• Bink and DOS

    From Sean Dennis@1:11/200 to All on Thursday, September 12, 2002 21:17:14
    OTE: DCTEdit v0.04 [0]
    Hi, everyone.

    How can I get Bink/W32 to drop a com port, not a com handle, to a DOS-based BBS? I've searched the docs and couldn't find anything. This is the first time I've tried to use BT/W32 with a DOS-based BBS. Any and all help is appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Sean
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    * Origin: Midnight's Hour BBS - Carbondale, IL (1:11/200)
  • From Jerry Schwartz@1:142/928 to Sean Dennis on Friday, September 13, 2002 10:14:02
    Hello, Sean...

    Sep 12, 2002 at 20:17, Sean Dennis wrote to All:

    How can I get Bink/W32 to drop a com port, not a com handle, to a DOS-based
    BBS? I've searched the docs and couldn't find anything. This is the first
    time I've tried to use BT/W32 with a DOS-based BBS. Any and all help
    is
    appreciated.

    This is rather taxing my memory, since I fiddled with this extensively way back
    but not for a couple of years, but here goes:

    BT/W32 does use a com port, but unfortunately the "rules" of Windows affect whether or not this will work for you. If you are using Win9x, the problem is that COMMAND.COM is an "OldDOS" application and plays by the old 16-bit rules. When you run a batch job that in turn runs BT/Win32, Bink opens the com port as
    you would expect. It can then exit to the batch job leaving the port open, and the batch job can run a DOS-based program which can use that com port.

    The problem is that when this happens, the 16-bit environment that is running the batch job and DOS-based programs becomes the "owner" of the com port. When the job loops around and starts BT/Win32 again, Bink will be unable to regain control of the com port because the OldDOS virtual machine has no mechanism for
    surrendering it.

    In the NT environment, this shouldn't be a problem but I've never tried it myself. I've also never pursued various other clever bits of business, such as using WinBatch instead of COMMAND.COM; using some combination of START commands
    that allows the batch job to terminate and restart, rather than looping, and so
    forth.

    Using the WinFOSSIL version should fix this, but perhaps only for FOSSIL-based applications. I remember there was something that stumped me when I was trying to use a non-FOSSIL FAX program.

    Regards,

    Jerry Schwartz

    mailto:jerryschwartz@comfortable.com
    http://www.writebynight.com

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    * Origin: Write by Night (1:142/928)