DOS ain't dead

if you like to add a clock at your desktop ( using HX ) you need:

1)gnash ( gnash-win32.zip: an "old" release - only 1,7Mb) : you can download from:
http://www.filewatcher.com/b/ftp/ftp.utl.pt/.mirrors/www.gnu.org/software/gnash/snapshots-0.html

2) msvcrt.dll
opengl.dll
glu32.dll
crtdll.dll
msvcp80.dll

2) the swf ( clock) file you like (not all, only some work) = fine clocks dowloading from:
http://edmullen.net/fclock.php


regards

andrea

Well i'll be darned... it (kinda) works... in general for SWF videos!

  DPMILD32 -G GNASH filespec

It displays simple SWF videos ok, but for SWF videos with embedded controls, it just displays the controls. (Same behavior in Win9x.) Maybe a version issue? Or a keypress issue?

Keypresses don't seem to be functional (except for Esc which does quit).

One dependency has a long filename (SDL_MIXER.DLL), so you either need to:

- unpack and use with a LFN driver

or:

- hack the string "SDL_MIXER.DLL" in GNASH.EXE to whatever 8.3 filename that file unpacks to (probably SDL_MIXE.DLL).

Files NPGNASH.DLL and NSPR4.DLL are not needed for GNASH.EXE (see the README.TXT).

So thanks for the heads up! I don't know of any other player for SWF files in DOS. (Not even MPlayer).

- Doug B.

> Well i'll be darned... it (kinda) works... in general for SWF videos!
>
> DPMILD32 -G GNASH filespec
>
> It displays simple SWF videos ok, but for SWF videos with embedded
> controls, it just displays the controls. (Same behavior in Win9x.) Maybe
> a version issue? Or a keypress issue?
>
> Keypresses don't seem to be functional (except for Esc which does quit).
>
> One dependency has a long filename (SDL_MIXER.DLL), so you either need to:
>
>
> - unpack and use with a LFN driver
>
> or:
>
> - hack the string "SDL_MIXER.DLL" in GNASH.EXE to whatever 8.3 filename
> that file unpacks to (probably SDL_MIXE.DLL).
>
> Files NPGNASH.DLL and NSPR4.DLL are not needed for GNASH.EXE (see the
> README.TXT).
>
> So thanks for the heads up! I don't know of any other player for SWF files
> in DOS. (Not even MPlayer).
>
> - Doug B.

FYI,

Both DOS builds of mplayer (Mik's & Khusraw's), play SWFs
so-long-as they are not compressed.

Compressed SWFs can first be decompressed using cws2fws.exe
to then be played with either DOS build of mplayer.

http://users.ohiohills.com/fmacall/#cws2fws

---
--
http://glennmcc.org/

> Both DOS builds of mplayer (Mik's & Khusraw's), play SWFs
> so-long-as they are not compressed.

Ok, that must be the issue. I don't have many .SWF files, but the ones i do have must be compressed.

MPlayer would be a better solution then -- an "all-in-one" solution... and more current.

> Compressed SWFs can first be decompressed using cws2fws.exe
> to then be played with either DOS build of mplayer.
>
> http://users.ohiohills.com/fmacall/#cws2fws

Thanks for the info and link. Will try it out later....

- Doug B.

Ok, i've tested CWS2FWS, and it works as advertised... and fast!

I've also done some testing of GNASH (0.7.1, 2006-Sep-22), sherpya's latest MPlayer (svn-r36349, 2013-Jun-17), and Khusraw's latest (?) DJGPP MPlayer build (svn-r34661, 2012-Feb-08) with .SWF files, both uncompressed (FWS) and compressed (CWS). This is under pure MS-DOS 7.1, P4/845/ICH4, 1gb ram, ATI Rage 128 Pro Ultra VBE 2.0 video, HX 2.17 beta 2012-Dec-14.

Note that i have only a limited number of SWF files to test, but one of them is the current SWFs from Adobe's Flash-test page: http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

My results:

- Sherpya's MPlayer plays 'em all -- uncompressed *as well as* compressed! But for SWFs with embedded controls, the controls are not displayed -- only the video portion (same behavior under Win9x). And of course, no sound under real DOS.

- Khusraw's MPlayer exits on compressed SWFs:

  [swf @ 323cc0]Compressed SWF format not supported

and crashes on most uncompressed. (Perhaps it's due to my older video card? But everything else plays fine.) This has been my main DOS player, so this is why i believed MPlayer couldn't play SWFs. Ironically, the SWF that it did play was the one from the current Adobe test page... but only after it was decompressed.

- GNASH (as reported previously) plays simple SWFs (both uncompressed and compressed), but for SWFs with embedded controls, it displays only the controls (no video). It also doesn't render some newer SWFs correctly, including the one from the current Adobe test page. And, as mentioned, keypresses (other than Esc) seem to be non-functional. Same behavior under Win9x.

- Doug B.

Could you please give me a link of Khusraw's versions? He had deleted it and the only mirror I have found contains an executable unable to run on DOS, and even in DOSBox.

---
DOS isn't about why. It's about why not.