Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - Martin Iturbide

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 35
1
Article Discussions / Games with older SDL and FSLIB
« on: June 23, 2025, 05:08:53 pm »
Hello Again

I've been updating my OHFOWG project and I found some SDL games that does not work directly on ArcaOS.

They use an old SDL.DLL library (that is SDL 1.x) and some require "SDDHELP$".

Code: [Select]
Games that require SDL.DLL

G:\WARP\A\Abe's Amazing Adventure
G:\WARP\A\Alizarin Tetris
G:\WARP\E\Enigma
G:\WARP\F\Formido
G:\WARP\H\UHexen
G:\WARP\K\KoboDeluxe
G:\WARP\L\Lopan
G:\WARP\L\Luola
G:\WARP\M\Marryampic2
G:\WARP\R\Rock Dodger
G:\WARP\S\sdlinvaders
G:\WARP\S\sdlroids
G:\WARP\S\sdlzombies
G:\WARP\S\snakeme
G:\WARP\S\still yet another sokoban
G:\WARP\T\Tiles World
G:\WARP\X\XRick

Code: [Select]
Games that Requires FSLIB.DLL

G:\WARP\A\Abe's Amazing Adventure
G:\WARP\A\Alizarin Tetris
G:\WARP\A\Amoebax
G:\WARP\C\Cuyo\bin
G:\WARP\E\Enigma
G:\WARP\F\Formido
G:\WARP\H\UHexen
G:\WARP\I\InfinityCat
G:\WARP\K\KoboDeluxe
G:\WARP\K\Kuklomenos
G:\WARP\L\Lopan
G:\WARP\L\Luola
G:\WARP\M\Marryampic2
G:\WARP\P\Pingus
G:\WARP\R\Rock Dodger
G:\WARP\S\sdlinvaders
G:\WARP\S\sdlroids
G:\WARP\S\sdlzombies
G:\WARP\S\snakeme
G:\WARP\S\still yet another sokoban
G:\WARP\T\Tiles World
G:\WARP\X\XRick

But FSLIB.DLL also shows in some of the games. For what I know FSLIB is a library to allow the game to run in Full Screen, it also says that "SDDHELP$" is required.

My questions are:
1) Does it makes sense today to use FSLIB, or if there is a better alternative with SDL? I had seen games that with Alt+Tab I can get full screen in games like Tower Toppler without using FSLIB.

2) Does it makes sense to try to recompile this games to avoid FSLIB and "SDDHELP$", or it can backfire?

Regards

2
Games / ArcaOS as a RetroGaming Platform
« on: June 23, 2025, 04:30:44 pm »
Hello,

I've been updating my OHFOWG project, and the idea of ArcaOS as a retro platform often comes up in discussions. I personally think it's a great concept, and here's my brainstorm of the key points needed to achieve that:

DOS VDM
DTAudio:
- Enhance DTAudio to finally enable sound within DOS VDM using Uniaud.
- Improve the DTAudio Win-OS/2 Driver for more stable performance in Win-OS/2 sessions.
- I would even prefer DTAudio to be open source. If not, perhaps it could be developed as a closed-source collaborative project under the Netlabs umbrella.

Win16 - Win-OS/2
I think it would also be beneficial to revisit Win16 games and identify which ones work well under Win-OS/2.
- Document any required extra runtimes or libraries (e.g., QuickTime, Windows Media) needed for games to function.
- Document and update information on running Win-OS/2 games, specifically with ArcaOS in mind.

Casual Gaming
SDL:
SDL is crucial for porting smaller casual games.
- Invest in making SDL, SDL2, and potentially SDL3 more stable under ArcaOS.

Win32 Gaming
ODIN:
I know it's a long shot to get all Win32 games playable under ODIN, but it would be good to improve ODIN incrementally. We could aim to bring it closer to the latest Wine version and document which Win32 games are runnable on ArcaOS with it.

Joystick Support
Wim Brul's USB joystick drivers are excellent. He managed to modify the old game port driver to allow games that use it to work with USB joysticks. I would suggest:
- Completing a General Availability (GA) version of the drivers.
- Creating a graphical user interface (GUI) to help users configure different USB gamepads and joysticks (currently done via REXX scripts).

What do you think? What are your comments, and what am I missing from this brainstorm?

Regards,

3
Applications / Mouse Cursor disapear.
« on: June 21, 2025, 04:11:07 pm »
Hello

It happened to me a that I have a miss behaved application (in this case sdlmame with an older SDL12.DLL) that I had to kill with TOP.

The desktop came back, but no mouse pointer is showed. The mouse is working because if I can click randomly it clicks, but I it does not show.

Do you have a technique the get the mouse pointer back without a reboot? The reset the WPS does not help with that.

Regards

4
Games / Revisiting some Flash Games
« on: June 18, 2025, 05:15:19 pm »
Hello

I was contacted to revisit some old flash games and I wanted to give it a try.
I think it will be worthy to document the working flash games with Odin and possible also include those in Hobbes in some way.  Maybe adding a install.cmd script to add an icon on the desktop, and include an PNG and ICO file for each. (I'm still brainstorming this)

I don't remember installing Flash on my ArcaOS VM and they work. Maybe the flash engine is embedded on the .exe.

Give a try this ones, run it like "pe eggs.exe" from the command line.
Do they work directly for you?

Regards

5
Hello

I think I missed this article at it's time. It was posted on June 22, 2020, and it tells the story on how Scott Schweitzer created the first OS/2 install CD for the "OS/2 Professional Developer's Kit (PDK)".

- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-first-ever-os-install-cd-scott-schweitzer-/

Regards


6
Programming / Request: Compile "Tower Topper" (aka Nebulus)
« on: May 11, 2025, 10:20:22 pm »
Hello

Can someone please help me to compile "Tower Topper" 1.3 to AcaOS ?
It uses SDL 2 now. (Dependencies: SDL2_mixer  (with ogg support if you want music), sdl2 and zlib)

Here it is the source code: https://gitlab.com/roever/toppler/

Here it is the old one, just in case: https://www.os2world.com/games/index.php/native-games/strategy/301-tower-toppler

I will like to understand better the makefile to see if I can do it by myself as an exercise.

Regards

7
Applications / Apache and PHP
« on: April 12, 2025, 04:47:38 pm »
Hello

I just got a request from a user and he wants to know the latest Apache and PHP libs port for OS/2.

My guess is:
- https://hobbesarchive.com/Home/Download?path=/Hobbes/pub/os2/server/web/ApacheHTTPSrv_2-4-52.zip
- https://smedley.id.au/tmp/php-5.6.40-os2-20201213.zip

Is that correct?

Regards

8
Programming / EDM/2 - The API Project - Undocumented
« on: April 08, 2025, 02:43:12 pm »
Hello

I want to ask a little help here. I found this undocumented functions and I want to see if we can document those on the EDM/2 wiki.

1) DrgQueryFormat
Ref: https://www.edm2.com/index.php/OS/2_DLL_Entry_Points_Cross_Reference
- PMCTLS.107

2) DrgGetClipPS
Ref: https://www.edm2.com/index.php/OS/2_DLL_Entry_Points_Cross_Reference
- PMCTLS.108    PMDRAG.76

I want to provide as close as possible a documentation like this function as sample, syntax, parameters, etc.. just what we can find out.

Thanks in advance.

Regards

9
Programming / Brainstorm: OS/2 on a Different Kernel
« on: March 25, 2025, 11:32:20 pm »
Hello

I was wondering what would be required to run OS/2 over a different kernel.

Let’s theorize, what if we want to have PC that boots Linux, gets to the command line and run something like “startwarp” and the full OS/2 desktop will boot. (Command line, PM, SOM, WPS) and you can run your OS/2 applications there. (Not the 100% of OS/2 applications, but at least start with some)

What would be required to make the OS/2 binaries believe they are running over the OS/2 kernel to run interpretated and not emulating a x86 machine.

From my limited knowledge point of view will be required:

1.- OS2KRNL: The OS/2 kernel has everything that you need on an OS kernel to talk to the hardware, but those will not be necessary since the Linux kernel already does this with the hardware. What would be needed is a layer with all the functions that OS2KRNL provides to DOSCALL1.DLL …. I guess.
As far was a I know OS2KRNL provides a lot of DosXXXX functions to DOSCALL1.DLL. I’m guessing all of this needs to be cloned over Linux (maybe with libc/gcc) to make believe DOSCALL1.DLL that is talking to the kernel.

But I think I’m only talking about the API here, what about the memory management? Where it should go?

Does it make sense?

2.- MOUSE$, KBD$, SCREEN$, CLOCK$. As far as I know this are called “Character Device Drivers”. These are drivers that DOSCALL1.DLL and CPI uses. Here I don’t have the details on how these talks to the CPI. Some layer (DRIVER$ to Linux) to mimic the responses of these driver will be required.

There are a lot more for specific driver like USB, LTP, etc. are also required for software that communicates to hardware, but it had to start with the basic ones to first have a full OS/2 desktop and later improve it with better compatibility.

What would be the vital Character Device Drivers to start with?

Where can I found more information on how CLOCK$ (or any other interacts) with CPI or with any other software that requires it?

3.- Binary compatibility. I don’t know if its completely required that Linux has the “Linear Executable” layer like it was done on the 2ine project. But I think I’m missing this part. I guess that the OS2KRNL provides the instruction to let know that an ,exe file is a “Linear Executable” file, right? Where should that go if we are running a OS2KRNL faked in Linux?

Yes, I know that this theorical version of OS/2 will not be 100% compatible with all software, specially with the software that interacts with hardware. All device driver for OS/2 will be useless, and some new technique will need to be created to grab the Linux drivers and show it on the OS/2 environment (Ex: Linux Audio to UNIAUD1$ bridge). 16 bits may be broken and maybe not required today, VDM will be broken and there will be not full API compatibility first. A proof concept will have an awful compatibility first but it has the potential to grow if it’s open source and if people believe in this kind of long-term strategy.

This will not be easy, because it requires developers with OS/2 and Linux development knowledge to obtain at least a minimum of compatibility to make it usable.

Beside these three components that I theorize, what other thing will be missing to run an OS/2 desktop interpreted in Linux? What do you think? Please correct me where my interpretations of the OS/2 architecture are wrong.

Regards

10
General Discussion / Brainstorm: What is Next with OS/2 ?
« on: March 19, 2025, 06:39:14 pm »
Hello

Yes, again, the typical thread for brainstorming about the future of OS/2 and ArcaOS.

On Dec of 2023 I sent the attached wish list document to Lewis based on past discussions.

Today ArcaOS is running on UEFI and finally has some language localizations like German, Spanish, and Russian.

It seems to me that the top requirements from the perspective of the OS are still:
1) Modern web browser
2) Wifi Driver.

What do you think it is missing or what had changed from 2023's wishlist to today?

On the other hand, what else can it be interesting to do as a community?

Regards


11
Hello.

I found this news at Slashdot.org
- https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/03/11/1446251/firefox-certificate-expiration-threatens-add-ons-streaming-on-march-14

"A critical root certificate expiring on March 14, 2025 will disable extensions and potentially break DRM-dependent streaming services for Firefox users running outdated browsers. Users must update to at least Firefox 128 or ESR 115.13+ to maintain functionality across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android platforms.

The expiration additionally compromises security infrastructure, including blocklists for malicious add-ons, SSL certificate revocation lists, and password breach notifications. Even those on legacy operating systems (Windows 7/8/8.1, macOS 10.12â"10.14) must update to minimum ESR 115.13+."

I was wondering how this affect us, since we are at Firefox 45. Is it possible to get affected with malicious sites? or this just for Add-ons?

Regards

12
Hello.

I'm going to create some .rpm packages of OS/2 software that I use, and I would like to share it here. If there is any comment on improvements please let me know.

Regards

13
Applications / OS/2 Architecture Illustration
« on: March 09, 2025, 09:28:52 pm »
Hello

I found in Wikipedia an OS/2 architecture illustration that is based in a graphic I made (which I consider great that someone remixed my little work, that was the intention).
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2#/media/File:OS-2_Warp_x86_Architecture.svg

I found it interesting that this author extended the Presentation Manager component and added the rings on the architecture graphic.

I understand this is a graphical interpretation with the idea of trying to explain better the architecture, so some "concessions" are made to make it easy to explain. But I have some question here:

1) Does Presentation Manager do not depend at all of CPI?
2) Does "Full Screen Session" does not depend at all of CPI? Can an OS/2 application run directly to the kernel without going thought CPI ?

Regards

14
General Discussion / OS2World Site Update
« on: March 04, 2025, 04:11:47 pm »
Hello

I needed to update OS2World. Joomla was getting obsolete and it gave me a lot of messages that the version was insecure. Plus I also had the pressure that PHP gets updated and older versions became insecure in case a vulnerability is found. An old version of PHP can be a secure risk for a server.

The issue here is that to update Joomla I needed to change the design template of the site, since the older was incompatible, and also I needed to program in PHP the module to see the latest forum posts from the main page. So there are changes in both that may no work like the past version.

The disadvantage of the new design template is that, even that is functional on Dooble on OS/2, does not render exactly as other navigators (even the same Dooble) in different platforms. I tested Dooble OS/2 for Qt5 and Qt6 with the same results.

The forum script is also a old and discontinued version, but I will leave it this way as long as I can (or as long as PHP allows it) because the latest version of SMForum is not compatible with our version of Firefox and we will need to switch to Dooble.

Regards

15
Programming / Compile a Game Weekend
« on: February 28, 2025, 06:45:48 pm »
Hello

Here in Ecuador there is a long holiday coming (Monday and Tuesday), and there is no money to go on vacations  ;D ;D, so instead I want to see if I can compile some SDL games.

I want to try to compile Barrage 1.0.7
- http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/lgames/barrage-1.0.7.tar.gz

- I can not understand the makefile of it. Dave, since you compiled before, can you please explain me the procedure?
- Can it be compiled with our SDL2_Mixer, or I would need to use the SDL_1-2-15_2020-10-05 ?

Regards

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 35