c) 1987 Ziff Communications Co.
Modifications (c) 1991 Automated Answers
LPT1 Redirected to: C:\print.out
```

Then i used the COPY command to "print" the screenshot.  It is
important to pass the /b option.  This uses an ioctl() to set binary
mode.  Otherwise, DOS will truncate the print data the first time it
sees a Ctrl-Z (ASCII character 26, SUB).  I used prn2file to ensure
that the whole print job was flushed to disk.

```
C:\ladybug>copy /b flwrlife.esc prn
C:\ladybug>prn2file.com
 PRN2FILE 1.1 (c) 1987 Ziff Communications Co.
Modifications (c) 1991 Automated Answers
LPT1 Redirected to: PRN
```

Then i compared the captured print job data to the original file.

```
C:\ladybug>comp flwrlife.esc \print.out
Files compare OK.
```

What can i do with these captured print jobs on DOS?  The "escparse"
utility can convert Esc/P to PDF.  I could copy the PDF to a thumb
drive and print it from another computer.  Because the DOS PDF
viewers don't work well for me, i'll also convert the PDF to JPEG
page images to preview using the links browser.

```
C:\ladybug>escparse.exe -pdf C:\print.out >flwrlife.pdf
ESCParser utility  by Nikita Zimin  Jun 15 2022 17:08:37
Pages total: 2
Page 2
C:\ladybug>gs.exe -r72x72 -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 -dTextAlphaBits=4 -sDEVICE=jpeg 
-dJPEGQ=90 -o page-%03d.jpg flwrlife.pdf
GPL Ghostscript 8.71 (2010-02-10)
Copyright (C) 2010 Artifex Software, Inc.  All rights reserved.
This software comes with NO WARRANTY: see the file PUBLIC for details.
Processing pages 1 

[Freedos-user] History of Trackers

[Ben Collver]

https://www.musictech.net/guides/essential-guide/history-of-trackers/

The history of trackers
===
Tim Cant
10th June 2020

Few music-sequencing softwares have a history as distinctive as the
tracker.  With the epochal program now arriving in hardware form, we
trace the tracker's lineage, from its humble 8-bit beginnings to its
era-defining rave sounds, and get the inside track on its usage by
artists such as Aphex Twin, Venetian Snares, and Deadmau5.

-

Though trackers might look like a nightmare to the uninitiated, their
ghastly visages belie a more malleable and fun-loving nature.  Don't
let the cascading digits and dry UIs fool you--these things simply
love to party.  From Calvin Harris and Deadmau5 to Venetian Snares,
many legends of electronic music have used the sequencing software to
kick off, cultivate and prolong their careers, while soundtracks for
pivotal video games such as 2000's Deus Ex have made use of their
distinctive traits.

Now, more than 30 years since trackers played a vital role in
democratising electronic music, the software is entering the hardware
arena courtesy of the Tracker by Polish company Polyend, and the
Nerdsynth from Netherlands-based XOR Electronics.

But why is this cult software going through a renaissance now?
"Trackers never went away," says MeeBlip co-founder and journalist at
Create Digital Music Peter Kirn.  "What makes them special is that
they're a musical interface built around the screen and computer
keyboard entry.  It isn't an adaptation of some existing metaphor,
like the divisions found on sheet music.  Once you understand them,
you can get the feeling of connecting to what's in your brain faster.
 Now a tracker-maker can go create their own hardware device, which
is something beyond a conventional DAW: standalone, all-in-one
hardware that people actually want to use.  So it's not just a
comeback for the tracker--maybe it's their revenge."

https://player.vimeo.com/video/223378825

[Aphex Twin plays back the harmonic parts from Vordhosbn, the second
track from his 2001 release Drukqs, using tracker software.]

Enter Paula
===
In the mid-1980s, computer-based music production didn't exist in the
same way it does today.  Home computers were far less powerful, the
era's 8-bit machines typically limited to a few channels of
synthesized tones.  Things changed drastically in 1985 with the
arrival of 16-bit home computers, specifically the Atari ST and
Commodore Amiga.  The Atari ST had built-in MIDI ports and became the
de facto sequencing computer for home musicians.  But, for those
without MIDI hardware, it was the Amiga that would kick down the door
to the world of production, thanks to its advanced audio chip Paula.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73JBaFkNZaE

Paula was a powerful lady.  Her four PCM-based audio channels meant
she could play back four samples at once.  They may only have been of
8-bit quality but they gave the computer a far broader tonal palette
than its predecessors.  Today many Amiga games, including Shadow Of
The Beast, Xenon 2: Megablast and Project X, are better remembered
for their soundtracks than their gameplay.

A few years later, in 1987, Amiga-based musician Karsten Obarski
coded a piece of commercial software that would make composing
videogame soundtracks much more convenient--and it's from this that
trackers would take their name.

Ultimate Soundtracker
=
With its inscrutable alphanumeric interface, Ultimate Soundtracker
may have looked complicated but operating it was relatively
straightforward.  Each of its four vertical lanes represented an
audio channel, with the vertical axis representing time.  Songs were
constructed from patterns, which were typically 64 lines long and
constituted four bars of music.  Samples were triggered by entering a
note value on a lane at the desired timing.  On playback, the tracker
would scroll through the pattern and play the triggered samples, a
bit like a digital piano roll.  These four-bar patterns could be
arranged into complete pieces of music by using the simple playlist
editor, giving computer musicians a practical way to create immersive
pieces of not inconsiderable duration.

Obarski's software also introduced the MOD file format, which became
hugely popular with videogame developers and hobbyist musicians--and
on the Amiga demoscene.  Demos are programs designed to demonstrate
the graphical and audio capabilities of their host computer.
Programmers would put their coding knowhow to use and compete to eke
the most impressive results from a given piece of hardware.  The
subsequent demos were (and still are) exchanged at coding parties and
via the internet, and many 1980s and 1990s computers still have
vibrant demoscenes today.

As ever when a piece of revolutionary technology is released, the
emergence of Ultimate Soundtracker saw several shareware and freeware
clones follow suit, including NoiseTracker and ProTracker for Amiga,

Re: [Freedos-user] qt and DOs?

[Ben Collver]

Mateusz Viste wrote:

On 27/01/2020 19:02, Jim Hall wrote:

I think a better option to create an ebook reader for DOS is to build
one. My thought is most ebooks (at least EPUB) are just zip files that
contain a predetermined structure;


Yes, ePub files are just zip files with a bunch of xml metadata and some 
html/css formatting. But that's not the point - Calibre is not an ebook 
reader in the first place, it's a huge converting / cataloging / 
sanitizing beast.


As for reading ebooks on FreeDOS, the only sane way I am aware of today 
is to convert ePub files to raw txt (for ex. using Calibre). But why 
would anyone want to read ebooks on DOS anyway? These things are best 
read on a paper-like screen, ie. not something a PC can offer.


Back in the day i wrote a script to convert ePub files to proper local 
HTML.  This made them more easily read in web browsers.  For most of my 
testing i used the links browser, which works in DOS.  The main 
advantage of this approach is that it displays the illustrations.


-Ben


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Re: [Freedos-user] WebServer in FreeDOS

[Ben Collver]

Jose Isaias Cabrera wrote:


Greetings!

Old to MS DOS, but newbie to FreeDOS.  Is there a webserver written and 
run purely on FreeDOS?  I have done a few searches, but don't see 
anything in the various apps sites.  Thanks.


josé


Hi,

I have seen old NCSA httpd ports lying around in DOS archives, but i 
would hesitate to run such bit rotten code.  Other options in no 
particular order:


http://www.georgpotthast.de/sioux/

http://www.dmp.com.tw/tech/os-dos/dsock/

http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/

http://www.rubbermallet.org/software/webserv.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20090201064500/http://www.dossolutions.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/eznos.htm

BOA, if you are willing to build it yourself using DJGPP.

http://peter.korsgaard.com/software/

Best regards,
-Ben


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Re: [Freedos-user] Re : Quick FreeDOS 1.3 Live CD Poll

[Ben Collver]

On the serious side, it's nice to see a project that values user feedback.  
Many only pay lip-service.

-Ben

On November 17, 2019 3:57:22 PM PST, Ralf Quint  wrote:
>On 11/17/2019 3:00 PM, Jerome Shidel wrote:
>>
>>> On Nov 17, 2019, at 1:51 PM, Paul Dufresne via Freedos-user 
>>> >> > wrote:
>>>
>>> There is a bug in  your question!
>>> The question given is: should it be permitted access to any internal
>
>>> hard drive(s)?
>>> But the suggested answer is: Yes. Prevent access to internal hard
>drive.
>>>
>>> Please fix your question before I answer: Allow access to internal 
>>> hard drive.
>>
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>> That was not a bug. It was a feature…
>>
>> :-)
>
>Come Jerome, you're not going all Microsoft on us now, aren't you? :-P
>
>Ralf ;-)
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Re: [Freedos-user] Tcl for DOS

[Ben Collver]

Ralf Quint wrote:

On 9/29/2019 7:10 PM, dmccunney wrote:

What would you be benchmarking?


I would benchmark a set of tasks performed on an identical data set. 
For example, importing the data, doing a bunch of inserts, deletes, 
random selects, etc.



SQLite is a full SQL compliant relational DBMS implemented as a single
library.  dBASE and FoxPro were, IIRC "hierarchical" DBMS products.
Depending on what you are benchmarking this sounds like an apples and
oranges comparison.


Yes comparing SQlite to dBASE or FoxPro is comparing apples and oranges, 
more like apples and potatoes actually...


I thought FoxPro and Paradox were relational databases that could run in 
protected mode.  I recall doing joins in Paradox using QBE.


-Ben


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Re: [Freedos-user] CD burner software

[Ben Collver]

Ralf Quint wrote:
I was actually able to find a direct download at 
ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/utildisk/doscdrb3.zip


http://bootcd.narod.ru/index_e.htm has some CDRTools, which include a 
burning program but never used that either.


I have not tried it, but found cdrkit here:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/system/cdrkit/

-Ben


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[Freedos-user] Tcl for DOS update

[Ben Collver]

Tcl is a script language originally created by Dr. John Ousterhout, who 
is currently a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University.


This updated build adds a rudimentary [exec] command using code from 
mstcl73.  This is based on the work of Tom Poindexter, Georg Potthast, 
and Viktor Wagner.  These builds also include Ck and Sqlite.  Below are 
download links for Tcl versions 8.4.20, 8.5.19, and 8.6.9.


https://archive.org/download/tcl-8.4.20-for-dos

https://archive.org/download/tcl-8.5.19-for-dos

https://archive.org/download/tcl-8.6.9-for-dos


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Re: [Freedos-user] [release] Dr. Mind v1.0

[Ben Collver]

TK Chia wrote:

Hello Mateusz,


http://drmind.sourceforge.net


Well, all I can say for now is, it works and is really cool. :-)

Thank you!


I tried the lite version.  I like how small it is, and the thoughtful 
touches such as the animated cursor in the menu.


Thanks!

-Ben


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Re: [Freedos-user] Angband for DOS

[Ben Collver]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for that suggestion.  Yes i will include a description next time. 
 Yes it is the same dungeon crawler game you linked to on github. AFAIK 
the last DOS build was Angband 3.0.6 in 2005.  The developers have made 
the game more interesting since then.  It is also more CPU intensive.


Best regards,
-Ben

Jim Hall wrote:

Hi Ben

I wasn't sure what Angband was, so I had to go looking. Could you 
include a description next time? I didn't want to just install it to 
find out. :-)


I /assume/ this is the dungeon crawler game?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angband_(video_game) 
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angband_%28video_game%29>


Same as the source version here?
https://github.com/angband/angband




On Sun, Aug 25, 2019 at 12:31 AM Ben Collver <mailto:bencoll...@riseup.net>> wrote:


I recently built Angband for DOS using DJGPP.  This is based on the
"IBM" display code from version 3.0.6.  Below are download links for
Angband 3.4.1 and Angband 4.2.0.  Version 3.4.1 is significantly faster
on older machines.

https://archive.org/details/ang341

https://archive.org/details/ang420


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[Freedos-user] Angband for DOS

[Ben Collver]

I recently built Angband for DOS using DJGPP.  This is based on the 
"IBM" display code from version 3.0.6.  Below are download links for 
Angband 3.4.1 and Angband 4.2.0.  Version 3.4.1 is significantly faster 
on older machines.


https://archive.org/details/ang341

https://archive.org/details/ang420


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Re: [Freedos-user] Tcl for DOS

[Ben Collver]

ZB wrote:

On Fri, Aug 02, 2019 at 11:52:35AM -0700, Ben Collver wrote:

On your suggestion i built Tcl 8.4.20 using DJGPP, but it crashes somewhere
in TclpSetInitialEncodings().  It seems to recurse infinitely...


Thanks, I already got that one - but this is much earlier version.

I'm not (yet?) that advanced in "C<->TCL interface" to fix 8.4.20 - but
maybe one day... anyway thank you for preparing the other two


Fixed it...

Here is a download link for Tcl 8.4.20 built using DJGPP with Ck and Sqlite.

https://archive.org/download/tcl-8.4.20-for-dos

Best regards,
Ben


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Re: [Freedos-user] Tcl for DOS

[Ben Collver]

Rugxulo wrote:

Hi!

On Tue, Jul 30, 2019 at 2:57 PM Ben Collver  wrote:

I recently built Tcl for DOS using DJGPP.  This is based on the work of
Georg Potthast and Viktor Wagner.  These builds include Ck and Sqlite.
Below are download links for Tcl 8.5.19 and Tcl 8.6.9.

https://archive.org/download/tcl-8.5.19-for-dos
https://archive.org/download/tcl-8.6.9-for-dos


It seems you're aware of existing builds mirrored to iBiblio. (It was
most likely me who mirrored those, for completeness, but honestly I've
never used Tcl and don't know of many apps using it. Still, it sounds
promising.)

Have you tested your builds? Just because something compiles doesn't
mean it works, esp. if the authors only tested in *nix. Especially old
DJGPP ports, which used to work, usually rot and break. It's a bit
sad, really. I'm not trying to be too cynical or pessimistic, but
broken builds are annoying.

But if you've tried them and they work for you, great! Otherwise 


Hi Rugxulo,

The Tcl authors thoroughly test their code on *nix.  I only lightly 
tested my builds by running an app of mine that uses snit and SQLite.


I found some bit rot along the way.  For example, the DJGPP SQLite code 
only seems able to open databases in the current directory.  I worked 
around this by using [cd] prior to opening the database.  The Ck toolkit 
seems painfully slow in DOSBox.  It is much faster in FreeDOS on VirtualBox.


Some day i would like to benchmark the DOS port of SQLite versus 
databases such as Foxpro and Paradox.  I understand these are not fair 
comparisons because those old DOS databases supported the 8086.  It is a 
technical marvel that they worked as well as they did.  I digress..


Best regards,
-Ben


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Re: [Freedos-user] Tcl for DOS

[Ben Collver]

ZB wrote:

On Tue, Jul 30, 2019 at 12:55:38PM -0700, Ben Collver wrote:


I recently built Tcl for DOS using DJGPP.  This is based on the work of
Georg Potthast and Viktor Wagner.  These builds include Ck and Sqlite. Below
are download links for Tcl 8.5.19 and Tcl 8.6.9.


Interesting. Perhaps it would be worthy to do build of 8.4.20 as well? It's
more resource-saving, you know, which is significant for DOS. And for most
applications "good enough"



On your suggestion i built Tcl 8.4.20 using DJGPP, but it crashes 
somewhere in TclpSetInitialEncodings().  It seems to recurse infinitely, 
 similar to the problem described below [1].  In case you are 
interested, you can find an earlier DOS port of Tcl 8.4 below [2].


[1]
https://sourceforge.net/p/tcl/bugs/3127/

[2]
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/devel/tcl/8.4/


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[Freedos-user] Tcl for DOS

[Ben Collver]

I recently built Tcl for DOS using DJGPP.  This is based on the work of 
Georg Potthast and Viktor Wagner.  These builds include Ck and Sqlite. 
Below are download links for Tcl 8.5.19 and Tcl 8.6.9.


https://archive.org/download/tcl-8.5.19-for-dos

https://archive.org/download/tcl-8.6.9-for-dos


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