Stephan Sokolow @ssokolow@qoto.org

Random thought inspired by "too new but too slow" mini-PCs: I wonder what the odds are of someone making a bare-metal hypervisor/emulator that lets DOS and Win3.11 run "natively" on even Intel's proposed x86S, with emulated SB16 and CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA video.

Maybe, for a rainy-day project, I'll see how far I can minimize boot time if I build a Linux install that boots into full-screen DOSBox or 86box and a BIOS POST Plymouth boot splash to hide the rest on cold boot.
#retro #retrocomputing #dos

Tip: If you're getting strange read/write errors or "sharing violation"s when running "make boot disk" tools/batch files in 86Box and you're using the Flatpak version, create your floppy disk images inside ~/.var/app/net._86box._86Box/ or grant a manifest permission. Apparently there's a bug or incompleteness in the Flatpak documents portal FUSE filesystem. #dos #retro #retrocomputing #win95 #windows95

In case anyone's interested, I just posted a run-down of simple C/C++ test frameworks that'll build for real-mode DOS with Open Watcom C/C++ 1.9, plus preliminary research for how to do functional testing on a DOS program.

http://blog.ssokolow.com/archives/2020/10/31/automated-testing-for-open-watcom-c-c-and-dos/

#dos #retrocomputing #c

PSA:

If you're trying to write a utility using Open Watcom C/C++ that works both on DOS and on the Linux machine you normally cross-compile from, and you're getting mysterious misbehaviours on one platform, check your INCLUDE path.

Having INCLUDE=$WATCOM/lh when cross-building for DOS or having INCLUDE=$WATCOM/h when building natively for Linux can result in successfull builds with confusing runtime misbehaviours.

#dos

Nice to see Microsoft releasing the GW-BASIC source under the MIT license.

https://github.com/microsoft/GW-BASIC

Now any retro-hobbyists who know enough x86 assembly have a starting point for supporting embeddable scripting on ancient DOS systems.

#dos #retro #programming

Sorry I went silent. I've been too busy to even check Mastodon, let alone post on it.

Today, however, I self-nerd-sniped and implemented a one-click aspect ratio correction userscript for 320x200 screenshots of DOS games on MobyGames:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/400983-mobygames-click-to-aspect-correct-screenshots

(See https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/FelipePepe/20150423/241730/No_MSDOS_games_werent_widescreen_Tips_on_correcting_aspect_ratio.php for an explanation of why it's necessary.)

#retro #dos

I wanted to start off my #dos tweets recap with the link I found for IBM's CUA keybindings reference, but, sadly, it's now dead.

If anyone wants to try to track it down, this was the URL for the relevant section in one of the versions of IBM's reference:

http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/f29al000/2.2.54

Failing that, I've since picked up a used copy of http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/931408154 so maybe I'll try to find time to transcribe the reference tables listed as Figures 171 and 172 (Keyboard Functions, p. 315-322), (Keys to Functions, p. 319-322), Figures 175-185 (Mnemonic Assignments for ..., p. 345-349), and Figure 200 (Shortcut Key Assignments, p. 451-452).

(That said, if you can find a copy of the book, pick it up. While it's primarily intended for OS/2, it's got a *lot* of nifty stuff useful for DOS TUIs, including "Appendix E. Translated Terms"... charts translating various English menu/button labels like "Redo" into 16 different languages.)