****************************************************************************** ******************* DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender - Readme ****************** ****************************************************************************** File created on: Feb-16-1997 03:41:31 Last updated on: May-26-2002 13:46:08 Copyright (C) Supernar Systems, Ltd. 1996-2002 All Rights Reserved. Contents: --------- 1.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - About 2.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - What's New 3.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Availability 4.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - System Requirements 5.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Compatibility 6.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Distributed Files 7.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Technical Support 8.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Year 2000 Information 9.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Redistributable Components 10.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Acknowledgments and Credits Preface ********* Hello and welcome into the world of DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition version 7.10 Release 9. This is the final release of DOS/32 Advanced, I will not maintain, support nor advertise it, which is why it is being released under an Apache-like license, allowing nearly full freedom of exploitation of the software, and accompanied by the complete and the original source code of the DOS Extender and its tools. This release contains minor changes and bugfixes only, and is essentially a revised version of the release 7 which came out in 1998, plus a new license and the source code. Now, looking back at this project, I feel that certain things could have been done better, many things should have been done better, and I hope that some things will be done better by someone brave enough to do it. There is always room for improvement, still I am quite happy with DOS/32A and what it's become over the years. Whoever you are, and to whatever purpose you use this product, I wish you good luck and godspeed. Narech Koumar, over and out... 1.0 - About DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender ****************************************** DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender is a state-of-the-art, high-performance, high-speed, true "Plug&Play" replacement of the world's most popular DOS Extender, DOS/4GW, created by Tenberry Software (formerly Rational Systems Inc.) for WATCOM C/C++ and FORTRAN 77 compilers which allow DOS Extended applications to run in a 32-bit flat protected mode environment. DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender provides full compatibility with WATCOM C/C++ and features one of the most complete software emulations of DOS/4GW, thus allowing the users to "plug" DOS/32 Advanced into the protected mode programs which use DOS/4G, DOS/4GW, DOS/4GW Professional and any other compatible DOS Extenders without the need to modify a single line of code. DOS/32 Advanced has been designed and optimized to be the fastest, most flexible and highly compatible with other software DOS Extender. It performs mode translating operations, such as Protected to Real and Real To Protected mode switching, as fast as machine's hardware allow, and while being compatible with DOS/4GW, it is the fastest DOS Extender that supports WATCOM C/C++ at this time! A large number of configuration options allow DOS/32 Advanced to be configured in hundreds different ways, either by a special environment variable or by an external setup program, giving its users the ability to manually adjust the number of allocated selectors, callbacks, virtual stacks, turn off the exception handling, change the size of DOS transfer buffer and much, much more. Compatibility with "Clean" (also known as "Raw" or INT 15h), XMS, VCPI and DPMI system softwares allows DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender to run on different machines with various operating systems installed. Additionally, availability of such features as Null-Pointer Protection, Extended Memory Blocks Checking and support for built-in Debug Mode turns DOS/32 Advanced into a powerful tool for protected mode programmers who want to make their 32-bit protected mode applications error-free. 2.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - What's New in this version **************************************************** This new version of DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender has been optimized for use in embedded system environments where size, speed and reliability play the essential role. Improved protected mode kernel, removal of major parts of the DOS Extender from conventional memory after initialization, improved exception handling, support for performance counters and protected mode TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) development as well as Year 2000 compliance are the examples of the new features found in the DOS Extender. A new high-performance library provided with the DOS Extender allows developers to take advantage of the most features found in DOS/32 Advanced and improve performance of protected mode applications. For more detailed information about the news in this version please refer to the "updates.txt" text file located in the directory into which you installed DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender. 3.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Availability ************************************** DOS/32 Advance DOS Extender is available under DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition Software License in the form of a "Liberty Edition." The Liberty Edition includes: + DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender + SUNSYS Bind Utility Program + SUNSYS Setup Utility Program + SUNSYS Compress Utility Program + SUNSYS Protected Mode Debugger + SUNSYS Version Reporting Utility Program + STUB/32A and STUB/32C bindable stub files + SUNSYS D32A C/C++ Run-Time Library + SUNSYS SDEBUG C/C++ Run-Time Debugger Library + PCTEST Protected Mode Diagnostic Utility Program + on-line documentation (in HTML format) including: . User's Reference . Programmer's Reference . Technical Reference . D32A C/C++ Library Reference + The complete Source Code of: . DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender . SUNSYS Bind Utility Program . SUNSYS Setup Utility Program . SUNSYS Compress Utility Program . SUNSYS Protected Mode Debugger . SUNSYS Version Reporting Utility Program . STUB/32A and STUB/32C bindable stub files . SUNSYS SDEBUG C/C++ Run-Time Debugger Library . PCTEST Protected Mode Diagnostic Utility Program 4.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - System Requirements ********************************************* DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition requires an IBM PC compatible computer with an 80386 processor or better, MS-DOS(R) or compatible Operating System version 4.00 or higher and about 3MB of free disk space on a hard drive when installed. DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender needs 50 KB of conventional (DOS) memory in its standard configuration and requires no extended memory to be present when run. DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition - Minimum System Requirements: -------------------------------------------- IBM PC compatible computer 80386-SX 16MHz processor 4 MB of memory DOS version 4.00 or higher VGA compatible graphics card DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition - Recommended System Requirements: -------------------------------------------- IBM PC compatible computer Pentium class processor or better 16 MB of memory or more DOS version 7.x (Windows® 95/98) or higher VESA VBE 2.0 compatible graphics card Mouse with Mouse driver installed WATCOM C/C++ version 10.6 or higher Borland Turbo Assembler version 4.0 or higher 5.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Compatibility *************************************** DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender is compatible with nearly any Operating System available, given that the OS can provide an MS-DOS like subset of low level functions and commands required by the DOS Extender for its proper operation. DOS/32 Advanced has been tested on, and proved to be fully compatible with the following OS listed: MS-DOS(R) versions 5.00 thru 8.000, Microsoft Windows(R) version 3.xx, Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME, Windows NT versions 3.51 and 4.0 (Service Pack 3 or later), Windows 2000, Windows XP and IBM OS/2. According to the reports from DOS/32 Advanced users the DOS Extender has proven its compatibility with OpenDOS and Linux (DOS Emu) Operating Systems. Reportedly, DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender has shown its incompatibility with Multiuser DOS 7 Gold Operating System developed by Concurrent Controls (formerly Digital Research) company. Please take a note of our official statement: we have not tested DOS/32A on MDOS hosted machines internally, and therefore we cannot confirm any potential problems between the said Operating System and DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender, nor can we provide any technical support in the case of combination of the two above said software. DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender has been tested and proved its full compatibility with WATCOM C/C++ v10.6 and v11.0. In addition, DOS/32 Advanced has been tested and proved to be fully compatible with over a 100 software titles, including games, demos, utilities and commercial/shareware programs which use DOS/4G, DOS/4GW, DOS/4GW Professional, PMODE/W and CauseWay DOS Extenders. 6.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Distributed Files ******************************************* The following files are included with this release of DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition: File Name Description ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- .\readme.1st - DOS/32 Advanced "readme first" file .\version.id - DOS/32 Advanced version information .\updates.txt - DOS/32 Advanced updates history log file .\license.txt - DOS/32 Advanced Software License .\BINW\dos32a.exe - DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender executable .\BINW\sb.exe - SUNSYS Bind Utility Program .\BINW\sc.exe - SUNSYS Compress Utility Program .\BINW\sd.exe - SUNSYS Protected Mode Debugger .\BINW\ss.exe - SUNSYS Setup Utility Program .\BINW\stub32a.exe - DOS/32 Advanced standard stub file STUB/32A .\BINW\stub32c.exe - DOS/32 Advanced configurable stub file STUB/32C .\BINW\sver.exe - SUNSYS Version Reporting Utility Program .\BINW\dos32a.lnk - DOS/32 Advanced system for WATCOM Linker .\DOCS\readme.txt - DOS/32 Advanced readme file (plain text) .\DOCS\manual.htm - DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender manual (HTML format) .\DOCS\HTM\*.* - on-line documentation manual in HTML format .\D32\default.d32 - default configuration .\D32\dos4gw.d32 - DOS/4GW compatible configuration .\D32\failsafe.d32 - failsafe configuration .\D32\maximum.d32 - maximum performance configuration .\D32\minimum.d32 - minimum memory requirements configuration .\D32\pmodew.d32 - PMODE/W compatible configuration .\D32\standard.d32 - standard (optimal) configuration .\D32\verbose.d32 - verbose (w/ warnings and verbose mode on) configuration .\EXAMPLES\ASM_1\*.* - "hello world" example (WATCOM asm) .\EXAMPLES\ASM_2\*.* - detect DOS/32A example (WATCOM asm) .\EXAMPLES\ASM_3\*.* - INT 1Ch example (WATCOM asm) .\EXAMPLES\ASM_4\*.* - ***show examples (WATCOM asm) .\EXAMPLES\ASM_5\*.* - memory error example (WATCOM asm) .\EXAMPLES\ASM_6\*.* - Linear Framebuffer example (WATCOM asm) .\EXAMPLES\ASM_7\*.* - TSR development under DOS/32A example (WATCOM asm) .\EXAMPLES\C_1\*.* - "hello world" example (WATCOM C) .\EXAMPLES\C_2\*.* - show memory example (WATCOM C) .\EXAMPLES\C_3\*.* - exception report example (WATCOM C) .\EXAMPLES\C_4\*.* - null-pointer example (WATCOM C) .\EXAMPLES\C_5\*.* - VESA example (WATCOM C) .\EXAMPLES\C_6\*.* - spawn a program example (WATCOM C) .\EXAMPLES\C_7\*.* - D32A Run-Time Library usage example (WATCOM C++) .\H32\d32a.h - D32A C/C++ Run-Time library header .\H32\debug.h - DEBUG C/C++ Debugger library header .\H32\typedefs.h - C/C++ Types and Definitions header .\L32\d32a.lib - D32A C/C++ Run-Time library .\L32\sdebug.lib - DEBUG C/C++ Debugger library .\PCTEST\4gtest.bat - batch file to run DOS/4G DOS Extender on PCTEST .\PCTEST\4gwtest.bat - batch file to run DOS/4GW DOS Extender on PCTEST .\PCTEST\cwtest.bat - batch file to run CauseWay DOS Extender on PCTEST .\PCTEST\d32test.bat - batch file to run DOS/32A DOS Extender on PCTEST .\PCTEST\pmwtest.bat - batch file to run PMODE/W DOS Extender on PCTEST .\PCTEST\dos4gw.exe - DOS/4GW DOS Extender executable .\PCTEST\pctest.exe - PCTEST diagnostic program .\SRC\readme.txt - readme file about the Source Code .\SRC\DOS32A\*.* - DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Source Code .\SRC\SB\*.* - SUNSYS Bind Utility Program Source Code .\SRC\SC\*.* - SUNSYS Compress Utility Source Code .\SRC\SD\*.* - SUNSYS Protected Mode Debugger Source Code .\SRC\SS\*.* - SUNSYS Setup Utility Program Source Code .\SRC\STUB32A\*.* - STUB/32A and STUB/32C Source Code .\SRC\SUTILS\*.* - Source Code of SVER, PCTEST and miscellenious tools 7.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Technical Support ******************************************* DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition is provided "as-is" without warranty and technical support of any kind. To contact the original author of DOS/32 Advanced email to Narech Koumar . For information about Watcom C/C++ visit the Open Watcom project homepage at and its newsgroups . 8.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Year 2000 Compliance ********************************************** Supernar Systems, Ltd. have tested the time/date conversion code in DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender and the utility programs accompanying it, such as SUNSYS Bind, Compress and Setup Utilities and SUNSYS Debugger, and have identified no programming errors adversely affecting the transition from the year 1999 to the year 2000 (a leap year). Supernar Systems, Ltd. believes and certifies that the current shipping version of DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender software product is Year 2000 compliant. Please note that Year 2000 problem is a complicated issue because it is possible that problems could arise through interactions with the compiler run-time library, user application code, and underlying MS-DOS(R) or Windows(R) operating system (or the simulation you are using). Accordingly, all users who are concerned with Year 2000 compliance should test all Year 2000 features at the application level, to satisfy themselves that everything works all the way down to the hardware. 9.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Redistributable Components **************************************************** For information about DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition usage and distribution refer to DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition Software License, file "license.txt" located in the directory into which DOS/32 Advanced was installed. Note: ----- When distributing DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Liberty Edition as a whole, it is strongly adviced (although not required) to ship the package in installable form as opposed to simply zipping DOS/32A directory structure after the installation and distributing the Zip file instead. 10.0 - DOS/32 Advanced - Acknowledgments and Credits ****************************************************** DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender has been created, programmed and documented by Narech Koumar. DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender Project Manager and QA: Alexander Antonov. DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender HOME PAGE Web design and on-line documentation: Narech Koumar. Technical support and software compatibility testing: Ali (general) Fard and Bj”rn Wiklund. I would like to thank the following people for their assistance and their help (both valuable and less valuable): In Sweden: ---------- Shi Chen Ali Fard Per Hellquist Lasse Nordlander Alexander Antonov "Camilla och Jacob W." also thanks to Jonas, Kajsa, Malte, Rasmus and Johanna Wers„ll and to my math teachers Christer Hedlund and Źke Andersson In Russia: ---------- Nikolai Kvasov Ilfat Slavik Oleg Kornilov Sanja and Shura Anton and Dima Volodja, Dimka and Andrej and to all MFTI FRTK at "gorod Dolgoprundniy" 1990-1993 Boris Jeltsin (not really a friend of mine, but what the hell) Thanks to the following people who placed their software at Internet: --------------------------------------------------------------------- Very special thanks to Thomas Pytel, he is a brilliant programmer Lorenzo Micheletto Adam Seychell Ralf Brown (thousand thanks for the INTs) Thanks to the people who wrote the following books: --------------------------------------------------- Ross P. Nelson - 80386/80486 Programming Guide Julio Sanchez and Maria P. Canton - PC Programmer's Handbook Richard Ferraro - Programmer's Guide to the EGA and (S)VGA Cards Thanks to WATCOM C/C++ developers and programmers for creating a great piece of software (not sure if this applies to v11.0 though) ------------------------------------------------------------------ I would also like to thank the following people on Internet for their invaluable help, sugesstions and for bug reports: ----------------------------------------------------------- Special thanks to David Lopez Kimmo Vehkalahti Johanna Kozlowski Michael de Faire Alexey V. Vaneev Alfredo J. Cole Thanks to Brian Reinhold for reminding me about this project after so many years And finally thank You, the user of this software, for getting, accepting, using and trusting in DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender! -------------------------------------------------------------- - Narech Koumar [END OF FILE]