*BSD News Article 18958


Return to BSD News archive

Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.development:967 comp.os.coherent:10161 comp.os.msdos.programmer:23761 comp.os.os2.programmer.porting:180 comp.unix.bsd:12329 comp.unix.programmer:10744
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.development,comp.os.coherent,comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.os.os2.programmer.porting,comp.unix.bsd,comp.unix.programmer
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!haven.umd.edu!uunet!mcsun!julienas!hathor!etna!moreau
From: moreau@etna.int-evry.fr (G. Moreau stagiaire IIe 93)
Subject: Re: Need advice: Which OS to port to?
Message-ID: <1993Jul28.081737.16319@int-evry.fr>
Sender: moreau@etna (G. Moreau stagiaire IIe 93)
Nntp-Posting-Host: etna
Organization: INT Evry, France
References:  <233o0b$sr9@access.digex.net>
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 93 08:17:37 GMT
Lines: 86

In article <233o0b$sr9@access.digex.net>, kbennett@access.digex.net (Keith R. Bennett) writes:
|> I am working on a C++ project which is currently implemented in DOS
|> graphics mode (non-Windows).  We are looking to change operating
|> systems, mainly because of memory limitations, but also because of
|> the convenience of multitasking.
|> 
|> I would greatly appreciate any feedback you might have about which
|> operating system you feel might be best suited to our situation.
|> 
|> The following alternatives come to mind:
|> 
|> 1) stay with DOS, but use DOS extender (no multitasking here)
you can try gnu ( I mean gcc, g++ which includes a DOS extender ) there is even
a multitasking library for gnu, but it comes without doc and I did not have 
time to have a look at it. Otherwise, gnu taker up to 128 Mo Ram + 128 Mo virtual
disk, with flat memory model, in 32-bit protected mode. Moreover, it is FREE
there are a couple of graphic libraries, which are not bad at all.
|> 2) OS/2
if you really have a lot of Ram, why not ?
|> 3) Unix/Xenix
|> 4) Coherent
|> 5) QNX
|> 
|> 
|> We will most likely be running our application on a single 486
|> machine.  Multitasking/Multiuser might be useful so that we can call
|> into the machine to do remote diagnostics, maintenance, etc., and so
|> that we can be doing reporting while the system is running the main
|> application.
|> 
|> 
|> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
|> Factors to Consider:
|> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
|> 
|> The system must be reliable.
that's ok
|> 
|> The system must have a reasonably good C++ available.
no worry about it
|> 
|> We need to minimize the amount of effort required to port our system.
|> I expect a large part of this effort will be the time it will take
|> us to familiarize ourselves with the new environment.
still dos, this shouls not cause many troubles
|> 
|> We need to run in DOS graphics mode, and need to be able to take over
|> the screen completely.  The user interface is our own; we cannot use
|> any OS-native user interface conventions.
there is none, no worry
|> 
|> The OS vendor should be stable, and reasonably expected to survive
|> beyond the end of the decade.
it is ok
|> 
|> Programming tools should be available.
awk, bison (alias yacc), flex (alias lex), make, 32-bit debugger, g++
and Cie. do you really need more ?
|> 
|> We may need to be able to connect the machine running this OS to
|> networks such as Lantastic and Novell.
oh, oh, I do not know, I have only one machine !
|> 
|> Cost is a factor, including run time licensing.
it is TOTALLY FREE.
|> 
|> It would be nice if there were built-in garbage collection to close
|> up gaps in the heap.  The application will be running continuously
|> for days/months at a time.  Although we have made great efforts to
|> avoid using the heap, some allocations remain.
I do not know.
|> 
|> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
|> 
|> Pls respond via email if possible, to kbennett@access.digex.net.
|> Thank you.
|> 
|> - Keith
|> 
|> -- 
|> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
|> Keith Bennett                            Bennett Business Solutions, Inc.
|> C++/C Software Development               1605 Ingram Terrace
|> kbennett@access.digex.net                Silver Spring, MD USA 20906-5932

Guillaume MOREAU         moreau@etna.int-evry.fr