Message-Id: Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "Salvador Eduardo Tropea (SET)" Organization: INTI To: Vic , djgpp AT delorie DOT com Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 16:36:23 +0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: EXE question In-reply-to: <35638CCB.704B@cam.org> Precedence: bulk Vic wrote: > actually, 2 questions: > 1) Let's say I want to do something like windows. It some sort of GUI > that sits on top of DOS and has multitasking, 32 bit, DLLs etc. Since it > sits on top of DOS, can I make my programs just EXEs made with DJGPP > that call some DLX functions? Can an EXE be multitasked using let's say > LWP? Do I need to change any of the startup code? So, can I make a DJGPP > program that will launch other DJGPP programs, provide system calls to > them and multitask them? IMHO: No. Windows doesn't sit over DPMI, it provides DPMI, but works at a lower level. You can make the same working over DPMI. W95 doesn't use all the DOS calls to avoid re-entrance problems. They still using DOS because they must support some drivers that are designed ONLY for DOS. For example: suppose you have a CD-ROM with a propietary controller (common in 1x CD-ROMs), it loads a DOS device driver and W95 can access the drive. That's the only reason I know that ties W95 to DOS, but in a couple of years they'll cut it. All this bla bla is to show you that something like W must run using DOS only if needed, not for all. DOS is a disaster for multitasking. SET ------------------------------------ 0 -------------------------------- Visit my home page: http://set-soft.home.ml.org/ or http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/6552/ Salvador Eduardo Tropea (SET). (Electronics Engineer) Alternative e-mail: set-soft AT usa DOT net set AT computer DOT org ICQ: 2951574 Address: Curapaligue 2124, Caseros, 3 de Febrero Buenos Aires, (1678), ARGENTINA TE: +(541) 759 0013