Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 08:39:02 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
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To: Martin Str|mberg <ams AT father DOT ludd DOT luth DOT se>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: dead beef
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On 23 Apr 2000, Martin Str|mberg wrote:

> Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il> wrote:
> : ANSI.SYS is evil (but I don't think the above command requires
> : ANSI.SYS).  You could compile a simple program that calls library
> : function _set_screen_lines, and use that instead.  Works like charm
> : for me, both in plain DOS and on Windows.
> 
> It is? Why?

Are you asking why is ANSI.SYS evil?

Because it hooks Int 29h and many programs which write to the screen
and hook BIOS don't expect that and choke.  It also tremendously slows
down DOS/BIOS screen writes (which affects any console program tha
uses printf): Int 29h is used heavily and must be very fast.  In 
addition, it took up too much conventional RAM.

At the time, there were lots of clones for ANSI.SYS (you can still find 
them on SimTel), which alone speaks volumes about this issue.