Want to work on subsystem

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azeemarif
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Want to work on subsystem

Post by azeemarif »

Hello

I have been reading ReactOS forum on and off and have tried ReactOS with Bochs and Qemu (it works fine).

I want to work on ReactOS DOS subsystem, so I tried ROS Live CD on my notebook (PIII750, S3 savage graphics card), the only machine I can experiment with.

After the Blue boot screen nothing happens. I think, it must be some driver problem.

Can somebody please guide me what are the correct steps to make ReactOS work?
raynorpat
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Post by raynorpat »

I heard that if you are using the svn release, then the live cd is broken somehow. You should just use the .2.5 or .2.4 live cd. I think the ReactOS fan site has the .2.5 live cd and the main download page has the .2.4.

Other than that the boot cd appears to work fine on my PC :)
GreatLord
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Post by GreatLord »

HI
S3 savage graphics card some version of that card did come with
vbe 1.2 so reactos vbe 2.0 driver does not work fine with all version of
S3 savage graphics card. It did exists some 3d part flash bios file to that card to upgrad it to vbe 2.0 standard or vbe 3.0 standard.

I do not know if that is your case or not.
azeemarif
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Post by azeemarif »

Thank you for the information. Anyway, I am trying to get a grip on the ReactOS souce code now.

Also, I am using ReatOS with Qemu to see it in action.

Though I am trying to understand the overall system, but I am giving special attention to src/subsys folder as that is the area I'll be working on if possible.
AcetoliNe
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Post by AcetoliNe »

I'm working on a DOS protected mode emulator called Protos (no real mode, just protected mode). It should be able to work on both Windows and ReactOS.
It's still in early development and might never get done, but I've outlined the overall structure of the system, and it seems like a good idea to me ;)

Tell me if your interested. Maybe we can work on a full emulator together.
caveman LIKES chocolate.
we shall reinvent the wheel until it turns properly.
azeemarif
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Post by azeemarif »

I am interested in any good idea :)

Just out of curiosity may I ask, how different is your implementation (and future ideas) from FreeDOS?

Why have you chosen on Protected mode implementation?

These questions are not to discourage you in any sense.
AcetoliNe
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Post by AcetoliNe »

Just out of curiosity may I ask, how different is your implementation (and future ideas) from FreeDOS?
Really different. Mine is only an application-level emulator (I mentioned it should work under windows, as well).
Why have you chosen on Protected mode implementation?
Because of the lack of it. Most emulators don't support it (because of complexity). And the most troublesome DOS progs to get going are protected mode ones.

My idea is based a little on VDMSound (google it if you haven't heard of it before).
caveman LIKES chocolate.
we shall reinvent the wheel until it turns properly.
mf
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Post by mf »

AcetoliNe
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Post by AcetoliNe »

(from the dosbox site)
VESA/SVGA 70% implemented VBE 2.0 support with 256 color modes
DPMI 80% implemented Disabled. As it's rarely needed.
Rarely needed? Doom. Doom II. Duke Nukem. Shadow Warrior. Terminal Velocity. Quake. All use DPMI.
This is what i'm talking about.
caveman LIKES chocolate.
we shall reinvent the wheel until it turns properly.
AcetoliNe
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Post by AcetoliNe »

Anyway, a subsystem would be much better than an emulator in terms of SPEED. We could finally play DOS 3d games at decent fps and resolution.
caveman LIKES chocolate.
we shall reinvent the wheel until it turns properly.
azeemarif
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Post by azeemarif »

currently, I am looking at "dosbox", "FreeDos" and "DosEMU".

From DosEMU site
DOSEMU stands for DOS Emulation, and is a linux application that enables the Linux OS to boot any DOS and run DOS programs - including DPMI applications
AcetoliNe
I am aslo reading about vdmsound to understand your idea.

Let's pick the best option for ReactOS DOS subsystem and start working when we are ready
mf
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Post by mf »

I'd say running FreeDOS in the same way as CoLinux, and extending out stuff like the filesystem from the ROS kernel, etc, would work a lot better than any emulator. You have to do some address translations, etc, but a lot of stuff you should be able to keep native. Why would a DOS subsystem have to be an x86 emulator if the host platform IS x86?
Epmak
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Post by Epmak »

mf wrote:I'd say running FreeDOS in the same way as CoLinux, and extending out stuff like the filesystem from the ROS kernel, etc, would work a lot better than any emulator.
Not realy sure about that becouse serious crash in coLinux
will cause crash of whole system. (but of course perfomance is outstanding).
IMHO system stability should be at first place.

BTW what is current status of coLinux and ReactOS?
IIRC year ago Dan Aloni (coLinux creator) offered his help for porting but
there there was some internal problems with ReactoOS which stoped
coLinux from runing. Does anything changed now?
AcetoliNe
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Post by AcetoliNe »

I'd say running FreeDOS in the same way as CoLinux, and extending out stuff like the filesystem from the ROS kernel, etc, would work a lot better than any emulator. You have to do some address translations, etc, but a lot of stuff you should be able to keep native. Why would a DOS subsystem have to be an x86 emulator if the host platform IS x86?
That's exactly what I thought. My idea (Protos) is a little bit different, but similar to freedos and dosemu.
Not realy sure about that becouse serious crash in coLinux
will cause crash of whole system.
IMHO system stability should be at first place.
You're quite right. But shouldn't we leave choosing between system stability and speed up to the user? Making assumptions about what the user wants sounds too much like the big companie$ ;).

azeemarif: did you check out ntvdm.c (reactos\subsys\win3k\ntvdm\ntvdm.c)?
That's basically all there is to virtual DOS in reactos!!! It NEEDS to be improved.
If we want to get started, you can email me about your stuff (my email is in my profile) and I'll tell you about what I've done so far (which is far too little :oops: ).
I'll have to do it in my spare time -- right now I'm struggling with implementing an alphablend into ros gdi...
caveman LIKES chocolate.
we shall reinvent the wheel until it turns properly.
Phalanx
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Post by Phalanx »

AcetoliNe wrote:right now I'm struggling with implementing an alphablend into ros gdi...
=)
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