Hi, On Sat, Jan 23, 2016 at 1:56 AM, Thomas Mueller <mueller6...@twc.com> wrote: > > Excerpt from Rugxulo: > >> > Well maybe it would also be nice to have some BASH, such >> > as the DJGPP one - both shell and script language... :-) > >> Nah. Their Bash is ancient (2.05b), not well-supported by anyone >> anymore. Most DJGPP stuff mandatorily has to be cross-compiled >> anyways, for various reasons. > > I just checked in NetBSD pkgsrc and FreeBSD ports, bash is at v4.3.
At risk of stating the obvious, there is no (DJGPP Bash) maintainer, plus DOS does not have fork(), which means it's a bit harder to port such shells to non-POSIX systems. Anyways, I'm not sure if many GNU projects left still have (even accidental) support for DJGPP. GNU Emacs is still supported due to Eli Z. Other stuff? Not so much. We're lucky to get anything anymore. It's much less attractive with no universal Win9x or NTVDM. So we're not even as popular as during the old days. > If DJGPP stuff has to be cross-compiled, what OS would it be cross-compilable > from, and with what tools? Usually they use XP or Vista (via NTVDM), but sometimes they use Linux. There's always an official Linux-hosted cross-compiler (usually .RPM) on DJGPP mirrors. As Louis mentioned, there's also some other less official cross-compilers by Andrew Wu. (I seem to still have his Windows-hosted GCC 4.9.2 here.) > Can FreeDOS base OS and added software be cross-compiled from Linux, NetBSD > or FreeBSD, and with what? Not really. Some of it (e.g. kernel) can be cross-compiled with OpenWatcom, but a lot of it is unmaintained legacy that requires Turbo C or similar non-free tools. Not sure if *BSD Linux emulation is enough to run OW unmodified or if you have to rebuild it with native compiler. > There is the added problem that 16-bit would be needed, and I believe GCC > only compiles for 32- and 64-bit. OpenWatcom supports 16-bit or 32-bit. DJGPP is 32-bit only. A lot of stuff is also written in NASM (usually 16-bit). > I suppose a user of Linux, FreeBSD or NetBSD, or even MS-Windows or Mac OS X, > could compile, using DOS tools, from DOSBox? DOSBox is "only for games", max. 64 MB RAM, so it's not ideal by any stretch for compiling. One time I tried (TDE with DJGPP) and it was like 20x slower than NTVDM or DOSEMU. Not recommended at all. Again, just use OpenWatcom or cross DJGPP. > Though DOSBox is not as sturdy as straight native DOS, and FreeDOS 1.1 > installer would not run from DOSBox (I tried); > installer insisted on FreeCOM command interpreter. > > Just for comparison, there are tools by which ReactOS can be cross-compiled > from (quasi)-Unix, which would include > Linux and the BSDs, from what I read on ReactOS website (reactos.org). ReactOS 0.4.0rc2 is out, and it improves NTVDM to the point where they can now run Duke Nukem 3D (among others). > FreeDOS is supposed to support very old, pre-80386 computers capable of > running (MS-, DR- or PC-)DOS, > hence the need for 16-bit support, but we don't want to hold back users of > computers with 32-bit or 64-bit CPUs DJGPP has existed since 1989. Nobody is stopping anyone from using it. The kernel is a separate matter, though. > who could better run 32-bit. There is no huge benefit to being totally 32-bit here (esp. in the kernel). We have bigger problems (like USB or sound or networking or power management or file systems). Actually, I'd say UEFI (without CSM) is a bigger problem. > In my case, my main use for FreeDOS would be for things like BIOS/UEFI > updates and hard-drive diagnostics. > My Ethernet is apparently too recent for any packet driver, and from previous > posts on FreeDOS lists, my audio > (Intel HD audio) has no DOS support. Feel free to contact your hardware rep, and tell them to support DOS. (Actually, don't. They won't listen anyways.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Site24x7 APM Insight: Get Deep Visibility into Application Performance APM + Mobile APM + RUM: Monitor 3 App instances at just $35/Month Monitor end-to-end web transactions and take corrective actions now Troubleshoot faster and improve end-user experience. Signup Now! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=267308311&iu=/4140 _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
