DOS extender executable format

[Paul Edwards]

The EMX 0.9 DOS extender uses the a.out
executable format for the 32-bit executable.

Do any of the other DOS extenders (DJGPP
or whatever) use the Windows PE 32-bit
format?

Thanks. Paul.

[Alexei A. Frounze]

Post by Paul Edwards
The EMX 0.9 DOS extender uses the a.out
executable format for the 32-bit executable.
Do any of the other DOS extenders (DJGPP
or whatever) use the Windows PE 32-bit
format?

HX DOS-Extender can run some Windows apps.

Alex

[[e-mail]]

Post by Alexei A. Frounze

Post by Paul Edwards
The EMX 0.9 DOS extender uses the a.out
executable format for the 32-bit executable.
Do any of the other DOS extenders (DJGPP
or whatever) use the Windows PE 32-bit
format?

HX DOS-Extender can run some Windows apps.

I just installed this on FreeDOS and it works fine,
allowing me to run my Windows console mode
applications.

However, it doesn't have an MSVCRT.DLL so it
couldn't run those tiny apps.

But I copied the PD-Windows MSVCRT.DLL into
my DOS path and my tiny app started working!

I think this makes Win32 the standard executable
format for generic tools. It runs on DOS, Windows,
PD-Windows and Linux (WINE).

I have a question though - does WINE have its
own version of MSVCRT.DLL? Or is the one I
produce for PD Windows likely to be usable on
WINE?

Thanks. Paul.

[Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson]

Post by Paul Edwards
The EMX 0.9 DOS extender uses the a.out
executable format for the 32-bit executable.
Do any of the other DOS extenders (DJGPP
or whatever) use the Windows PE 32-bit
format?
Thanks. Paul.

Some use the OS/2 executable format, some use the Windows format.

Check the manuals, IIRC, DOS4G/W uses the Windows format, and CauseWay
uses the OS/2 format; but I could be wrong here.

The better question is: what DOS extenders are still relevant? HX is,
and I personally like to use CauseWay because I have the sources.
Others are included in OpenWatcom too; and you can find even more
online.

[T. Ment]

Post by Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson
The better question is: what DOS extenders are still relevant?

Silly question.

Paul doesn't have device drivers so he calls BIOS for disk I/O. Like a
DOS extender, but without the DOS API. Call it a BIOS extender.

[T. Ment]

Post by Paul Edwards
Do any of the other DOS extenders (DJGPP
or whatever) use the Windows PE 32-bit
format?

Most DOS extenders use LE/LX. DOS4G added PE in v2.60.

http://rgmroman.narod.ru/Dos4g.htm

[r***@gmail.com]

Hi,

Post by Paul Edwards
The EMX 0.9 DOS extender uses the a.out
executable format for the 32-bit executable.
Do any of the other DOS extenders (DJGPP
or whatever) use the Windows PE 32-bit
format?

I'm no expert, but it's probably more trouble than it's worth.
There's so many (old, buggy) DOS extenders that you could spend
years trying them all.

Having said that, the obvious one would be WDOSX, which supports
various formats, including PE/COFF:

* http://tippach.business.t-online.de/wdosx/

There was also RSX and RSXNT, which was loosely based upon EMX.

* http://na.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/djgpp/current/v2tk/rsxdj151.zip