Mail Archives: djgpp/1999/04/07/21:08:57
I apologise now if this message appears like a collection of ideas... I'm
tired :-)
>You have really got me thinking. We are just going to have to have
>more than one computer in the future--or else more than one drive
>or partition. There is just no other way.
>
Just look at the popularity of DOS these days. I haven't seen that many new
apps for DOS recently. I've also noticed that the dos implementations in
Win95 and NT are not perfect. There are certain console functions which are
not implemented, and the pipes don't work properly. Eventually they will
disappear and every one will be using a pointy-click interface for
everything..
djgpp works in DOS, but as that dies out, we are either going to be using MS
compilers to write stuff for Windows, writing our own windows compilers
(using a MS compiler such as VC++) or we wait for DOS to die out and that
will be that for the existing djgpp code.
The solution to me would be to write a DOS replacement (DJ-DOS?). It would
be nice to add certain enhancements such as long filenames as standard,
networking, threads code and to make it 32 bit as standard (although I don't
know how difficult that would make it to run real mode stuff switching into
16 bit mode). The DJGPP stuff could simply then interface with the OS rather
than through a standalone DPMI program.
For those people using older PC's, the 16 bit free DOS implementation would
suit them better.. and the DJGPP stuff would still work on that still.
As for a windowing system, because the underlying OS has most of the useful
features/drivers built in, the windowing system would layer on top. Some
people have mentioned porting XFree86 (which is a monster of a program) or
perhaps a smaller Windows compatible system which can run Windows
programs... DJwin or something. I think that we need a free windowing system
to run existing windows programs, but I'm not sure on the best approach to
follow to achieve this..
I think that it would require some reverse engineering to find out how to
replace Windows (I'm not sure about the legalities of reverse engineering -
according to RMS it is required to find out the secrets of hardware (in the
Gnu Project history document) , but reverse engineering exisiting code?).
Perhaps some reverse engineering tools? I've asked some people whether this
is a good idea and the response have ranged from "You're going to get sued"
to "Just what the crackers need to pirate software - a well written, well
supported effective toolkit. Great idea. ". Despite the obvious flaws,
anything we learn about hardware drivers from other operating systems will
no doubt be useful for other free software project such as Linux or
GNU/Linux.. and the Wine Project.
Linux may be the OS of the future, but there is a still a user base who use
older versions of DOS and Windows who either don't want / can't afford to
keeping upgrading..Perhaps all of these could be achieved with a DOSlike
shell over the Linux kernel? Perhaps we ought to be moving over to getting
DOSEMU/Wine working better rather than trying to keep DOS and Windows alive?
It seems to be a big job reinventing a proprietary OS, but the brief was to
think big...! :-)
>I also like IBM DOS 7.0 until I get a free DOS that is better--
>and then there is Linux which I MUST HAVE. And to use any of the
>new software and simulators and things for grandchildren to work
>on I'll have to have the MS sooper dooper. I just don't see how all this
>can be done on one computer and the user maintain some sanity.
>
Things get worse when Windows insists on having the whole drive to itself. I
can see attempts in the future for Win installers removing Linux partitions,
because they don't want you to use anything else.
I would not consider it a bind to have both Linux and Free DOS/Windows on
the same PC which get along. The problems I have is when i reinstall Win95
and then spend time fixing the master boot record because it has been
trashed... A free software DJ/OS would obviously be designed to work with
other OS, since it would have no need to attempt to seize control...
>To try to make this comply with the "on-topic" rule, may I say that
>the DJGPP programmers might be better off not attempted to
>integrate so closely with the MS world and make a world of their
>own.
The problem is that if you have a totally new OS of your own, you then have
to rewrite everything to fit it from the OS you used to have. By having
DOS/Windows compatibilty, you can build in your own features (using
plug-ins? modules? new libraries?) to enhance the existing system as well as
being able to run all of the old stuff without problems. If people can use
DOS/Windows and get a better written, more stable version with sources, I
know which one I would go for...
---
Arron Shutt
version8 AT ashutt DOT demon DOT co DOT uk -- www.ashutt.demon.co.uk
"You can jump all you like but it's the day of the cow" - Mike Keneally
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