[TowerTalk] DOS?

Fri Oct 14 01:17:20 EDT 2016

If I missed the point of your question Gerald, e-mail me.

Visual BASIC is as easy to program as in BASIC, BUT it is also 
different. If you are proficient is working with compiled programs, it's 
no big deal, but
for those who have not worked with compiled languages and particularly 
the DLLs that must be included at compile time it can be difficult.
It's been so long since I used command line commands, I have to get "the 
book" out and look them up.

One thing I have found is the more I learned, the more difficult it has 
become to explain what are "to me" simple operations to a non programmer.
My schooling is the science of computers and programs. IOW Computer 
Science, while programmers study Computer Information Services (CIS)

The main differences between BASIC and VB are the libraries that must be 
included at compile time and procedures that use variables.

Then there are also both local and global variables.  Local variables 
are defined in the procedure and can be reused in other procedures

There is also the issue of inheritance, which for simple programs can be 
ignored and I don't want to try explaining it here although it's just 
like inheritance in the biological world.
You can define all of the variables as global in the program header 
although that can be dangerous.

"I think" you are referring to running 32 bit applications on 64 bit 
machines?  The post in question was not included on this post
Straight BASIC may not work on newer machines if it accesses some 
machine functions directly, or uses addresses.

At least many newer mother boards now have a true serial (com) port.
It was gone for quite a while, but the last few mother boards I 
purchased had serial ports in addition to USB.

So far, compiled 32 bit application have been, install and run, at least 
all I've tried so far.
DOS = Disk Operating Systems.   DOS applications may be  32 bit, or 16 
bit for really old stuff.. As it's interpreted at run time it really 
shouldn't make a difference.
I run Win 7 and 10, 64 bit operating systems.  I did run XP Pro 64 bit. 
(I think I still have two, unopened packs of  OEM 64 bit XP Pro)  
Applications, (programs) will often ask if I want to use 32, or 64 bits 
when I install or them.

"So far" all my older 32 bit windows programs have worked on the newer 
32 and 64 bit systems.  I know there are some that will not run on the 
newer versions

The problems "may" come from DOS applications that directly access 
addresses. I don't know. I'm not a windows programmer. The programming I 
still do,(VB and various flavors of C, C++, etc, but none of the newer 
stuff)  get compiled on windows. I programmed in the early C which was 
hardly typed at all.  IOW, you could add anything to anything.  For the 
code to work on other machines, the compiler must contain the run time 
library.  The compilers that come with the books you find in most book 
stores do not contain that library and use machine specific code from 
the operating system in the machine on which it's compiled.  The 
difference is a substantial difference in price.

I believe it was with XP that Windows dropped a lot of the DOS commands 
from the command line.  I know I have them back to Win 98 including some 
of the less desirable versions <:-) but I'd have to go out to the shop 
to check.
I would think (guess) the problems arise with DOS emulators and how they 
handle the DOS commands that are no longer included in the OS

73

Roger (K8RI)

On 10/12/2016 Wednesday 9:01 PM, TexasRF at aol.com wrote:
> Roger, please elaborate on how this is done. I have had no success 
> doing this and have a number of applications that need this.
> Thanks/73,
> Gerald K5GW
> In a message dated 10/12/2016 7:03:53 P.M. Central Daylight Time, 
> K8RI-on-TowerTalk at tm.net writes:
>
>     64 Bit Win 7 and 10 will run 32 bit applications.
>
>     73
>
>     Roger (K8RI)
>
>
>     On 10/12/2016 Wednesday 6:58 AM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
>     > Will DOSBox run on 64 bit Windows?
>     >
>     > John KK9A
>     >
>     >
>     > To:    K7LXC at aol.com
>     > Subject:    Re: [TowerTalk] DOS?
>     > From:    Ed Muns <ed at w0yk.com>
>     > Date:    Tue, 11 Oct 2016 22:30:53 -0400
>     >
>     > It should run fine as is in DOSBox on any Windows version.
>     >
>     > 73,
>     > Ed W0YK
>     > On Oct 11, 2016 12:57 PM, K7LXC--- via TowerTalk
>     <towertalk at contesting.com>
>     > wrote:
>     >> Howdy, TowerTalkians --
>     >>
>     >>      I sell a little app for mast calculations called  MARC
>     (Mast, Antenna
>     >> and Rotator Calculator) and it was written in ye olde days  of
>     DOS. It
>     > has an
>     >> early version for Windows as well but doesn't work on any  current
>     >> operating systems. Is there someone out that could update it
>     for me? I
>     > don't
>     >> know
>     >> what's involved but will be willing to pay for your efforts.  Tnx.
>     >
>

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