DOS ain't dead

Hello,

Roberto made me aware of OWB. This is a GUI Webbrowser using SDL and Apple's Webkit ( search for +OWB +SDL in Google for more details ).

With a few extensions it works to some extend in DOS with HX v2.17.

Here's my email to Roberto:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm now able to run the browser. It's not that stable, but runs ok for "playing purposes" so far. I uploaded HXRT/GUI v2.17 on my site which did work for me.

What's needed in detail:

- packet driver
- Mouse driver
- DOSLFN
- HX v2.17
- WLDAP32.DLL from Windows XP
- MS VC 2005 runtimes ( MSVCR80.DLL, MSVCP80.DLL )
- MSVCRT.DLL ( for SDL.DLL )
- your package ( http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15843/Appli_vista.rar )

You start it with: DPMILD32 -g OWB.EXE >xxx

[ the ">xxx" is important to prevent the console displays from appearing on the screen ].

What's still bad:

- resolution is 800x600 fix. Can you ask the OWB developer to change this to 1024x768?
- no possibility to enter an URL. How's this supposed to work?
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please note that the software is alpha - that means, no need to report "bugs" or crashes.

Here's a screenshot made in DOS:

---
MS-DOS forever!

Fantastic! I will definitely try it next week when I will be home.

---
DOS-u-akbar!

> With a few extensions it works to some extend in DOS with HX v2.17

Really ???

> You start it with: DPMILD32 -g OWB.EXE >xxx

...

> [ the ">xxx" is important to prevent the console displays from appearing on the screen ].

> NUL would not do the job ???

> resolution is 800x600 fix.

And this is evil because ???

> Can you ask the OWB developer to change this to 1024x768?

Bad idea ... or optionally only

> no possibility to enter an URL. How's this supposed to work?
> Here's a screenshot made in DOS:

So how did you find the BTTR forum with it ???

The good things:

- There seem to be important fixes in DKRNL32, WSOCK and HELL32
- Missing imports in OWB and early crashes are gone
- MEDIAINFO works now

The evil things:

- OWB doesn't work, all what I get is just a white screen (sorry no stupid empty shot uploaded)
- It still crashes when I push CTL-C
- [minor] HX BUG with redundant space still in (see shot)

Funny things:

- Arguments are reversed compared to XP (see shot)





Oops, forgot to retest the HX timing regression, or is it fixed maybe ?

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> > With a few extensions it works to some extend in DOS with HX v2.17
>
> Really ???

It's still 2,5 month till 1. April so yes, it is "really" this time.

> > [ the ">xxx" is important to prevent the console displays from appearing
> on the screen ].
>
> > NUL would not do the job ???

It will, but a file name is better because one gets the exception message from dkrnl32.dll then.

> > resolution is 800x600 fix.
>
> And this is evil because ???

... some web sites expect a minumum resolution of 1024x768.

> > no possibility to enter an URL. How's this supposed to work?
> > Here's a screenshot made in DOS:
>
> So how did you find the BTTR forum with it ???

Since it automagically starts with the google site, I was able to enter "bttr-software" and got a link to click.

---
MS-DOS forever!

> It's still 2,5 month till 1. April so yes, it is "really" this time.

I see ...

> > And this is evil because ???
> ... some web sites expect a minumum resolution of 1024x768.

You're right ... as that such pages indeed do exist. But the conclusions from this fact are:

1. Such pages are faulty

2. Try harder to ZOOM them DOWN

> Since it automagically starts with the google site, I was able to enter
> "bttr-software" and got a link to click.

YES it works now.



The BUG was in WATTTCP.CFG :

> my_ip = dhcp
> dhcp.server = 192.168.178.1

The upper line is good, but the lower one is faulty and has to get kicked out :idea:

OWB good things:

- Can edit Wiki pages > 32 KiB (but see below)
- Supports JS (???) (but see below)

OWB faults:

- No way to type in an address (type it into Google for now)
- Text cursor not visible
- Mouse arrow off
- Page not reloaded after submitting text (but the text is sent, just check it)
- Depends from MSVC??? files
- When no internet connection found, the error mesage is just a white screen
- No way to view local HTML files ???
- No TFM, no "official" download
- No way to control Cookies, JS, Referee, User-Agent, History, Images, Privacy (any way besides DBAN ???

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> The BUG was in WATTTCP.CFG :
>
> > my_ip = dhcp
> > dhcp.server = 192.168.178.1

This is not a bug, but the value which works for my PCs. It's described in WATTCP.CFG that this entry has to be adjusted when a DHCP server is to be used.

> OWB faults:
>
> - Text cursor not visible

Yes. I have no idea how OWB does create it. Quite obviously it doesn't use the Win32 "caret" functions.

> - Mouse arrow off

I'm able to see it - and it's adjusting its shape as expected.

> - Depends from MSVC??? files

I guess that OWB is compiled with MS VC 2005. It's perhaps possible to compile it with MinGW, so that MSVCR80 and MSVCP80 aren't needed anymore.

> - When no internet connection found, the error mesage is just a white
> screen

Use HX's WSTEST ( "WSTEST -v www.google.com" ) to ensure that the low level config is working.

> - No way to control Cookies, JS, Referee, User-Agent, History, Images,
> Privacy (any way besides DBAN ???

Yes. Also no cache and surely even more deficiencies. Noone said it's mature.

---
MS-DOS forever!

> > - Mouse arrow off
> I'm able to see it - and it's adjusting its shape as expected.

I do see it too ... but cca 10 pixels away from the place where it "should be" and where it "clicks"

> I guess that OWB is compiled with MS VC 2005. It's perhaps possible to
> compile it with MinGW, so that MSVCR80 and MSVCP80 aren't needed anymore.

Or switch the dependency off in MSVC ?

> Use HX's WSTEST ( "WSTEST -v www.google.com" ) to ensure that the low
> level config is working.

OK.

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

>> - Text cursor not visible

> Yes. I have no idea how OWB does create it. Quite obviously it doesn't use > the Win32 "caret" functions.

I verified that there's also no "caret" in Windows. So this is no emulation problem.

> > > - Mouse arrow off
> > I'm able to see it - and it's adjusting its shape as expected.
>
> I do see it too ... but cca 10 pixels away from the place where it "should
> be" and where it "clicks"

move the cursor to the upper left corner. This should sync the internal and "external" positions.

---
MS-DOS forever!

It doesn't work for me. It complains about unsupported imports from MSVCR80.DLL
Maybe I have some bad version of this DLL.
Could you please upload somewhere the needed and working DLLs?

---
DOS-u-akbar!

> > The BUG was in WATTTCP.CFG :
> >
> > > my_ip = dhcp
> > > dhcp.server = 192.168.178.1
>
> This is not a bug, but the value which works for my PCs. It's described in
> WATTCP.CFG that this entry has to be adjusted when a DHCP server is to be
> used.

Background: A DHCP client uses broadcasts to find a DHCP server offering an IP address. So unless you have more than one DHCP server in your subnet, the second line could / should be omitted.

---
Forum admin

> It doesn't work for me. It complains about unsupported imports from
> MSVCR80.DLL
> Maybe I have some bad version of this DLL.
> Could you please upload somewhere the needed and working DLLs?

http://www.japheth.de/Download/msvc8.zip

---
MS-DOS forever!

> > > The BUG was in WATTTCP.CFG :
> > >
> > > > my_ip = dhcp
> > > > dhcp.server = 192.168.178.1
> >
> > This is not a bug, but the value which works for my PCs. It's described
> in
> > WATTCP.CFG that this entry has to be adjusted when a DHCP server is to
> be
> > used.
>
> Background: A DHCP client uses broadcasts to find a DHCP server offering
> an IP address. So unless you have more than one DHCP server in your
> subnet, the second line could / should be omitted.

thanks!

---
MS-DOS forever!

There's some progress (hx v2.17)

- the "resolution" issue is solved. OWB starts with 800x600, but in Windows one can simply maximize the window to get a larger window size. HX didn't have a UI for "maximization", but this has been added now in the hxgui menu.

- there were a lot of crashes with OWB in hx due to heap corruption. The current heap allocation function in v2.17 does therefore internally add 8 bytes to each heap request. This makes the thing significantly more stable. Apparently Windows some something quite similar, since the crashes occured in hx only. Also, when a heap item is released, some additional integrity checks are done and if they fail, the heap is displayed and an exception is raised. This will be temporarily only.

However, there are still crashes and issues with the mouse. Also, owb isn't the fastest browser.

---
MS-DOS forever!

Laaca wrote:

> It doesn't work for me. It complains about unsupported imports
> from MSVCR80.DLL Maybe I have some bad version of this DLL.

M$WCRT80.DLL is the primary evil here

Japheth wrote:

> I verified that there's also no "caret" in Windows. So this is no emulation problem.

So we found a BUG in pre-Alpha software. Incredible !!!

> move the cursor to the upper left corner. This should sync the internal and "external" positions.

I'll try.

> There's some progress (hx v2.17)

Good Could you look at the timing regression and the "spawn-FS-GPF-BUG" also ?

> there were a lot of crashes with OWB in hx due to heap corruption.
> The current heap allocation function in v2.17 does therefore
> internally add 8 bytes to each heap request. This makes the thing
> significantly more stable. Apparently Windows some something quite
> similar, since the crashes occured in hx only.



> Also, when a heap item is released, some additional integrity
> checks are done and if they fail, the heap is displayed and an
> exception is raised. This will be temporarily only.

So what should be the "final" solution to this problem ?

> Also, owb isn't the fastest browser.

Well, I would not whine about this too early

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> - there were a lot of crashes with OWB in hx due to heap corruption. The
> current heap allocation function in v2.17 does therefore internally add 8
> bytes to each heap request. This makes the thing significantly more
> stable. Apparently Windows some something quite similar, since the crashes
> occured in hx only. Also, when a heap item is released, some additional
> integrity checks are done and if they fail, the heap is displayed and an
> exception is raised. This will be temporarily only.

the reason for the kernel heap corruption has been found finally. The additional integrity checks were removed. The OWB browser runs ok now.

---
MS-DOS forever!

> the reason for the kernel heap corruption has been found finally.

COOL and it was ??? Maybe a bug of HX ?

> The OWB browser runs ok now.

COOL

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> > my_ip = dhcp
> > dhcp.server = 192.168.178.1
> This is not a bug, but the value which works

nevertheless you fixed this NOT-a-BUG:

> #dhcp.server = 192.168.178.1

But why cross "#" instead of semicolon ";" ???

> the reason for the kernel heap corruption has been found finally. The
> additional integrity checks were removed.

COOL.

> __/__/2009: version 3.5
> bugfix: DuplicateHandle() didn't work for mutexes and waitable timers.
> bugfix: the kernel heap was defined incorrectly, which raised the risk
> that part of its content was corrupted if an application created lots
> of kernel objects.
> GlobalAddAtomW() added.
> GetNumberFormatW() added (stub).
> GetCurrencyFormatA() + GetCurrencyFormatW() added (stubs).
> OpenWaitableTimerA() added.
> heaps are now serialized with a mutex instead of a semaphore.
> the default exception handler will display contents of CS:EIP and SS:ESP.
> SetEvent() will switch threads if a thread is waiting for the event.
> mouse wheel events supported



> The OWB browser runs ok now.

Really ??? The mouse "whell" works pretty well for me, but the cursor is still "off",

> move the cursor to the upper left corner. This should sync the
> internal and "external" positions.

Hitting the top left corner indeed adjusts it, but soon it is (much) off again

Other faults:

- No BACK button
- Can neither upload nor download files, WtF
- Can't login into SF
- No user agent switcher, reports itself as "Safari on Linux"

Good:

- PNG decoder seems to work (this is untrue for Arachne, or the (external) decoder is itself maybe fine but CORE.EXE fails on <8bpp BMP's coming from it )

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> > > my_ip = dhcp
> > > dhcp.server = 192.168.178.1
> > This is not a bug, but the value which works
>
> nevertheless you fixed this NOT-a-BUG:

Yes, because you got backup from the admin ... I'm used to respect authorities ... I'm German

> > #dhcp.server = 192.168.178.1
>
> But why cross "#" instead of semicolon ";" ???

Fixed.

> > move the cursor to the upper left corner. This should sync the
> > internal and "external" positions.
>
> Hitting the top left corner indeed adjusts it, but soon it is (much) off
> again

Regard it as a little gymnastics ... to "improve your health".

> Other faults:
>
> - No BACK button

What about F1?

> - Can neither upload nor download files, WtF

Yes. Same when running in Windows.

---
MS-DOS forever!

> Regard it as a little gymnastics ... to "improve your health"

GOOD

> > - No BACK button
> What about F1?

* F1 back
* F2 forward
* F3 ZOOM down (invalidates your "Critical-800x600-BUG")
* F4 ZOOM up

Of course I tested some keys including F1 but apparently only with the title Google so they didn't do anything useful

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***