Mail Archives: djgpp/1999/01/27/03:00:39
On Tue, 26 Jan 1999, Ralph Proctor wrote:
> DOS is an independent operating system.
Right.
> Windows 3.1 (and before) is a graphical user interface dependent upon DOS.
Windows 3.X is also a protected-mode multi-tasker of DOS sessions
(more accurately, virtual machines).
> Windows 95 ++ is an independent operating system with added GUI features.
> (Windows 95 ++ is NOT a GUI dependent upon DOS.)
Not true. Windows 9X is not much different from Windows 3.X, it just
includes a protected-mode replacement for most of DOS file-oriented
functions. DOS still exists and is running on a Windows 9X machine,
but it usually never sees any file-oriented calls. However, some
functions, like SetPSP, are still passed to DOS.
For details of this (exceedingly simplistic) description, see
"Unauthorized Windows 95" by Andrew Schullman.
> A BASH/EMACS/DGJPP/DOS installation is a simulation of a normal UNIX
> operating system.
Not true. DJGPP is mostly about applications, not about the OS. The
DJGPP library does emulate some of the Unix system calls, but that's
it. Experience shows that a user's perception of the OS is mostly
created by the flavor of applications that users run every day, and
you don't have to run on Unix to have Unix applications at your
fingertips.
> When I hit bash [Enter] then Emacs [Enter]
> I enter a world much like Linux except I am still using DOS and don't have
> the many fine features for multi-tasking, and on-line work that Linux has.
You can have multi-tasking on Windows. A little-known fact is that
Windows has been preemptively multitasking DOS applications since time
immemoriam, definitely in 3.X and 9X.
- Raw text -