FreeLists / arachne / [arachne] Constraints of Arachne allegedly placed by DOS (was Re: Arachne for Windows)

["Udo Kuhnt" <048321887-0001@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!

Ray,

>> Can you name a few constraints that you think are caused by DOS? DOS in
>> general, that is, not just the DOS version that you are using.

> Sure, memory limitations is the big one.

you cannot blame limitations of the memory model used in Arachne on DOS.
After all, on those machines that are able to run Linux, Arachne could
also access all of the available memory in DOS if instructed to do so.
IIRC, it is rather the limitations in the xSwap system that cause
Arachne to run out of memory even on machines with hundreds of MB of
main memory.

> But even some of the other
> limitations are, I think, often an indirect result of the OS.

And with "indirect" you refer to what exactly? Limitations of the
compiler, perhaps? It has been suggested to port Arachne to DJGPP or
OpenWatcom, and the suggestion still just sits there.

As far as memory limitations are concerned, it is probably rather a
particular developer's memory that does not serve him well in this case.
IIRC, DOS applications that can potentially make use of all available
memory date back to times before Arachne.

Anyway, name a limitation of DOS that you think places constraints on
the DOS version of Arachne, and I promise to remove it by the time the
next version of Enhanced DR-DOS is finalized.

Just like DOS, Arachne is still under active development, and thus it
should not be tied down to limitations that existed in the early '80s.

Regards,

Udo

-- The DR-DOS/OpenDOS Enhancement Project - http://www.drdosprojects.de

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