DOS ain't dead

Hi,

i'v received this mail from Mikulas of Links2 team :

Hi

I created a links for DOS with graphics. It uses the GRX library and
supports VGA and VESA video modes.

It is at http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links-dos

Please test this version and if you don't find any problems, I'll release
it as Links 2.8.

Notes:

* On the first run you have to pass -mode parameter to set default video
mode. For example "links -g -mode 640x480x16" (to select the classic
16-color VGA mode), "links -g -mode 800x600x256" (for 256-color mode),
"links -g 1024x768x64k" (for hi-color mode), "links -g 1280x1024x16m" (for
true-color mode). The available modes depend on your VESA BIOS. If you
save options, the video mode will be saved in the config file and it will
be selected the next time you run "links -g".

* In graphics mode you can open up to 12 screens and use ALT-F1 to ALT-F12
to switch between them. In text mode there is just one screen.

* On old computers (or maybe in a virtual machine), deselect the option
"Overwrite screen instead of scrolling it" in "Video options" to improve
scrolling speed. On newer computers, it is faster to have this option
selected. You have to test it, which way is it faster.

* TCP/IP in DOS is very slow with many simultaneous connections. It is
recommended to restrict the number of simultaneous connections to 2 or 3.

* There are some stability problems in WATTCP. After a few hours of usage,
WATTCP hangs in such a state that it is unable to make new connections. I
also had some crash in WATTCP.

* I fixed some bugs in WATTCP (a bug in CPU detection code that causes
crash on 486 and a bug in getaddrinfo). I placed the patched WATTCP and
recompiled OpenSSL to the directory with Links, use them instead of
official DJGPP packages in case you want to recompile Links.

Yes, it does work using the Allegro library for graphics. My impression is that Dillo renders a bit better.

Georg

> Yes, it does work using the Allegro library for graphics. My impression is
> that Dillo renders a bit better.

I spent a lot of yesterday running Links 2.8 graphical. It is quite impressive now. :)

On my (slow) machine Dillo is very slow to render images, compared with this Links.

I will continue stressing Links for the next couple of days, and try to get the best balanced configuration.

---
AUSREG Consultancy http://www.ausreg.com
Tadpole Tunes http://www.tadpoletunes.com
Sna Keo Il http://www.tadpoletunes.com/sna_keo_il/

Nice, I just tried links and it's pretty fast (testing @1600x1200/16M :). Also download speed is much better, I reach about 400kB/s getting 5MB file within few seconds. Dillo does only about 80kB/s on same config. It would be nice to add mouse wheel scrolling support. Also I'm happy that accidentally pressed ESC don't terminate whole program.
But I have a problem with links to login on BTTR forum. I fill usr/pwd, click login but still not logged, without any error :(

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

Hi,

note for links testers :

please send your reports about this version of links with suggestion/request to :

mikulas -> at <- artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz.

Mikulas standing for yours reports.

Roberto

> But I have a problem with links to login on BTTR forum. I fill usr/pwd,
> click login but still not logged, without any error :(

So did I at one time.
But I fixed that by making a bookmark link in this format:

http://www.bttr-software.de/forum/login.php?username=XXXXXX&userpw=XXXXXXX

---
AUSREG Consultancy http://www.ausreg.com
Tadpole Tunes http://www.tadpoletunes.com
Sna Keo Il http://www.tadpoletunes.com/sna_keo_il/

I also tested this build of Links and I really love it. I agree that Dillo renders a little bit better and has more features but Links is really fast and I like it's simplicity and minimalistic user interface.

---
DOS-u-akbar!

I tested it today: it works fine and fast; "minimalist" but a genuine dos programs! I wait for new developments,
Thanks to Mikulas and "iw2evk
regards
andrea

I actually I just tested this (presumably by copying wattcp.cfg into my Links directory after loading my packet driver) and graphics or text mode it hard freezes on my computer (actually it launches but as soon as I enter a link for it to browse to the program hard crashes.) I think this happened both with QEMM386 and without (while using HDPMI32.)

> I actually I just tested this (presumably by copying wattcp.cfg into my
> Links directory after loading my packet driver) and graphics or text mode
> it hard freezes on my computer (actually it launches but as soon as I enter
> a link for it to browse to the program hard crashes.) I think this happened
> both with QEMM386 and without (while using HDPMI32.)

Seems to be specific issue on your hardware or some interference with other TSR. Try to minimize your config.sys and aytoexec.bat. Does your packet driver and wattcp.cfg work with other TCP/IP programs?

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> I actually I just tested this (presumably by copying wattcp.cfg into my
> Links directory after loading my packet driver) and graphics or text mode
> it hard freezes on my computer (actually it launches but as soon as I enter
> a link for it to browse to the program hard crashes.) I think this happened
> both with QEMM386 and without (while using HDPMI32.)

Which OS are you booted to ?

BTW, links 2.8 runs just fine here on this Pentium 4 machine
booted to OpenDos 7.01 with QEMM as memory manager and _without_ DPMI

That is to say.. without any preloaded DPMI services.

CWSDPMI.EXE is in my path so that any program that needs to uses it as needed.

CWSDPMI V0.90+ (r7) Copyright (C) 2010 CW Sandmann ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY

Works like a charm for every program I have used it with including this
brand-new build of links 2.8 in both text mode and graphics mode.

---
--
http://glennmcc.org/

In previous version of Links I had to load HDPMI32 (from HX-DOS package) first before running Links otherwise I got SIGSEGV error and program immediately ended with error message.

---
DOS-u-akbar!

> In previous version of Links I had to load HDPMI32 (from HX-DOS package)
> first before running Links otherwise I got SIGSEGV error and program
> immediately ended with error message.


No so with _this_ version.

It works 100% perfectly without any preloaded DPMI services.

All it needs is CWSDPMI.EXE located in the path so that it can found
and used when links.exe is executed.

---
--
http://glennmcc.org/

I've a "pure" freedos -last release- on my ( ten years old) acer travelm. 4000 (with jemmex=max mem free)
-I load ethernet broadcom pk driver ( fast connection)
-type: links -g -mode 1024x768x64k
- about 3 seconds i go online
(I'm replayng this post with links)
regards
andrea

I was running Enhanced DR DOS with ODIPKT. I used CWSDPMI and HDPMI32, respectively.
My boot was as bare as it could get and the text program loads up but hard freezes as soon as I enter a URL and pressed enter (not even Ctrl+Alt+Del) works at this point.

Dillo and Lynx works on my computer fine.

Also it seems like wiht Dillo you can't really post replies on this forum since every time I log in and click on "Post Reply" I will become no longer logged in.

> I was running Enhanced DR DOS with ODIPKT. I used CWSDPMI and HDPMI32,
> respectively.

Try to boot MSDOS od Freedos...

> Also it seems like wiht Dillo you can't really post replies on this forum
> since every time I log in and click on "Post Reply" I will become no longer
> logged in.

I could reply here with Dillo but cannot login with links (didn't tried mess with PHP URL parameters yet)

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> > I was running Enhanced DR DOS with ODIPKT. I used CWSDPMI and HDPMI32,
> > respectively.
>
> Try to boot MSDOS od Freedos...
>
I will if I can dig those out from somewhere.
In the meantime I do not think that is or even should be the problem though anyone else who tested with DR DOS please report whether if it worked or not.

Hi at all ,

i've compared links 2.8 with previusly version from Glenn site.

The 2.8 version seem not able to autoconfigure with bootp/dhcp/rarp if watt.cfg it's not present..the older version can do it.

With orinoco wifi card driver loaded version 2.8 stuck many times , the older version don't have problem during surfing the web.

So i suppose something don't work in wattcp of 2.8 dos (i've compiled 2.8 in puppy linux using the source in site of Mikulas and work without problems).

Roberto iw2evk

> Also it seems like wiht Dillo you can't really post replies on this forum
> since every time I log in and click on "Post Reply" I will become no longer
> logged in.

about log in the forum I think you have only a way : type the url: http://www.bttr-software.de/forum/login.php?username=YOURUSERNAME&userpw=YOURPASSWORD
---so you bypass the "botton" and you can post and reply ( the same with Arachne)
andrea

.