Date: 14 Nov 1992 12:08:22 +1100
From: Bill Metzenthen <APM233M AT vaxc DOT cc DOT monash DOT edu DOT au>
Subject: Multi-tasking go32
To: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu

Antonio Costa and Pedro Oliveira (acc AT asterix DOT inescn DOT pt) write:

> We are thinking of changing GO32 to support multitasking (preemptive).

> The basic idea is to change GO32 code so that it will allow running several
> programs (compiled with DJGPP) simultaneously.

> For that, we'll create or adapt a shell (like C-Shell or Korn shell...)
> in which the user will be able to launch programs interactively...

> Please note that we are not interested in running normal DOS programs
> inside the shell, only DJGPP-compiled programs.

The functionality you appear to be looking for is a subset of that
provided by 386BSD or Linux. I don't know a great amount about 386BSD,
but Linux allows you to mount normal ms-dos partitions, thereby
allowing you to directly edit (compile with GNU C, etc, etc) ms-dos
files. In some very simple cases it is even possible (or so I am told)
to run ms-dos programs under Linux.

Furthermore, lots of programs work as their creators intended under
Linux. For instance, although I found that demacs (the djgpp-compiled
emacs under dos) was almost satisfactory, emacs works properly under
Linux.

> * Is the 387 emulator reentrant? Will we have problems there?

wmemu387 is not re-entrant. You can expect a noticeable performance
hit for emulation under multi-tasking.


--Bill