Re: Status of Posix on Windows

On 5/29/2024 1:40 PM, Malcolm McLean wrote:

On 29/05/2024 17:16, Kaz Kylheku wrote:

On 2024-05-29, Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm currently using a Mac.
>
The recent discussion about the "embed" directive inspired me to find a
solution to the problem of embedding a directory in an ANSI C program,
of course without a modern compiler. You can see my proposal at
>
http://malcolmmclean.github.io/babyxrc/importingdirectories.html
>
(It's in the babyxrc documentation on github if this link doesn't work)
>
The program directorytoxml crawls a diectory and converts it to XML. And
it can't be written in ANSI C. It has to use Posix. The question is
whether this in in practise portable to Windows, or if I need to dust
off a Windows machine and write a Windows version using FindFirstFile
and FindNextFile.

>
I use Cygwin for porting POSIX stuff to Windows. Cygwin moved to the
LGPL in 2016, which allows you to ship a program with its DLLs,
even if the program is proprietary.
>
I forked the main Cygwin DLL in order to bring about "native Windows"
behaviors in a number of areas, resulting in a project called Cygnal.
This is referenced in my current Usenet signature.
>
The downside of Cygwin is that it has slow file access. From following
discussions on the Cygwin mailing list, my understanding is that at
least some of it has to do with Cygwin having to make multiple accesses.
Like when you access a file foo, it has to check whether there is a
foo.lnk and foo.exe and such.
>

OK. So bottom line is no, I can't reasonably expect my millions of Windows Baby X programmer users to use directorytoxml. If utterly determined they can of curse make things work by messing abut with Cygwin. But the sirit of BabyX is tht everything is easy for the hobby programmer.
 
So eitber some nice person will volunteer, or I'll have to get a Windows machine. Work have kindly let me keep my work Apple Mac even though I've had to give up work due to ill health, but the Windows machine is at my own house which I don't live in any more (long story, and no it's not family disputes fortunately, except no-one accepts that my house is actually mine because my grandmother got it for free off Margaret Thatcher, and currently sister has designs on it whilst Dad is demented and needs me to live with him. So Windows machine not very accessible, and I'm too ill to drive).

It really depends on what kind of Apple Mac you have, and
what processor it has got.

   68K            <=== Ancient (I have one)
   PowerPC        <=== I have several, ancient as well. Mac G4 single core was the last PowerPC.
   Intel          <=== During this era, OS was x86, Windows was x86, no translation needed due to HW.
   AppleM1--ARM

Intel would be ideal at a time like this. You could use Parallels,
or install Windows native on a drive on the thing. If this is an
ARM box, there is also a Windows ARM version as well, but then
your x86 test code is less welcome. Windows 11 will have a version
coming up, with perhaps a more functional x86 to ARM translator. I
don't know how good the current x86 translator is. At one time,
the translator might have done 32 bit but not 64 bit applications,
or some such story.

The Windows 10/Windows 11 grace period is longer than what you
might have seen in older OSes. In older OSes, it was 30 days, with
two re-arms possible, for a total of 90 days. Current Windows puts
up a watermark on the screen, but it is not nearly as nasty as
previous versions. This is how I can run virtual machines of Windows
here, without activating them. In any case, you should not be spending
$150.00 on an OS. It can be done for less, or for nothing.

You can download Windows 10 or Windows 11 DVDs from Microsoft, without
presenting a license key to the web page to get them. You can
transfer the downloaded ISO to a USB stick with this.

   https://rufus.ie/en/

Due to the size of some of the DVDs, you need dual layer DVD blanks
to be absolutely guaranteed of being able to make installer discs.
A USB stick is easier (up to a point). Making media is just as
nasty for jobs like this, as preparing media for Linux installation.

Windows 10 has less of a hardware requirement. I used to run it on
a Core2 Duo.

The DVDs available, carry either 7 versions of OS or 11 versions of OS.
Using WADK tools, you can remove all but one OS version on the DVD
image, and make a new ISO. This then, might fit on single layer media.

It's just easier to buy the media. I have a small stack of dual-layer discs
if I need them. I've used one disc so far.

Refurbished Intel PCs are available for around $200. PCs which are not
capable of running Windows 11, will run Windows 10. In some cases,
USENEtters have acquired perfectly working Intel PCs on garbage
day, on the sidewalk. For nothing. Maybe only a fresh hard drive
might be used on something like that. The price of legit refurbs
varies with time, and it might be $300 one day, and $200 the next.
It's best not to be shopping for one, around August when the
students "return to school". The selection of refurbs today,
include quad core CPUs. They might typically include 8GB of RAM,
and an x64 OS can be run on them (runs x86 or x64 executables).

It's still a lot of work for a motivated person, no matter what
you do. See if any community refurbishers are available near
you, and see what they've got on offer. You could have a
Pentium 4 for nothing, but it might not boot Windows 10 and
might need an older OS. There are instruction set requirements
it would fail to meet.

As I've given up on Apple, I don't have any "worked examples" of
Windows running on Apple. My last experiment on the MacG4, was
running a then-available PowerPC version of Linux on it. Linux might
have very thin support for that now.

   Paul