Thread View: comp.unix.msdos
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Started by William R. Bishop
Wed, 07 Oct 1992 02:52
PC + DOS Emulator Source Code for UNIX
Author: William R. Bishop
Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1992 02:52
Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1992 02:52
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Greetings DOS-doers:
I worked on a project for over a year to develop a PC AND DOS emulator
under unix. This was supposed to be our "BIG" break (and it just about broke
John Stevenson-jks@nomadic.com and I). We both had a lot to learn about
marketing. A lot of your potential buyers got the shakes when Microsoft
announced their effort to bring a DOS emulator to every machine (for free?).
Please post all responses to comp.unix.dos-under-unix or Email wrb@wrb.com
It only emulates an XT (or most of one) and a monochrome display adapter,
though it was designed to be extended. The code traps interrupts and executes
UNIX code for the DOS interrupts (thus obviating the need for DOS).
Many of the important DOS calls have been emulated, but quite a few have not.
We figured to use the code as a "wrapper" around PC packages, thereby only
needing to implement the calls that a particular package uses (and what do
you know, just like most compilers use only a small subset of a machines
instructions, most programs use only a small subset of DOS calls).
It was developed on an SGI 3030, 4D/35, and Indigo so the keyboard and
display I/O is tailored to these machines (GL).
It runs Quicken, most of WordPerfect and Microsoft word as it sits. The
mouse stuff still has a few problems.
The code has been sitting on the shelf for a year or so now, waiting for
its "BIG" break. I am posting this notice to see how many people would be
interested in using and improving it. Also any suggestions on how to
support it would be appreciated (like pearl?)
William R. Bishop (Bill) -<wrb@wrb.com>
Re: PC + DOS Emulator Source Code for UNIX
Author: Dave Ihnat
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 1992 17:11
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 1992 17:11
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In article <BvqDBL.Lz8@csn.org> wrb@teal.csn.org (William R. Bishop) writes: > I worked on a project for over a year to develop a PC AND DOS emulator >under unix. >... > It only emulates an XT (or most of one) and a monochrome display adapter, >though it was designed to be extended. Speed and compatibility would be major worries for XT emulations. You've also got some nasty competition for any Un*x that runs on Intel iron, since there are a number of pretty robust packages, such as SimulTask, VP/IX, and MERGE386, that make use of the v86 mode of the 386 chip to provide fairly complete and workable 808x virtual machines at very accptable speeds. With these available at modest prices, and as integrated solutions, your package will either have to offer something exceptional, or otherwise draw people away from commercial offerings. One such capability could be acceptable performance and emulation on non-Intel hardware. The death knell to all of these has been sounded by such companies as Borland, however. Recently, Paradox 4.0 was released--and it will NOT run in v86 mode. It requires DPMI, and at least a 286, to operate; and the underlying v86 emulation mode can't provide this. I don't know if Intel plans any extended emulations for it's later chips--it would have to be along the lines of DEC's three-ring protection scheme (kernel/supervisor/user), I would think, and that's a significant stretch. If your software emulator could construct a virtual 286 environment, it would fill an otherwise unpopulated market niche. Problems are rampant, however-- this would be a complex model to create and support, and speed would most emphatically be a critical factor, as would cost. Good luck, Dave Ihnat ignatz@homebru.chi.il.us (preferred return address) ignatz@chinet.chi.il.us
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