On 1/27/2015 8:47 PM, Travis Siegel wrote: > On Jan 27, 2015, at 11:24 PM, Ralf Quint wrote: >> But I would seriously discourage the use of gcc, as that is not going to >> help to produce anything useful for DOS, as it by and large is a *ix >> based and targeting compiler, which has only be shoehorned rather >> crudely to produce code for DOS... > Ok, good to know. I did use gcc for a (very) short time under dos, and while > it was a bit problematic to setup (paths had to be right, environment > variables had to be set) it did the job, but I wasn't trying to do anything > fancy with it, so don't know how well it handles complicated stuff, and if > it's as bad as indicated, then I guess I'll stop recommending it. :-). > Interestingly enough, I've seen loads of free C compilers, but very few with > source, though I did purchase one that was shareware many years ago (the > purchase gave you the right to obtain the source, and modify the compiler if > desired), but I never did anything with it. I did write an assembler though, > just to prove to myself it couldn't be done in the time frame alloted, only > that one backfired, and it was actually a workable assembler in just under a > week. Nothing approaching commercial quality you understand, but it worked. > I did that, because I'd read a book claiming that a beginner assembly > programmer could produce a working compiler in a week. I didn't believe it, > so set out to prove the author wrong. And, as mentioned, it did indeed work > as the author stated, which really surprised me. There is another, 16bit C compiler that has been made Open Source thanks to the efforts of a guy who used this compiler still even long after it was no longer available as a commercial product after it (together with at least a dozen others) got steamrolled by Borland and TurboC(++). I switched myself from this compiler(DeSmet C) to Turbo C back in the in 1987, when it came first out.
It might not easily be used for the kernel, due to the fact that it uses it's own linker (format) and the one thing that is missing is the object file converter that could convert those to standard DOS .obj files, most likely because it was a 3rd party tool. Too bad I lost contact with Bob, in order to see if we can move the source and everything to a Github or SourceForge account. This compiler, which only otherwise lacks an IDE like TurboC (that was one of the reasons why I switched, though you can get used to the included SEE editor) is IMHO perfectly suited to create FreeDOS targeted 16bit apps with an easy and simple to use Open Source compiler. But then I got only laughed at the last time I suggested that, doubt it will be any different this time around... Ralf --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dive into the World of Parallel Programming. The Go Parallel Website, sponsored by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your hub for all things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership blogs to news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join the conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net/ _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
