Message-Id:	<199904082210.RAA05496@darwin.sfbr.org>
Date:	Thu, 8 Apr 1999 17:10:47 -0500 (CDT)
From:	Jeff Williams <jeffw AT darwin DOT sfbr DOT org>
Subject:	Re: FreeDOS (was: Re: DJGPP: the future is... ?)
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
MIME-Version:	1.0
X-Mailer:	dtmail 1.2.0 CDE Version 1.2 SunOS 5.6 sun4m sparc
Reply-To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com

[Alain Magloire ranted]

-: <Rant>
-: It suprises me that people of thinking of FreeDOS as a good future
-: engine for DJGPP.  FreeDos is a 16 bits OS, with no facility
-: for thread/SMP/multitask. At a time where the world is now
-: turning to 64 bits and Multiple Processors, the words
-: ``future'' and ``FreeDOS'' should not go in the same phrase.
-: No I'm not bashing DOS, nor FreeDOS, it can be a very good platform for
-: a single user/multitask/desktop, if they take care of some pittfalls. 
-: </Rant>

Well, as one of those who contributed to this thread about DJGPP and
FreeDOS, I suggest reviewing what DJ himself wrote:

DJ: We could try to make DJGPP a Windows-native system.  I don't think
DJ: this is a good idea because 90% of the value in DJGPP is the way it
DJ: hides DOS, and we'd have to throw it all away and start from scratch
DJ: if we switched to the Win32 API.
[...snipped...]
DJ: For the same reason, DJGPP for Linux is a bad idea.  Heck, DJGPP is a
DJ: port of the Linux tools themselves!

It seems that much of the incentive behind the development of DJGPP was
due directly to the inadequacies of DOS that you are ranting about.
Wouldn't changing that underlying DOS `engine' in the ways you suggest
just amout to reinventing DJGPP in the image of Linux?  Why not just
move to Linux, then, and abandon DOS and DJGPP?

There are many of us who just want to do away completely with M$
software.  DJGPP can take you all the way there *except* for the kernel,
and can do it with fewer system resources than can a full-blown Linux
distribution, and it lets you keep your DOS machine.  Very neat.

Yes, there is lots of room for improvement in DOS.  These improvements
could be made to enhance the cooperation of DOS and DJGPP and to
provide some of the capabilities you mention, but DJGPP won't be of
much use without DOS of some kind.  It doesn't *have* to be FreeDOS,
but the advantage of the FreeDOS project is that their kernel is
maturing rapidly, and it might deserve consideration as a starting
point for building a better DOS that will still support DJGPP.

jtw

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