Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 14:15:45 +0200 (DFT)
From: "Garrido Freire, Fco. Javier ((R)JA.GAR. SOFT)" <garridof AT cs DOT us DOT es>
Reply-To: "Garrido Freire, Francisco Javier" <Francisco-Javier DOT Garrido AT cs DOT us DOT es>
To: "Alexander V. Lukyanov" <lav AT yars DOT free DOT net>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com, jvandyk AT ibm DOT net
Subject: Re: Multitasking in DOS (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <199606291701.VAA00082@gemini.yars.free.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.A32.3.93.960809134325.11912F-100000@nervion.cs.us.es>
Organization: Infoalum Mail Gateway <Infoalum AT cs DOT us DOT es>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

On Sat, 29 Jun 1996, Alexander V. Lukyanov wrote:

> > >Preemptive multitasking in DOS? I'm in deep doubt.
> > 
> > Check CTASK22.ZIP on any simtel.net mirror. It has full multi-tasking for
> > 16-bit C programs under DOS.
> 
> Well, some sort of multitasking can really exist in dos. Windows is an example,
> but I'm not sure whether it is possible to create a multitasker which will
> run under all varieties of windows or will be compatible with many different
> programs, real mode and those which run with an extender, etc.
> Compatibility is the problem, imho, but even in plain dos with 16-bit programs
> there could be problems, hardware access is one.
> 
Yes. Hardware access could be a hard problem ... if every program
made hardware access by themselves. But such programs hardly run
in Win/OS2.

Whichever ANSI C programs compiled by a modern compiler (vg.
DJGPP) will be on its best behaviour. But, could DJGPP be fed on
POSIX programs?

Compatibility is another problem, but, what is Windows compatible
with?

PS: In order to answer 1st question I reread Faq v2 21.1. It says
DJGPP is ANSI- and POSIX- complaint... but, try to compile any *IX
shell. (I have to re-re-read FAQ more often, anyway :) 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
F. Javier Garrido F.   (R)JA.GAR. SOFT    Dpto. de Computacion e IA
MINIX User. (USENET comp.os.minix & SCS)  Facultad de Informatica
Email: Francisco-Javier DOT Garrido AT cs DOT us DOT es  y Estadistica de Sevilla
URL: http://www.cs.us.es/~garridof                       (SPAIN)
"The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long ...
   ... and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy."
					  TYRREL from Blade Runner