Re: [Freedos-user] Writing Utilities for FreeDOS
Steve Nickolas - Using Windoze wrote: Jay Maus wrote: Wow, I'm impressed by all the discussion this has sparked. It's good to see an active dev community. So I think I'm nearly ready to start futzing around with FreeDOS code, but it's still a little foreign to me: I'm used to 32-bit Windows C++. In Visual Studio, no less. Are there any good books or online guides out there for learning intermediate [Free]DOS 16-bit C programming? Also, do I need a native FreeDOS environment to compile in, or can I cross-compile with gcc? Also also, is there a good IDE that'll run in Windows XP, or do I need to use RHIDE in something like DOSBox? I remember using RHIDE on my old old old 486 Laptop the first time I started playing around with DOS code, but it was unbearably slow. Thanks, I'm really appreciative of the FreeDOS community. --Jay gcc can compile and cross-compile 32-bit DOS stuff, but not 16... for 16-bit C you'll prolly need a DOS-based compiler running on some form or emulation of DOS, or Watcom runs native on NT... -uso. --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg=12297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user To recompile FreeDOS stuff,I use dosemu 1.2/TurboC 2.01(now freeware). --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg=12297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Writing Utilities for FreeDOS
Hi, Jay Maus escribió: Wow, I'm impressed by all the discussion this has sparked. It's good to see an active dev community. So I think I'm nearly ready to start futzing around with FreeDOS code, but it's still a little foreign to me: I'm used to 32-bit Windows C++. In Visual Studio, no less. Are there any good books or online guides out there for learning intermediate [Free]DOS 16-bit C programming? The good old books of C programming showed how to program for a DOS environment, years ago. Anyway check help about DOS.H You may need some more information about DOS itself if you are going to get into complex projects. Search (google, amazon) The FreeDOS KERNEL, Undocumented DOS, Undocumented PCs, DOS Internals, and other unvaluable jewels about that. Also, do I need a native FreeDOS environment to compile in, No, you can compile in NT DOS boxes (at times I do that), or I guess in DOSEMU boxes, or under any OS that can run the compilers. or can I cross-compile with gcc? No, you shouldn't use GCC at all, because GCC (I guess you mean DJGPP) produces 32-bit DOS code (DPMI), and in DOS code should be mostly 16-bit Also also, is there a good IDE that'll run in Windows XP, or do I need to use RHIDE in something like DOSBox? Search for SETEdit. It's good enough for me when programming in NASM or Pascal (for C I use Borland's environments) I remember using RHIDE on my old old old 486 Laptop the first time I started playing around with DOS code, but it was unbearably slow. It won't be slow if you use it in a fast machine... Aitor --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg=12297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Writing Utilities for FreeDOS
Hi! 24--2004 18:55 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jay Maus) wrote to [EMAIL PROTECTED]: JM Also, do I need a native FreeDOS environment to compile in, or can I JM cross-compile with gcc? No, you can't. Also as with VC and BCB - all them don't support 16-bit target platform. JM Also also, is there a good IDE that'll run in Windows XP, Yes, OpenWatcom includes one. --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Writing Utilities for FreeDOS
Wow, I'm impressed by all the discussion this has sparked. It's good to see an active dev community. So I think I'm nearly ready to start futzing around with FreeDOS code, but it's still a little foreign to me: I'm used to 32-bit Windows C++. In Visual Studio, no less. Are there any good books or online guides out there for learning intermediate [Free]DOS 16-bit C programming? Also, do I need a native FreeDOS environment to compile in, or can I cross-compile with gcc? Also also, is there a good IDE that'll run in Windows XP, or do I need to use RHIDE in something like DOSBox? I remember using RHIDE on my old old old 486 Laptop the first time I started playing around with DOS code, but it was unbearably slow. Thanks, I'm really appreciative of the FreeDOS community. --Jay --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg=12297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Writing Utilities for FreeDOS
Jay Maus schreef: This whole File Search Utility thread has gotten me thinking about DOS programming. I program mainly in either Win32 C++ for apps or Perl for scripts. However, I've played around with DOS C programming from time to time, and would like some 'real-world exercises', so to speak. So, is there a list of FreeDOS Utilities that need tweaking, or utilities that just don't exist? Whether they be MS-alikes, GNU-alikes, or something completely different? Jay, if you find it interesting I'd like to request for a utility which scans a dump of the bootsector for filenames and checks if they exist. The dump (a file on disk, exact duplicate of the bootsector) is 512 bytes long. you can generate an artificial one using the following command when using FreeDOS SYS (in the KERNEL 2034 package): SYS A: A: C:\BOOTSECT.BIN BOOTONLY which creates a bootsector intended for disk A:, but instead of writing it to disk A:, writes it to file C:\BOOTSECT.BIN there are also some Bootsector-dumping utilities like SAVEBS-A (from www.auersoft.org), and COPYBS (from syslinux.zytor.org) which could then be applied to a Win98 bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com for example. the challenge lies in analyzing what exactly a valid filename is. (minimum and maximum length, valid characters, valid sequence of characters, etc) a freedos bootsector for example refers to KERNEL__SYS and thus file KERNEL.SYS must exist on disk ( _ are spaces, unused). for Win98 bootsectors it might be more difficult, as they might not use all space (IOSYS instead of IO__SYS). another challenge might be to check 4KB blocks of upper memory if they can be used for EMM386, just like UMBPCI (specifically: the UMBCHK program) does. current EMM386 sticks to 16KB blocks, current UMBCHK also, UMBPCI can use 4KB blocks, but I'd like to find out which 4KB blocks :) I myself stick with batchfile programming. Results of that are in the FreeDOS distribution. Bernd --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg=12297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Writing Utilities for FreeDOS
At 04:50 AM 4/24/2004 +0200, Bernd Blaauw wrote: smallest allowable blocksize seems to be 4KB, so I'd like a utility which can check each 4KB. UMBPCI can do this right now (and even use it), UMBCHK cannot (16KB only), Emm386 I'm not sure if it can check in 4KB blocks, but it can use no smaller than 16KB blocks. fine by me, but still I'd like to know which blocks are usable in theory. UMB-list would be a collection of 4KB blocks, and each 4 blocks that directly follow eachother can be a UMB for EMM386. DOS can deal with blocks down to 16 bytes, so you could probably run UMB size down that low, although the overhead there wouldn't be worth it. But 1K (or less) is feasible. It's a matter of how hard you want to squeeze memory and how much risk you're willing to accept in BIOS conflicts for the amount you're squeezing. 16K is a good risk balance. Is 4K? If 4K, why not 1K? The EMS page frame does require a 16K-aligned boundary (C000, C400..E000), and is typically 64K-aligned, but that's not a consideration for gathering small UMB blocks outside of the page frame. --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg=12297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Writing Utilities for FreeDOS
Michael Devore schreef: DOS can deal with blocks down to 16 bytes, so you could probably run UMB size down that low, although the overhead there wouldn't be worth it. But 1K (or less) is feasible. It's a matter of how hard you want to squeeze memory and how much risk you're willing to accept in BIOS conflicts for the amount you're squeezing. 16K is a good risk balance. Is 4K? If 4K, why not 1K? whichever is easiest :) So you're saying collect all 1KB blocks, then turn into 16KB blocks in most optimal way? Bernd --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg=12297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Writing Utilities for FreeDOS
At 05:26 AM 4/24/2004 +0200, Bernd Blaauw wrote: Michael Devore schreef: DOS can deal with blocks down to 16 bytes, so you could probably run UMB size down that low, although the overhead there wouldn't be worth it. But 1K (or less) is feasible. It's a matter of how hard you want to squeeze memory and how much risk you're willing to accept in BIOS conflicts for the amount you're squeezing. 16K is a good risk balance. Is 4K? If 4K, why not 1K? whichever is easiest :) So you're saying collect all 1KB blocks, then turn into 16KB blocks in most optimal way? No, you natively support 1K blocks. No need to turn them into anything, although contiguous blocks coalesce, as they do now with 16K blocks up to 160K+ blocks. 4K is the easiest 16K size since it is the smallest unit that doesn't require copying a ROM image block for partial shadowing, but with extra work you could support down to ridiculously small amounts. --- This SF.net email is sponsored by: The Robotic Monkeys at ThinkGeek For a limited time only, get FREE Ground shipping on all orders of $35 or more. Hurry up and shop folks, this offer expires April 30th! http://www.thinkgeek.com/freeshipping/?cpg=12297 ___ Freedos-user mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
