Re: [Freedos-user] C compiler
On 01/26/2012 11:54 AM, Marco Achury wrote: > > Dear Sirs > > Is there any "official" or recommended C compiler for Freedos? > > Would be great if such compiler come included on the distro so > the user can create their own programs. > > I know djgpp and Watcom, are both compilers under active > development/maintenance? > Hi Marco, I recently switched from Borland Turbo C to Watcom, and after all the cursing and headbanging, I agree that it is a better compiler. If you are going in this direction, get ready for a steep climb on the learning curve. Jim -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
On 01/26/2012 10:53 AM, Bob Cochran wrote: > Greetings, > > I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community as I am > sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a better > understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I know it > is an operating system, of course, but I don't know why it is used as an > operating system compared to other operating system choices. I would > like to understand the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many > users, or just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? > Hi Bob, I have been writing human performance tests on PCs for about 25 years, beginning with Apple IIe boxes, then moving to IBM PCs. FreeDOS is ideal for this as the OS only does what you tell it to do, and never capers off to do other tasks, thus allowing precise timing of events without having external equipment. Recently I learned how to use the BIOS real time clock interrupt to count time, and while taking a bit of learning and programming, this has proven superior to reprogramming TIMER0 on the 825x timer chip. Program data is written to a text file that can be processed by external utilities. FreeDOS also allows me to take over the keyboard and pointer interrupts so that I can capture data from these devices. By using batch files and doing a little programming on the keyboard queue and Interapplication Communication Area, I can allow the users to run sequences of tests that require no operator input between tests. The only other OS I would consider is Linux, using Real Time Linux to run the tests (Windows is a disaster for timing). It would be more convenient, as the users could use a GUI to run things instead of complaining about selecting a batch file from a list. However, I would have to port all the code (C) to Linux and set up RTL, a considerable task. FreeDOS is still a viable option. Jim -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
We use it to run burn-in and acceptance testing of machines that we resell. It drives a series of pure dos apps that run for 3 days or so, exercising the machine to its fullest. We can't do this in windows because windows doesn't allow access to exercise the full range of installed memory, nor allow access to other low-level calls for testing (video modes, etc). == David C. Kerber Warren Rogers Associates dker...@warrenrogersassociates.com 401-846-4747 x-111 == > -Original Message- > From: Bob Cochran [mailto:bcochra...@verizon.net] > Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 6:53 PM > To: freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS > > Greetings, > > I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community > as I am sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a > better understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most > commonly? I know it is an operating system, of course, but I > don't know why it is used as an operating system compared to > other operating system choices. I would like to understand > the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many users, or > just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? > > Thanks > > Bob Cochran > > > -- > > Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! > The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft > developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - > plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future > releases when you subscribe now! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
I use it as my main OS, running on real hardware (no emulation), typically on Pentiums 100-300 MHz, both desktops and portables. I also have at home one machine with Linux Ubuntu and one with Windows XP, but I only use them when necessary, typically to open PowerPoint or Word files, which is pretty rare actually. All the rest I do in FreeDOS. That includes: - Text, with Aurora and its amazing macro language, Latex (EmTex distribution) for engineering and scientific articles which I help write and edit, WordPerfect 6, and a bunch of other great editors such as TDE (Thomson-Davis-Hood), FTE (Marko Macek), SetEdit (Salvador Tropea). - Spreadsheets. - Relational databases (with the rock-solid DataPerfect), including: * Almost 20 of them for my personal use, and * The ones I did as voluntary work for public health centers, which doctors and nurses have been using for 12 hours every week day since 2005 with amazing reliability. I can remember about 3 "problems" in those seven years: one corrupted file, one disconnected power cord, and one physically sabotaged computer. That was about it. - Internet: * Links, Arachne, and now Dillo for browsing, and * PMSMTP and TCPMAIL to send and receive emails, with help of an email reader which I wrote myself. - Programming in Euphoria, including -- I'm proud to say -- some rather complex stuff for a non-professional like me. - Technical drawing with Desi-III. - Many other assorted uses. Basically, my reasons for using (Free)DOS are: * The relative simplicity of DOS as compared to Linux, Windows, etc., which allows me to be much more in control of my machine without having to be a computer professional. * Speed and reliability. * Utter disgust for the consumerism pervading so much of daily life, including computers. A confession: I secretly hope to help people realize that it is not mandatory to change all hardware and software every 3 years. I'm very happy about my choice of OS, and especially so since 2007 when I moved from MS-DOS to FreeDOS. I have no plans to change. As a bonus, I even get a sense of community by participating in this discussion list :-) My favorite outrageous story: a couple of years ago I switched from dialed to broadband internet connection, for which I needed some help from my internet service provider. When I told them I used FreeDOS, they said it is impossible, and proceeded to explain me that Linux has a console mode that looks just like DOS, and therefore I must have been using my computer all these years unaware that its OS is Linux. Only after I said that I had myself partitioned and formatted the hard disk and installed FreeDOS were they (somewhat) more convinced. I don't miss a chance to express my gratitude to the FreeDOS developers, as well as others who have written great DOS programs and generously donated them. Thanks, everyone. Marcos -- Marcos Fávero Florence de Barros Campinas, Brazil -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Using a menu for many options
As an extension to what Jeffrey suggested, at one time I used a simple batch file with some of my utilities, along with CHOICE and ANSI, to set up a menu of commonly used applications. I don't use it any more, but following is the latest version I was using. It allows up to 36 options (26 letters and 10 numbers). It uses ANSI to highlight the choices in the menu, CHOICE to handle the keyboard input, my SCANCODE program to automatically pick a menu choice after a timeout, and my MOUSKEYS program to allow selection with a mouse instead of just using the keyboard (incidentally, all of the hidden asterisks are there to allow you select the menu item with the mouse from anywhere on the menu line). It also uses an unreleased program of mine called ISLOADED to detect whether or not ANSI.SYS (or some equivalent) is installed and if the screen is color or monochrome. You can manipulate the batch file however you want. You can download SCANCODE and MOUSKEYS from my web site (http:/bretjohnson.us), and I can send you ISLOADED if you want it as well (ISLOADED is currently unfinished and undocumented). For what you're doing, though, I think you could manage without any of those. I know there are also programs specifically designed for menu selection, but doing it with a simple batch file and some free utilities always seemed like a more flexible option to me. Anyway, here it is (kind of long). I can also send it as an e-mail attachment if anyone cares. @ECHO %Eco% CALL SetMouse :MouseOK %DOSDrive% CD\ CALL 25x80 LH MousKeys ScanCode W 13,42 "S - Screen", Idle 120, Only 0.1, W 13,42 "S - Screen", Z, D 0.3, "s", Z-, R IsLoaded Ansi > NUL IF ErrorLevel 1 GOTO NoANSI IsLoaded Color > NUL IF ErrorLevel 1 GOTO Mono :Color SET Text=[0;37;44m SET FKey=[1;31;44m SET Hide=[0;34;44m GOTO Start :Mono SET Text=[0;37;40m SET FKey=[1;37;40m SET Hide=[0;30;30m :Start CLS ECHO. ECHO%FKey%1%Text% %Hide% %FKey%6%Text% - File Wizard %Hide%* ECHO%FKey%2%Text% %Hide% %FKey%7%Text% %Hide%*** ECHO%FKey%3%Text% - Virus Scan (F-PROT) %Hide%** %FKey%8%Text% %Hide%*** ECHO%FKey%4%Text% - WordPerfect %Hide%** %FKey%9%Text% %Hide%*** ECHO%FKey%5%Text% %Hide% %FKey%0%Text% - QUIT %Hide% ECHO. ECHO%FKey%A%Text% %Hide% %FKey%N%Text% - Norton Utilities %Hide% ECHO%FKey%B%Text% - Bingo (Text Editor) %Hide%** %FKey%O%Text% %Hide%*** ECHO%FKey%C%Text% %Hide% %FKey%P%Text% - Procomm Plus %Hide% ECHO%FKey%D%Text% %Hide% %FKey%Q%Text% - QUIT %Hide% ECHO%FKey%E%Text% - Edit text (TED) %Hide%** %FKey%R%Text% - Reboot the Computer %Hide%* ECHO%FKey%F%Text% %Hide% %FKey%S%Text% - Screen Saver (Dazzle) %Hide%*** ECHO%FKey%G%Text% - Games %Hide% %FKey%T%Text% - Set the Time %Hide% ECHO%FKey%H%Text% %Hide% %FKey%U%Text% - USA Atlas %Hide%*** ECHO%FKey%I%Text% - Interrupt Helper %Hide%* %FKey%V%Text% - View some pictures %Hide%** ECHO%FKey%J%Text% %Hide% %FKey%W%Text% - World Atlas %Hide%* ECHO%FKey%K%Text% %Hide% %FKey%X%Text% - QUIT %Hide% ECHO%FKey%L%Text% %Hide% %FKey%Y%Text% %Hide%*** ECHO%FKey%M%Text% - Money Counts %Hide%* %FKey%Z%Text% %Hide%*** ECHO. ECHO. ECHO %Text% Your Selection?(Q, X, or 0 to QUIT) ECHO. CHOICE /N /C:1234567890ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ REM Errorlevel 01122333 REM123456789012345678901234567890123456 IF ErrorLevel 37 GOTO Stop IF ErrorLevel 36 GOTO Z IF ErrorLevel 35 GOTO Y IF ErrorLevel 34 GOTO X IF ErrorLevel 33 GOTO W IF ErrorLevel 32 GOTO V IF ErrorLevel 31 GOTO U IF ErrorLevel 30 GOTO T IF ErrorLevel 29 GOTO S IF ErrorLevel 28 GOTO R IF ErrorLevel 27 GOTO Q IF ErrorLevel 26 GOTO P IF ErrorLevel 25 GOTO O IF ErrorLevel 24 GOTO N IF ErrorLevel 23 GOTO M IF ErrorLevel 22 GOTO L IF ErrorLevel 21 GOTO K IF ErrorLevel 20 GOTO J IF ErrorLevel
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:53:23 -0500 Bob Cochran wrote: > ...I would like to build a better > understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I use it for control of a desktop milling machine. Modern computers don't have and can't use a parallel port in real time. -- James D Baker jdba...@mchsi.com -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Using a menu for many options
On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 10:44 AM, Bret Johnson wrote: > Anyway, here it is (kind of long). I can also send it as an e-mail > attachment if anyone cares. Probably a good idea in any case. It shows by default in GMail will all line breaks stripped out. For anyone viewing the list in GMail, click the down symbol next to the Reply button, and choose Show Original. That will display the batch file with formatting/indentation preserved, and it can be copied/pasted into an editor. __ Dennis -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Using a menu for many options
Perfect. Thanks Jeffrey and Bret, for the suggestions and code. It looks like it should work for our environment. I'll go ahead and modify it and see how it goes. -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Using a menu for many options
Op 26-1-2012 19:17, Michael schreef: > Perfect. Thanks Jeffrey and Bret, for the suggestions and code. > It looks like it should work for our environment. > I'll go ahead and modify it and see how it goes. Your situation might be a perfect occasion to experiment with the 'flashrom' tool (www.flashrom.org). However, do keep your vendor flashing programs available :) DMIDECODE also still needs to be present it seems (rename to dmidecod.exe) Flashrom binary at : http://ra.openbios.org/~idwer/flashrom/ DMIdecode binary at : http://www.bttr-software.de/ports/ As for the menu, I'd indeed suggest using a batchfile. Alternatively, maybe the Syslinux menu system is worthwile, you can see it in action in for example PartedMagic (LiveCD) Documentation at: http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Comboot/menu.c32 -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Using a menu for many options
Bernd Blaauw home.nl> writes: > > > As for the menu, I'd indeed suggest using a batchfile. > Alternatively, maybe the Syslinux menu system is worthwile, you can see > it in action in for example PartedMagic (LiveCD) > > Documentation at: > http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Comboot/menu.c32 > I'm already somewhat familiar with syslinux, but the commands I use must run from FreeDos, does syslinux let me do that? -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Using a menu for many options
Op 26-1-2012 20:12, Michael schreef:
> I'm already somewhat familiar with syslinux, but the commands I use must run
> from FreeDos, does syslinux let me do that?
Only in the form of workarounds. The MEMDISK module allows to specify a
commandline, just as in GNU/Linux distributions. Syslinux contains a
MDISKCHK program to retrieve these parameters. The output of thus
program can be redirected to a batchfile which then can be
executed/called to add these parameters to the DOS environment.
The requirement of using MEMDISK and a (floppy)disk image is annoying
though, so you might want to stick to batchfiles instead.
Above described method is implemented in the FDBOOT.IMG floppy image
file inside the FreeDOS 1.1 CD-ROM distribution. Maybe also in UBCD
(Ultimate BootCD) project.
Additionally some custom versions of FreeDOS kernel 2040 can read
MEMDISK parameters. That way you can supply your own lines for
config.sys. It's done by the FD={yourlinehere}{and-so-on} parameter.
One example for it would be:
# test1
label test1
linux memdisk
initrd fdboot.img
append FD={SHELL=COMMAND.COM /P=TEST1.BAT}
# test2
label test2
linux memdisk
initrd fdboot.img
append FD={SHELL=COMMAND.COM /P=TEST2.BAT}
FreeDOS bootCD has something like this in isolinux.cfg file:
# experiment with USB
label usb
linux memdisk
initrd=fdboot.img
append USB=U
while autoexec.bat has something like:
@echo off
rem load ramdisk to redirect output to file
devload tdsk.exe
tdsk 100
rem get memdisk parameters
mdiskchk -b > R:\ARGS.BAT
rem add to environment
call R:\ARGS.BAT
rem load USB stack driver..if present!
if not exist a:\usb\dosusb.* goto end
A:\USB2\DOSUSB /E
rem load USB disk driver, at drive U:
DEVLOAD /D%USB% A:\USB2\USBDRIVE.SYS
goto end
:end
--
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Re: [Freedos-user] Using a menu for many options
I ended up using a combination the some menu items in FDCONFIG.SYS which in turn launch batch scripts that use the CHOICE command. Works great. Thanks for everyone's help. -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS 1.1 released
On Sat, 2012-01-14 at 19:14 -0800, Michael Robinson wrote: > First off, I don't appreciate anyone calling anyone an idiot on this > email list. Second, I haven't experimented with Freedos 1.1 myself, but > I hope any difficulty others have working with it is dealt with both > patiently and professionally. Myself, I'm waiting for the 1.2 release. Patience is over rated. With a spare drive and some drive caddies you cna play around with new stuff and not hose a working system. CWSIV -- Try before you buy = See our experts in action! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-dev2___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
