continued DOS FreeBASIC support -- thanks!

rugxulo · Post by **rugxulo** » Oct 15, 2007 13:08

Hey guys,
I know DOS support to some people may seem pointless, and surely it isn't as popular as it used to be, but I wanted to say thanks for your hard work (coderjeff, DrV, v1c, etc). :-)

Also, since it's always a possibility, if you ever (God forbid!) decide to drop DOS support, please at least say what prompted the decision (esp. practical problems: GCC compiler issues, broken something something, whatever) in case someone decides to fix it themselves and fork/resurrect it. That would be more useful than just dropping it silently (as many do).

Just my $0.02.

Post by **coderJeff** » Oct 16, 2007 18:09

It's always nice to hear from users that appreciate the project, so thank you. We do try to make stuff that people will use.

I don't think DOS will ever be really dropped, but with only a small group of developers, resources are limited. What the project needs now, (not later) is more programmers who want to be participants rather then just end users.

For example, I started to write a serial driver for fbc-dos:
http://www.execulink.com/~coder/fb/mods ... o_serial.c

Which would probably be really useful for the guys working with remote devices, process hardware, file sharing, or whatever.

The serial driver will work as-is with the current versions of fbc. It will open/read/write/close a serial port on DOS. Does a few neat things like detect the UART, IRQ, etc. The problem is that it is no where close to being compatible with QB, or what's available on the other platforms. And since I haven't spent the (free) time figuring out how to do everything needed, I haven't put it in fbc. User's will just say how it doesn't work right. (Which I already knew)

Anyway, if you or your DOS-using buddies use FreeBASIC and ever think you might want to submit a bug-report, patch, or feature request, don't ever hesitate. :)

Fox · Post by **Fox** » Nov 10, 2007 14:05

rugxulo wrote:(...) but I wanted to say thanks for your hard work (coderjeff, DrV, v1c, etc). :-)

You have a big "thanks" from me too, guys ;-)
I was really pleased to find a functional text-mode PCOPY in the 0.18.2 DOS release!

Thank you!

Dinosaur · Post by **Dinosaur** » Nov 12, 2007 1:38

Hi all

And also a really BIG thank you from me.
I am 90% through my project to convert PDS7.1 code to FB using the
Cgui library and Allegro.

Other than some incompatibilities I have had no problems.

Regards

DOS386 · Post by **DOS386** » Dec 13, 2007 3:02

rugxulo wrote:

> I know DOS support to some people may seem pointless

but isn't ...

> and surely it isn't as popular as it used to be, but I wanted to say thanks for your hard work (coderjeff, DrV, v1c, etc).

Agree. :-)

DrV wrote in other thread:

http://freebasic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9651

> OPEN COM is not implemented in the DOS version.

CoderJeff wrote

> For example, I started to write a serial driver for fbc-dos

Great. :-) (sorry, I don't use the serial port and am not really familiar with it).

http://www.freebasic.net/wiki/wikka.php ... yPgOpenCom

Please update the Wiki (it claims DOS would be supported, but hasn't been so far) - with something like "not supported as of FB 0.18.2" - "will be added soon" or "might be added, but not necessarily soon".

PS: Thanks to DrV for changing my login name.

Post by **coderJeff** » Dec 13, 2007 12:43

Quite right. I received a personal email a little while ago expressing some interest in testing the DOS serial driver. I am going to dust off the code, fix whatever is easiest and add it to the up coming 0.18.3 release. It will still be a work in progress but after almost a year of sitting on it, it will never get done if I don't release *something*.

MystikShadows · Post by **MystikShadows** » Dec 13, 2007 14:05

Absolutely brilliant news :-).

Post by **coderJeff** » Dec 27, 2007 13:16

<spam>
For more discussion on COM support in the DOS version of FreeBASIC:
http://www.freebasic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10219
</spam>

etko · Post by **etko** » Jan 02, 2008 14:13

I would like to thank you for the amazing DOS support too.

srvaldez · Post by **srvaldez** » Jan 02, 2008 23:36

ditto, and thanks coderJeff for the COM support.

Dav · Post by **Dav** » Jan 09, 2008 11:52

I'll add my thanks here too. Thanks to all involved.

monty · Post by **monty** » Sep 25, 2008 5:23

Thank you from another DOS user. Great job !!

rCX · Post by **rCX** » Feb 28, 2009 6:19

Adding my thanks as well!

continued DOS FreeBASIC support -- thanks!

continued DOS FreeBASIC support -- thanks!

Re: continued DOS FreeBASIC support -- thanks!

DOS

Yep