Hi Bertho, this thread seems to mix two topics: MS DOS command.com keeps transient data in non-MCB areas. When, after running commands, that area is found damaged, contents are dropped and reloaded or recreated. As Tom already pointed out, the location of the master env in FreeCOM is "near the end of the free DOS RAM", but only AFTER you get the chance to load e.g. UMB drivers. Also, the FreeDOS kernel allows you to control whether the BIOS XBDA data should be relocated. So FreeCOM might differ from MS DOS, but still behave in a good way.
> ...this bizarre, unmotivated, design of FreeCOM definitely interferes > negatively with some aspects of the project. It isn't ruining all, Bizarre yes, unmotivated no. For example XMS swapping is one very useful feature of the complex FreeCOM memory handling. > and we could well use another shell than FreeCOM - in fact, I think > the project will be its own shell for a self-contained diskette or > USB-stick of sorts. Sounds like a nice project. > Back to FreeCOM : of course we, app programmers, could devise a utility > for the purpose of moving that darned environment back to where it > belongs, i.e., low contiguous DOS-managed memory. It is still obscure to me why that "darned" environment is so much in the way for your project where it is with FreeCOM...? > Leaving apart the fact that doing so from a transient DOS program and > without leaving holes is not absolutely a trivial programming task, we > would be still faced with the problem that, how are we supposed to > reliably /find/ and adjust the pointer(s) that... FreeCOM internally keeps I may be mistaken, but should not just the PSP point to the environment? > Clearly IMHO it is Freecom's responsibility (i.e., of whoever is tasked with > debugging, maintaining and enhancing FreeCOM) to provide the solution, > be it a command line option, a permanent fix, or even an API. See above. Also, nobody is "tasked" with FreeCOM, as this is not a commercial product. Unfortunately, very few people who are FreeCOM experts are around here recently... On the other hand, maintenance is so slow because there was so little left to improve. As mentioned earlier in this thread, there could be some regressions between 0.82, 0.83 and 0.84, so you might find an older version to be more of your taste. Not regarding the master environment, but in general. Regards, Eric PS: I totally agree that the tab completion beep should be disable-able and/or switchable to DOS console or BIOS BEL char output, as it can be annoying and even cause hangs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows: Build for Windows Store. http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
