DOS ain't dead

testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator (Emulation)

posted by Rugxulo , Usono, 08.05.2026, 04:39
(edited by Rugxulo on 08.05.2026, 04:49)

> > I tested the emulator under OpenBSD (i386) on a jump drive. Note that
> I'm more interested in estimated 8086 speed.
> >
> > In order of fastest to slowest assemblers I tested:
>
> Could you please test the speed of the one at the link below too? I'm
> asking because, unfortunately, at present I can't do it myself.
>
> https://github.com/tinashh2000/asmpp

Okay, I did grab AP.EXE 24.02 the other day and finally tested it more yesterday.

It does work on native DOS, but ... djl's NTVDM doesn't handle it. He admits he has some gaps in emulation and only tested common instructions emitted by compilers. So under the emulator I can't even get a help screen. (Anything out of the ordinary could be suspect, and writing in pure assembly definitely brings out atypical uses.)

Just to be clear, here's what I do (in native FreeDOS):


rexx invwords.rex
rexx fixsizes.rex
sed -e "/^ *A[sS][sS]/d" -e "/DS:/s///" fixsizes.tmp >inv.app
ap.exe /jo inv
crc32 inv.com
REM ... should say 9A476DE7 , same as JWasm or WASM ...


EDIT: Under DOSBox-X (fast 486), it does assemble in under 5 seconds.

Complete thread:

• testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Rugxulo, 29.04.2026, 05:41 (Emulation)
  • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Oso2k, 29.04.2026, 16:56
    • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Rugxulo, 30.04.2026, 02:45
  • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Rugxulo, 01.05.2026, 13:11
  • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Rugxulo, 01.05.2026, 13:23
  • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - bocke, 02.05.2026, 00:40
    • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - rr, 02.05.2026, 16:00
      • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - bocke, 02.05.2026, 20:52
    • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - bocke, 07.05.2026, 13:33
      • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - RayeR, 07.05.2026, 15:38
        • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - bocke, 08.05.2026, 15:22
      • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Rugxulo, 10.05.2026, 05:38
  • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Khusraw, 03.05.2026, 12:56
    • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Rugxulo, 08.05.2026, 04:39
      • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - bocke, 08.05.2026, 14:49
        • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Rugxulo, 09.05.2026, 09:58
          • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - bocke, 16.05.2026, 00:27
            • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Rugxulo, 16.05.2026, 05:05
      • testing speed of DOS assemblers under djl's 8086 DOS emulator - Khusraw, 12.05.2026, 12:29