Re: FreeDOS vs. DOS-like operating systems There are plenty of DOS-like hobby projects out there. But without applications, they are pretty limited. I think a lot of the value in DOS and FreeDOS is the ability to run existing applications. So we need to decide on what we are trying to do; are we going to morph FreeDOS into yet another hobby operating system that is only slightly compatible with existing software, or are we going to keep it an open DOS clone?
Re: Protected mode networking Networking provides the most value when it is an integral part of the operating system. Otherwise, we just have disparate applications that bring their own library code that the OS is unaware of. Even just the limited "fix the libraries" solution does not work because many of the networking applications are stuck in the 90s. The application code needs to be fixed too. In general, networking needs much more focus; the libraries really are not the problem. mTCP is a poor example to use; it is a personal project with a very specific set of goals. I was not happy with the TCP/IP code that I found and I took the radical step of writing everything from scratch. That approach is not scalable and I do not advocate. mTCP and FreeDOS are two different projects with different roadmaps. Re: Emulation environments We're going to have to face reality one day; hardware will move away from FreeDOS faster than FreeDOS can keep up with it. Unless we can attract a lot more interest in hard-core, low level programming skills then emulation will be the only way to deal with this problem. Re: Documentation Documentation for DOS is out there but it is so scattered and so disorganized. You have to know what you are looking for and where to look for it. The forums at BTTR software provide a good place for people to talk about programming. There are still Usenet forums out there that are active. There are other web forums. It is terribly fragmented. We need a DOS programming Wiki that can get people started. Things like what development environments are available, primers on real mode vs. protected mode programming, where the good libraries are, reading lists on where to look for more, suggested books, etc. The network redirector interface is a poor example to use; it has never been properly documented. If you have the 2nd edition of "Undocumented DOS" then you can get pretty close to it. There was a new project announced here recently that used it to provide file system access under VMWare. I have looked at it a few times to implement my own version of a network file system and I've just decided it's not worth the effort. Mike ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
