Subject: Re: A question on cygcheck
From: Jeff <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:54:03 -0800
Newsgroups: lists.cygwin
List-Id: <cygwin.cygwin.com>

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:52:08 -0500,
Robert Pendell <shinji+gmane[at]elite-systems[dot]org> wrote:

>> Brian Dessent <brian[at]dessent[dot]net> wrote:
>> 
>>> since DOS hasn't existed in Windows in the last approx. 7 years.
>
>I should rephrase for him.  TRUE dos support is non-existant anymore.
>This started with Windows XP.  ntvdm as you described is a virtual dos
>machine which means it emulates dos.

Gotcha, I think: "support"=="TRUE" support==native (not emulated)
support.

>               Windows ME restricted access to it
>(you couldn't actually get to a true dos mode).

I recall reading about that, in the context of "here's how you work
around those annoying restrictions." I used to know how to make 9x both
boot and shut down to a DOS prompt. This was very handy, because even
DOS 7.1 (on which Win 98 was built) still supported many features of
DOS 6, including the config.sys syntax for defining custom boot menus.
There was also a way to disable the startup splash screen in Win 9x so
that you could actually see how your system was booting up... jeez,
listen to me getting all nostalgic... :D

>  The whole original
>Windows NT line was without any dos support at all.  Not even emulated.

I think I heard that, too. I might've liked to try it, but didn't know
where to get a copy. (I might've liked to try OS/2, for that matter.) I
was new to PC's, and doing well to learn my way around DOS/Win 3.1.

> Check cmd versus command sometime in XP.  You will note that even the
>dir command is slower in the ntvdm than it is in a native prompt.

Sure, emulators are usually slower. But it's great to have the
capability to run old familiar comfortable apps for which no suitable
replacement seems available. If I ever decide to bite the bullet and
migrate to Linux/X11, I will definitely want dosemu, and perhaps even
WINE.

>>>    and I also want a pony.)
>> 
>> You don't think big enough. :) I want a percheron-thoroughbred cross
>> like my last good buddy of that lineage-- 2,000 lbs. worth of quiet
>> friendship...
>
>Wha?  I'll take a dragon thank you.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAAAHAAAA... Thanks, I needed that laugh. Sure, why not?
At this point in my life, a dragon seems to be about as much a virtual
creature as a horse. Dogs and cats are good company, until you've been
around horses...

Jeff
-- 
"Sorry, my life is still in beta, and nowhere near stable enough for a
release."

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