From: dg AT dcs DOT st-and DOT ac DOT uk
Message-Id: <15396.9703132259@orkney.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk>
To: opendos AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net
Subject: Re: [opendos] Wishlist v2.0 
In-Reply-To: yeep@xs4all.nl's message of Thu, 13 Mar 97 22:26:15 +0100.
	     <199703132131 DOT WAA19094 AT magigimmix DOT xs4all DOT nl> 
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Date: Thu, 13 Mar 97 22:59:45 +0000
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>Okay, I've updated the wishlist that I'm keeping.
>Here it is:
>
>1] Direct screen write

No. Direct screen write is totally inappropriate in the kernel. It uses up 
valuable kernel space (64kB limit, remember?) and reduces flexibility. The 
kernel should just pass on requests to the BIOS; if you want direct screen 
writes, then you can load a TSR later that hooks the BIOS interrupt. That's 
what it's for.

>2] LFN support

Yup.

>3] IFS support

What, you mean support for a *different* IFS than the one we've already got? 
Why?

>4] File Descriptions

Better suited for an external program. If I can get gdbm ported to Borland I 
might give it a try.

>5] Make OD boot from *any* partion or HD

Yup. (Can't be too hard.)

>6] Compile all drivers in the kernel

You're kidding, right?

>7] Fix EMM386
>8] DPMS version of device drivers (mouse, Personal Netware, etc.)

Yup, yup.

>9] Automount util

The standard DOS IFS already supports invisible automounting. (Floppies, 
CD's...)

>10] Make the source compilable by one compiler and linker (not our job, but
>I'm sure a lot  
>    of people would like this)(DJGPP??????????)

This is definitely needed. But not DJGPP. DJGPP is a 32-bit protected-mode 
compiler. DOS is a 16-bit real-mode operating system. We can't use DJGPP for 
*any* of OpenDOS apart from, possibly, external utilities, and even then it 
would be a Really Bad Idea.

>11] A compiler and linker to re-compile the kernel (DJGPP????????????)

See 10.

>12] Make W95 run from OpenDOS

Almost certainly not possible, I'm afraid; MS-DOS 7 was majorly bent to make 
Win 95 work. You're probably stuck with WfW and Win32s (I don't run Windows).

>13] On the fly DLD's (dual mode) (Dynamically Loaded Driver)

Not possible with block devices and file systems, because of the way drives 
are allocated. Most other drivers are already dynamic (TSR's).

>14] Add 4DOS's cool stuff

Mmmm... possibly. 4DOS is very complex. I think that anyone who actually needs 
the extra features can install 4DOS proper. If a few simple extensions were to 
be put into the current shell (passing command lines through the % expander, 
%? which returns the error level, SETVAL which evaluates numeric expressions) 
that would suffice for most purposes.

>15] Command history (doskey)

Try HISTORY=ON in CONFIG.SYS

>16] Filename completion with TAB

Vital. I find it difficult to live without it. I had a TSR called WCED that 
did this, but it doesn't cooperate with the multitasker.

>17] NWCDEX should be able to work with SBIDE.SYS (or the other way around
>perhaps?)

Don't know about this one.

>18] Fix weird DIR behaviour on 1.44 MB disks (probably 'cos of missing
>label and/or serial number)

Never noticed anything.

>19] Setup program needs bugfixing (delwatch, program availability, give
>error when missing files)

I don't use it.

>20] Better multiboot directives (maybe as in MS-DOS 6+?)

The OpenDOS directives are a *lot* better than MS-DOS 6's. Has it occured to 
anyone that the following:

	INSTALL C:\SYSTEM\UTILS\BOOTMGR.COM
	CHAIN NCONFIG.SYS

...is perfectly valid, where BOOTMGR.COM displays a menu and builds 
NCONFIG.SYS?

>21] Coredump!!!

Well, I've been doing Unix programming for some years now and I have *never* 
found a use for a coredump.

>22] FSSTND

It's too late.

>23] Symlinks

Yup. Interestingly, JOIN and SUBST both have 150% of the necessary 
functionality between them. Unfortunately, you can't JOIN a SUBST'ed drive. 
Does anyone know where I can find source for freeware versions of JOIN and 
SUBST? I would think that it'd be almost trivial to write a version that did 
true symbolic links.

[...]

The MOST IMPORTANT thing *must* be to to fix EMM386. It just *doesn't work* properly. Until that's done, everything else must stay at second place.

-- 
------------------- http://www-hons-cs.cs.st-and.ac.uk/~dg --------------------
   If you're up against someone more intelligent than you are, do something
    totally insane and let him think himself to death.  --- Pyanfar Chanur
---------------- Sun-Earther David Daton Given of Lochcarron ------------------