Arelor wrote to All <=-

Hello!I recenlty ran into an article about FreeDOS in Linux Magazine. I already
knew of FreeDOS's existence but the article made me curious so I did
some research.I wonder if there is any recommended starting point if
you want to get
started developping programs or incorporating device drivers to
FreeDOS. Most of my coding experience is with interpretated languages,
but I have done some C/Cpp. I have also done some toy Hellow-Wordlesque programs in "Wintel" Assembly.Any good resource for getting started
coding simple stuff in order to get a grasp of what developing for
MS-DOS was like back in the day?

Depends on the language you want to use. You will probably want to use C, and maybe Assembler if you want to write low level code, in which case, you need a C compiler and an assember. I would recommend for DOS Open Watcom available at http://openwatcom.org. There are other free compilers, DJGPP which is for 32 bit development and there is a freeware version of Turbo C.

I installed Open Watcom on a 486 just last week. It also has an assembler, but I would probably use NASM or FASM. Microsoft Assembler was used back in the day, and I think there is a free version you can use, albeit stripped from the full featured suite it was then, but NASM or FASM is better to use now.

As to documentation, you can either pick up a good second hand book for programming from the DOS era (if you can find one), or look online. If writing in C or C++, then its not that different to writing code for Linux, except for the different toolchain and libraries. I learned C using Turbo C, and just going through the help files included and piecing together how the language worked from that.

If you want to try assembly, look for the online book "The Art of Assembly". Not only does it cover assembly language, but also MS-DOS, PC Graphics, the BIOS, etc. Quite comprehensive.

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Re: Learning to code for MS-D
By: Dennisk to Arelor on Tue Jun 30 2020 10:51 pm

Depends on the language you want to use. You will probably want to use C, and
maybe Assembler if you want to write low level code, in which case, you need a
C compiler and an assember. I would recommend for DOS Open Watcom available at
http://openwatcom.org. There are other free compilers, DJGPP which is for 32
bit development and there is a freeware version of Turbo C.

I installed Open Watcom on a 486 just last week. It also has an assembler, but
I would probably use NASM or FASM. Microsoft Assembler was used back in the
day, and I think there is a free version you can use, albeit stripped from the
full featured suite it was then, but NASM or FASM is better to use now.

As to documentation, you can either pick up a good second hand book for programming from the DOS era (if you can find one), or look online. If writing
in C or C++, then its not that different to writing code for Linux, except for
the different toolchain and libraries. I learned C using Turbo C, and just going through the help files included and piecing together how the language
worked from that.

If you want to try assembly, look for the online book "The Art of Assembly".
Not only does it cover assembly language, but also MS-DOS, PC Graphics, the
BIOS, etc. Quite comprehensive.

... MultiMail, the new multi-platform, multi-format offline reader!

Thanks for the tips. Knowing which compiler to choose among is a good first step.

I have noticed a lot of DOS stuff was done in assembly, which is a bit stricking since you mostly see high-level languages these days, heh.

I will have a look at The Art of Assembly. It looks like a good thing to have around. I am a bit more of a C dude ad that is not saying much, though.

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Arelor wrote to Dennisk <=-

Re: Learning to code for MS-D
By: Dennisk to Arelor on Tue Jun 30 2020 10:51 pm

Depends on the language you want to use. You will probably want to use C,

and De> maybe Assembler if you want to write low level code, in which case, you
need a De> C compiler and an assember. I would recommend for DOS Open Watcom available at De> http://openwatcom.org. There are other free compilers, DJGPP which is for 32 De> bit development and there is a freeware version of Turbo C.

I installed Open Watcom on a 486 just last week. It also has an assembler,

but De> I would probably use NASM or FASM. Microsoft Assembler was
used back in the De> day, and I think there is a free version you can
use, albeit stripped from the De> full featured suite it was then, but NASM or FASM is better to use now. De> As to documentation, you can
either pick up a good second hand book for De> programming from the DOS era (if you can find one), or
look online. If writing De> in C or C++, then its not that different
to writing code for Linux, except for De> the different toolchain and libraries. I
learned C using Turbo C, and just De> going through the help files included and piecing together how the language De> worked from that.

If you want to try assembly, look for the online book "The Art of

Assembly".
De> Not only

does it cover assembly language, but also MS-DOS, PC Graphics, the De> BIOS, etc. Quite comprehensive. De> ... MultiMail, the new
multi-platform, multi-format offline reader!Thanks for the tips.
Knowing which compiler to choose among is a good first step.I have
noticed a lot of DOS stuff was done in
assembly, which is a bit stricking since you mostly see high-level languages these days, heh.I will have a look at The Art of Assembly. It looks like a good
thing to have around. I am a bit more of a C dude ad that is not
saying much, though.

The Art of Assembler is good, but the version I've seen uses the HLA assembly language, a high level layer on top of assembly which I haven't seen used much.
There are many other guides. Assembler was mostly used due to the limitations of the CPU, and the fact that compilers didn't optimise as well back then as they can now.

Watcom was a popular compiler back in the 90s. It is the compiler that iD software used for Doom, so you know it must be pretty decent! Open Watcom is a current version, and it produces reasonable quality executables, so you shouldn't need to use assembler for speed unless you are targetting some really old machines, or really are streching what the CPU can do.

But as I mentioned, DJGPP is another good one, and it comes with an IDE too, RHIDE. DJGPP is more up to date than Watcom with regards to the C++ standards it supports, but it also takes up more disk space, and needs more RAM and CPU to compile. I couldn't run it on my 486 with 16M of RAM, as it ran out of RAM.


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