Re: Xywrite in Linux, using either Dosbox or Dosemu

[Russ Urquhart russurquhart1@xxxxxxxx]

Hi Harry,

On Nov 13, 2007, at 12:38 PM, Harry Binswanger wrote:
> Repeating an unanswered earlier query: does this mean I could run
> Xy on a Mac on its underlying Unix?
> And, if so, wouldn't that result in faster operation, rather than
> using VPC on the Mac?
There are actually more than two questions here, but, as someone who
does NOT have an Intel based Mac, but a ppc based Mac running VPC
with Xy running there.
You CAN and should be able to compile and run ANY unix application
under OS X. (I have compiled and an running a file manager designed
to run under Unix as well as a language that compiles under Unix.)
DOSbox and DOSemu should both compile and run under OS X. I KNOW that
there is a binary for DOSbox for OS X for the Intel based machines. I
don't know if there is a readily available compiled binary of DoSemu
but i believe that people are using it on Mac's on OS X.
With either of those you SHOULD be able to run XY on a Mac in it's
underlying Unix os.
Now, the proviso. DOSbox and DOSemu try and provide an MS-DOS machine/
environment for the application that you want to run. For an Intel
based machine, this should be a very fast sort of environment for
running DOS-based emulations. As far as the Mac goes, while you CAN
compile and run DOSbox and DOSemu on a PPC, and if you are running a
really fast ppc machine is should be pretty fast, you probably
wouldn't want to do this in practice. (As the PPC Op Codes are not
Intel/8086-based Op Codes, there is an additional conversion of the
Intel/8086 Op Codes to analogous sequence of PPC Op codes.) So the
emulation, on the PPC machines, potentially, has an additional
overhead that Intel based machines would not.
I mention this, as you mentioned performance of VPC. VPC, even before
M$ purchased it, is a PPC based application. M$, bought it, came out
with a new version or two and then killed it. (To their credit, they
have released the latest version for free.) What they did NOT due is
port it to the Intel architecture. So, for you, it's best to
understand what the underlying processor of your computer. If it is
PPC your best option is probably VPC. If you have a new Intel based
Mac, pretty much your only option is to look and either DOSbox or
DOSemu (if Parallels, Wine or VMWare don't work.) I don't think that
you can even run VPC on an Intel based Mac, but i could be wrong.

Hope this help!

Russ
> Harry Binswanger
> hb@xxxxxxxx