Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 11:29:51 -0800 (PST) From: Gene Buckle To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com Subject: OpenDOS to be released next week! Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII First of all, I'd like to make it clear to the list members that I'm NOT an employee of Caldera. I'm just an evangelist of OpenDOS. *grin* If you feel the need to flame me for this announcement, please don't cc copies to the list. Caldera will be releasing OpenDOS 7.01 next week. This will be a binary only distribution, but the sources should be following as soon as they get the source tree cleaned up (ie extracted out of the esoteric version control system that Novell used). OpenDOS is free for non-commerical use. This licensing policy will be the same once the source code is released. It is my understanding that Caldera is going to have the same attitude about the OpenDOS sources as they have for their work with Linux. One of the things that is being worked on right now is a TCP/IP stack for OpenDOS. It is based upon the WatTCP code and will of course be released back to the Internet community in source form when it's complete. This means that instead of fighting with WSOCK.VXD to write DOS based TCP/IP apps under Win95, it can be done under OpenDOS using a reliable API! OpenDOS also has some of the best memory management I've seen. When you load something high under OpenDOS, it _really_ goes high. As in *above* the one meg mark. Having a 630k TPA is a realistic expectation. (I've managed to get 719k, but that involves using graphics memory to increase the TPA) EMM386 contains a pre-emptive multitasker that allows multiple threads within applications. This means that DJ's port of Lynx can have it's full Unix functionality back as well as the possibility of taking NCSA Mosaic, DJGPP and XlibEMU for a true dos based graphical browser with the same multi-threading ability it has under Unix. Caldera feels that the Internet developer community has a lot to offer, and they're looking forward to developing a good relationship with DOS developers, especially the DJGPP crowd. The possibilties are enormous and I hope that you folks will grab OpenDOS as soon as it hits the streets. Please direct questions and or flames to geneb AT web DOT wa DOT net --- Gene Buckle, Systems Administrator (BOFH!) Washington Internet Services 206.926.2552 geneb AT wa DOT net