DOS ain't dead - Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

Berlin, Germany,
27.07.2020, 19:51

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license (Announce)

Hi!

Recently, I remembered the 1990's Wolfware Assembler (WASM).
Version 2.23 can also be found at http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/devel/asm/wasm/.
Its license is kinda "copyrighted freeware, that comes with source code".

So I asked Mr. Tauck to re-release WASM under one of today's common FOSS licenses. -- He kindly decided to put all his software at http://www.shoelesscomputers.com/software/ under MIT license now. (See README.TXT and LICENSE.TXT.)

This includes the aforementioned WASM, TODDY v6.15 (A DOS command line editor), CLONE v2.10 (A floppy disk duplicator), WARP v2.31 (A fast ANSI.SYS replacement) and several other tools for DOS or Windows.

Unfortunately source code for some of these tools cannot be found at http://www.shoelesscomputers.com/software/source/ currently, but I already sent Mr. Tauck a message about that. We'll see, what happens next.

Cheers,
Robert

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ecm

Düsseldorf, Germany,
27.07.2020, 23:34

@ rr

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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That's great news, thank you! Does anyone know whether this WASM is compatible with other assemblers?

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l

Berlin, Germany,
28.07.2020, 20:36

@ ecm

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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> That's great news, thank you! Does anyone know whether this WASM is
> compatible with other assemblers?

WASM.TXT only says "and the source code is not MASM compatible."

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Rugxulo

Usono,
29.07.2020, 09:40

@ rr

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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> > That's great news, thank you! Does anyone know whether this WASM is
> > compatible with other assemblers?
>
> WASM.TXT only says "and the source code is not MASM compatible."

WASM is basically a 286-targeting assembler that outputs .COM. It may have some limited macros for OMF output, but I can't remember. It's written in itself, self-assembling. I think it's only one pass, and it doesn't do short-jump size optimizations.

The only use I've gotten from it in recent years was briefly under 8086tinyplus (when NASM didn't work). Actually, even there I was only using my .BAT + Sed scripts for PSR Invaders, so it can be made to reassemble that. There was another homegrown util, years ago, that I also used Sed to convert to WASM output, for laughs, but that tool wasn't very well written nor uniquely useful.

It comes with some good example code of his own, though, IIRC.

Berlin, Germany,
04.08.2020, 21:34

@ Rugxulo

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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> > > That's great news, thank you! Does anyone know whether this WASM is
> > > compatible with other assemblers?
> >
> > WASM.TXT only says "and the source code is not MASM compatible."
>
> WASM is basically a 286-targeting assembler that outputs .COM. It may have
> some limited macros for OMF output, but I can't remember. It's written in
> itself, self-assembling. I think it's only one pass, and it doesn't do
> short-jump size optimizations.

Yes, it has OMF macros. See folder "WASM\ROUTINE\OBJECT".

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Berlin, Germany,
28.07.2020, 20:36

@ rr

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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> This includes the aforementioned WASM, TODDY v6.15 (A DOS command line
> editor), CLONE v2.10 (A floppy disk duplicator), WARP v2.31 (A fast
> ANSI.SYS replacement) and several other tools for DOS or Windows.
>
> Unfortunately source code for some of these tools cannot be found at
> http://www.shoelesscomputers.com/software/source/ currently,
> but I already sent Mr. Tauck a message about that. We'll see, what happens
> next.

Update: Source code is lost. :-(

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ecm

Düsseldorf, Germany,
29.07.2020, 02:10

@ rr

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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> Update: Source code is lost. :-(

I assume that means we get the binaries under the MIT license though? So reverse-engineering including full disassembly is allowed, yeah? I think the MIT license allows this as it is simply a (less usual) way of modification.

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l

Berlin, Germany,
04.08.2020, 21:30

@ ecm

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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> > Update: Source code is lost. :-(
>
> I assume that means we get the binaries under the MIT license though? So
> reverse-engineering including full disassembly is allowed, yeah? I think
> the MIT license allows this as it is simply a (less usual) way of
> modification.

I think so, yes.

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Rugxulo

Usono,
29.07.2020, 09:33

@ rr

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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> > This includes the aforementioned WASM, TODDY v6.15 (A DOS command line
> > editor), CLONE v2.10 (A floppy disk duplicator), WARP v2.31 (A fast
> > ANSI.SYS replacement) and several other tools for DOS or Windows.
> >
> > Unfortunately source code for some of these tools cannot be found at
> > http://www.shoelesscomputers.com/software/source/
> currently,
> > but I already sent Mr. Tauck a message about that. We'll see, what
> happens
> > next.
>
> Update: Source code is lost. :-(

I assume you mean WARP (and maybe CLONE)? Because WASM and TODDY already had sources available.

Berlin, Germany,
04.08.2020, 21:32

@ Rugxulo

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

Post reply

> > > This includes the aforementioned WASM, TODDY v6.15 (A DOS command line
> > > editor), CLONE v2.10 (A floppy disk duplicator), WARP v2.31 (A fast
> > > ANSI.SYS replacement) and several other tools for DOS or Windows.
> > >
> > > Unfortunately source code for some of these tools cannot be found at
> > > http://www.shoelesscomputers.com/software/source/
> > currently,
> > > but I already sent Mr. Tauck a message about that. We'll see, what
> > happens
> > > next.
> >
> > Update: Source code is lost. :-(
>
> I assume you mean WARP (and maybe CLONE)? Because WASM and TODDY already
> had sources available.

I mean every software with no sources at http://www.shoelesscomputers.com/software/source/.

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Rugxulo

Usono,
29.07.2020, 09:47

@ rr

Eric Tauck's old software goes MIT license

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> This includes ... TODDY v6.15 (A DOS command line editor)

Years ago (before 2010?), when I was still using my P166 (586) w/ 32 MB RAM running DR-DOS 7.03, I used Toddy as a better replacement for DR's own COMMAND.COM HISTORY. It was able to unload (so no full reboot needed, if more low RAM required), came with sources (not that I needed that), and it was quite powerful without relying on a heavyweight shell like 4DOS (which has its own cmdline editing). It was quite good, but with FreeDOS' FreeCOM, you need to use a build without their own wimpier (but reasonably good) built-in DOSKEY-like functionality compiled in. So I never did use it much on FreeDOS, so far.

I also used WARP, which is basically an ANSI.SYS clone with built-in paging upon full screens. But I don't use that anymore, and honestly, I rarely use ANSI at all. You could instead use MORESYS + NNANSI (unloadable TSR) (or just NANSI.SYS proper, if you don't need to unload).

I don't think I ever used his SLEEPER, instead preferring FDAPM's IDLEHALT DPMS screen saver. But one guy on a newsgroup recently was trying to do screen savers, so I pointed him to that and a few others.