| 6,8 → 6,8 |
|---|
| "COMMAND.COM". It is designed and maintained by Mateusz Viste, and distributed |
| under the terms of the MIT license. |
| |
| For the time being, it is an incomplete, experimental project. The goal would |
| is to eventually make SvarCOM the default SvarDOS shell, replacing FreeCOM. |
| For the time being, it is an incomplete, "work in progress" project. The goal |
| is to make SvarCOM the default SvarDOS shell, replacing FreeCOM. |
| |
| |
| *** Why replacing FreeCOM, the FreeDOS COMMAND.COM? *** |
| 18,13 → 18,16 |
|---|
| - FreeCOM is not suitable for low-memory machines. It takes about 55K of |
| conventional memory when XMS is unavailable. XMS being a 386+ thing, FreeCOM |
| is a poor fit for pre-386 machines. There is the KSSF hack, but it is a |
| kludg with many limitations. |
| kludge with many limitations. As pointed out by one of the FreeCOM authors, |
| FreeCOM is designed with 21'st century machines in mind and not IBM PC |
| compatibles (or "museum computers", as they refer to them). |
| https://www.mail-archive.com/freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net/msg23472.html |
| |
| SvarDOS will not rely on XMS, and will perform swapping that works on any |
| machine (similar to what MS-DOS did). |
| SvarDOS will not rely on XMS, and performs runtime swapping that works on |
| any IBM PC compatible machine. |
| |
| - FreeCOM requires custom NLS files. While the vast majority of FreeDOS |
| programs use a single "standard" (CATS/Kitten), FreeCOM is using a different |
| programs use a single "standard" (CATS/Kitten), FreeCOM uses a different |
| approach with pre-compiled NLS strings, which makes it necessary to |
| distribute as many binary blobs as there are supported languages. It also |
| makes the translation process much more difficult. |
| 32,10 → 35,17 |
|---|
| SvarDOS will use Kitten-style translations, like other applications. |
| |
| - FreeCOM is a complex beast: it aims for compatibility with multiple |
| compilers and supports many features. This makes the code uneasy to follow |
| and changes require careful testing on all supported compilers and all |
| possible build variants. |
| compilers and supports many embedded features. This makes the code uneasy to |
| follow and changes require careful testing on all supported compilers and |
| all possible build variants. |
| |
| SvarDOS is meant to be simple and universal. It is meant to be compiled with |
| OpenWatcom and nothing else. It also won't integrate features that can be |
| implemented as third-party tools (typically: DOSKEY). |
| SvarDOS, on the other hand, is meant to be simple and universal. It is meant |
| to be compiled with OpenWatcom only, which makes a ton of IFDEF's go away. |
| It also won't integrate features that can be reasonably implemented as |
| third-party tools (typically: DOSKEY). |
| |
| - FreeCOM code is released under the terms of a toxic (GPL) license that |
| restrain the freedom of its users due to its virality. |
| |
| SvarCOM is released under the terms of a liberal and permissive license that |
| does not impose limitations on how users may or may not use it. |