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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:2280 comp.os.linux.misc:12649 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yeshua.marcam.com!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!prism!prism!not-for-mail From: gt8134b@prism.gatech.edu (Robert Sanders) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: Impressions: FreeBSD vs Linux Date: 8 Apr 1994 12:59:37 -0400 Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology Lines: 42 Message-ID: <2o42hp$rv6@acme.gatech.edu> References: <2nq530$7hh@hecate.umd.edu> <2o2gsu$pmv@cleese.apana.org.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost.gatech.edu newton@cleese.apana.org.au (Mark Newton) writes: > > I think a lot of us don't *want* DOS on our machines, therefore haven't > > spent a lot of time figuring out how to make it work. ...because, you see, those grapes are sour. >I think the rapidity with which Linux's dosemu has developed is due to >the fact that most Linux people are DOSers who have been convered to UNIX. >By and large, BSD types seem to be UNIX people who wouldn't even consider >running DOS in the first place, let along emulating it. Well, nice conjecture, but it's wrong. I don't think I'm being immodest when I say that I changed the original dosemu from an expensive way to get a "C>" prompt that wouldn't do anything else to a real, full-fledged, powerful, but tremendously unstable way to get a "C>" prompt, run a few vital programs, then lock up your machine. I interpret that as progress :-) I was a former Amiga owner and UNIX SYSV/386 user before buying a machine expressly to run Linux. I had run a few programs under DOS on a friend's machine, but had never really been forced to use it in earnest. When I picked up the dosemu project, I was probably the single least qualified person to work on it. Through hard work, disastrous lack of sleep, and some transactions with a certain netherworld businessman, I managed to master the black art of DOS programming (and programming DOS). I know for a fact that both the *BSD and Linux camps are full of people who program for DOS because they have to eat, regardless of what their tastes are, and who could do a much better job than I. The crucial factor wasn't some vague, unsupported demographical difference, but motivation and persistence. The fact is, many *BSD people owned PCs to start with, so running DOS must not have been entirely out of the question. Of course, I'm not sure what my motivation was except that I wanted to run a macroassembler for my HP48 under Linux. I should have just rewritten the assembler. I haven't used dosemu since I quit developing it. -- _g, '96 --->>>>>>>>>> gt8134b@prism.gatech.edu <<<<<<<<<--- CompSci ,g_ W@@@W__ |-\ ^ | disclaimer: <---> "Bow before ZOD!" __W@@@W W@@@@**~~~' ro|-<ert s/_\ nders | who am I??? ^ from Superman '~~~**@@@@W `*MV' hi,ocie! |-/ad! / \ss!! | ooga ooga!! | II (cool)! `VW*'