Re: Xy on Mac under DOSBox (was Re: House Call)

["Fred Weiner" fw1948@xxxxxxxx]

Lisa Kleinholz wrote:

> My XYDOS 4 is mostly configured as it was out of the
> box

J R Fox wrote:

>So, this setup does

>support the normal use of the U2 library ?


In my DOSBox/Mac/XY4 set up, which I wrote about concerning the ability to print XY4 formatted files via TYF and MacOSX's Preview.app (which converts PostScript files to PDF), the U2 routines that do not require "shelling" out to the OpSys all work splendidly. FISHOUT, all of the STACK routines, the extended SE/CH family of frames, and many others work. What will not work, are the frames that utilize direct communication with, and return to XY4 from, the WIN32 based programs such as
KMD.exe, REXX, and so on. Robert responded to my above mentioned post (XyWrite Mac DOSBox Printing) with the following, which says it all:


"I've played extensively with DOSBox.  You can do all
sorts of file manipulations.  But can you address the Clipboard?
No.  Can you launch a native executable from
DOSBox?  No.  I
know that there are people who've figured out how to shell to
Linux from DOSEMU -- that's real integration.  That means that
you could run XyWrite in DOSEMU and, from a XyWrite cockpit, get

Linux apps (like GS) to launch.  In DOSBox, forget it.  DOSBox
is great for hermetic apps, like games.  Not so great for apps
that want to reach out and touch externals.


"Almost ten years ago I wrote a native Linux daemon to "watch" a
particular directory, and when a file containing a bunch of
instructions showed up in that directory, to execute the
instructions -- it was crude, but effective.  XyWrite could be

set up to "wait" for a reply, if you wanted to feed data back to
XyWrite after shelling out.

"Where there's a will, there's a way!"

Unable to follow the "way" for lack of programming skill (trace to math debility), my hope has been that Robert could be persuaded (coercion being unethical) to take on the task of porting U2 for those of us who have become persuaded that even a somewhat crippled XY4 in a Mac environment beats dealing with Microsoft Windows—any version— hands down.


Fred Weiner