Date:	Thu, 16 Jan 1997 16:46:53 -0500 (EST)
From:	root <root AT 206 DOT 172 DOT 218 DOT 60>
To:	Gene Buckle <geneb AT web DOT wa DOT net>
cc:	Leath Muller <leathm AT gbrmpa DOT gov DOT au>, djgpp AT delorie DOT com,
	opendos AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net
Subject:	Re: OpenDOS to be released next week!
In-Reply-To:	<Pine.LNX.3.93.970116112422.5442I-100000@web.wa.net>
Message-ID:	<Pine.LNX.3.93.970116163216.11272G-100000@206.172.218.60>
MIME-Version:	1.0

On Thu, 16 Jan 1997, Gene Buckle wrote:

I've crossposted this to the new OpenDOS mailing list so that the
discussion can continue there instead of cluttering up this group.  To
subscribe to the OpenDOS list:

mailto:majordomo AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net
body:  subscribe opendos

> > Cool, that will be interesting to see.  Where can we get more information
> > about OpenDOS?  I've been to http://www.caldera.com and seen a bit,
> > however I haven't seen anything about what you describe above.  Could you
> > email me more info on it or some URLs?  mailto:mharris AT sympatico DOT ca  
>
> Right now there is no more detailed information other than is already on
> their homepage.  I imagine next week more info will be posted. (the

If you know of more URL's please post them.

> package is going to be distributed in two forms.  A multi-disk install set
> that can make bootable install disks, and a large archive contained in one

How many megs will it be?

> file)  I'm hoping to be able to get more technical documentation from the
> EDC and get it out among you folks in a short period of time.  

What is the EDC?

> > > it this way? Does OpenDOS run with normal DOS Ok? Can I have multiple
> > > DOS's the same way as I have DOS/95/NT/Linux? Do you have a URL for me
> > 
> > That is a very good question.  I hope someone can answer it for us.
> > Hopefully we can multi boot multiple OS's with it like you say above, only
> > I'd put them in a different order.  Linux, OpenDOS, DOS6.22, hmm... I
> > can't think of any other OS's. :o)
> 
> Since OpenDOS uses a 6.22 compatible FAT system, there should be no
> problems at all doing a multi-boot system.  What's really neat is that the

Well I assumed the filesystem would be the same, but what I was concerned
about was the kernel and AUTOEXEC.BAT & CONFIG.SYS files, and if it uses
the DOS Multiconfig, or if it has a better one.

Problem 1:  The boot sector loads the kernel so to boot from the opendos
kernel, it would have to be called something else instead of MSDOS.SYS and
IO.SYS.  I assume it will be DRDOS.SYS and DRIO.SYS or OPENDOS.SYS,
OPENIO.SYS.  However this still leaves the problem of the bootsector
loading the kernel.  Looks like we're going to be installing LILO or some
other boot manager.

That brings me to a question I've been wanting to ask now for quite some
time.  What bootloaders are out there that are better than LILO?  I hate
LILO because it is too simple, plain and unfriendly.  I'd prefer a WHITE
on BLUE menu to pop up that lists all installed OS's.  Comments?

> OpenDOS FDISK utility will automatically format a partion as soon as it's
> created.  

Cool.

> > I hope that by *multitasking* that it doesn't just mean multitasking
> > programs, but multitasking like DESQview in that you can multitask
> > multiple programs, not just multitask different things in a single
> > program.  I've always liked Desqview, but some of its screen routines, and
> > the way the mouse was handled were atrocious.  If I could get my hands on
> > the sources for DV then there would be HELL to pay!!!  (Some annoyances
> > include: cursor not staying in text boxes on DV forms, handling of Home,
> > end, pgup, pgdn in forms, DV colors suck, The DV pull down menu wasn't as
> > easily configurable as I'd like, etc... The mouse didn't work right, and
> > couldn't move text windows around easily.  Basically I'd like to see
> > OpenDOS include a multitasker that is a TEXT version of Windows, only
> > without the crashes.  Perhaps also with shell based job control.  Wouldn't
> > that be cool?  Or are we just gradually turning DOS into Linux?  Hey,
> > Microsoft slowly turned DOS into Windows 95 right?  So whats wrong with
> > what I suggest?  :o)
> > 
> 
> You can multi-task multiple applications via the TaskMgr interface.  If
> you want more info on that particular bit, check out Rolf Brown's
> Interrupt list.  Search for TaskMAX and TaskMGR.  (the api given is enough
> to develop a new task manager from scratch)

Is it similar to DESQview?  I've used Ralf's DV code to impliment a few DV
programs before.

> > Never mind!  I want it NOW!!!!!!!!!!  (Hope it runs in DOSemu too)
> It should.  No reason for it not to...

Here's the kicker...

Will it run Windows... ...  ...  and stop Windows from GPFing?  :o)
Ok, sorry, I'm pushing my luck now.


Mike A. Harris                           http://www3.sympatico.ca/mharris
My dynamic address:      http://www3.sympatico.ca/mharris/ip-address.html
mailto:mharris AT sympatico DOT ca        mailto:mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca
mv "Windows without the X in front" /dev/null

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