Unfold Copyright ©1996, ©1997, ©1998, ©1999 By Doug Garmon

Email:
doug@ohioclimbers.org
mgarmon@kent.edu

Read LICENSE.txt for more detailed info. All rights are reserved. This license pertains only to the current version, 0.6

UNFOLD V0.6 executable is currently FREEWARE.

Restrictions:

1. UNFOLD may not be distributed for profit. It may be distributed for the cost of media alone.
2. UNFOLD may be used by amateur or commercial builders, but any plans sold or otherwise distributed MUST include a notice that UNFOLD was used in the production of said plans. A statement which satisfies the above restriction : "Produced using UNFOLD, Copyright ©1999 by Doug Garmon";
3. UNFOLD must be distributed only as the original archive. No materials may be added or removed from the archive.

DJGPP is a freeware C++ complier for DOS environments. The regular UNFOLD executable was compiled with EGCS, a freeware compiler for MSWindows (though it also is run under DOS in that environment).

Because of this limitation, I have compiled this version which should work on Non-MSWindows DOS environments. The DJGPP executable will also run on MSWindows machines, also.

But wait, there are a few complications:

Requirements for using DJGPP executables

DJGPP-compiled programs should execute with a 386SX processor, 2 Megs of ram (low memory situations such as this may effect the DPMI settings (see below)) and enough harddrive space to run the DPMI (see below).

A DPMI (DOS Protected Mode Interface) host is also required. Not all DOS-style environments include one, but many do.

From the DJGPP FAQ:

DJGPP programs use DPMI (the DOS Protected Mode Interface) to allow DOS/BIOS calls from protected mode. Therefore, any environment that can run DOS programs and provides DPMI services will run DJGPP programs as well. Environments that are known to be compatible with DJGPP include MS-DOS, DR-DOS, NWDOS, FreeDOS, OpenDOS, Windows 3.X, 9X and NT, OS/2, and Linux DOSEmu. When DJGPP programs run on Windows 9X, they support long filenames.

Q: What is this DPMI thing you are all talking about?

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A: DPMI, the DOS Protected-Mode Interface, is an API that allows protected-mode programs to run on top of DOS, which is a real-mode operating system, and still be able call real-mode DOS and BIOS services. A special API is required because DOS code cannot be run in protected mode: if you try, your system will immediately crash, since the real-mode DOS and BIOS code violates many restrictions of protected-mode programming.

I don't have a DPMI available--can I still run the program?

Yes. The DJGPP compiler includes a freeware DPMI. The DPMI is quite a small download.

The file archive is located at:
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2misc/

Files needed:
csdpmi4b.zip - CS's DPMI Provider Binaries
dpmi-en.tgz - DPMI specs, HTML, English

From the DJGPP FAQ:

What do DJGPP programs need to run?
Q: When I copy my DJGPP application program to another PC where no DJGPP is installed, I can't run it. It complains that it cannot find DPMI (??). Do I really need all of your multi-megabyte installation to run compiled programs?

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A: No, you don't. You can either (a) bring the CWSDPMI.EXE free DPMI host to the target machine and put it in the same directory as your compiled program or somewhere along the PATH, or (b) install another DPMI host (such as QDPMI, 386Max, Windows, etc.) on the target machine.

I personally have not tested the UNFOLD executable with anything but a MSWindows DOS window. Anyone who has any experience with unusual environments can help the development of UNFOLD by emailing me their successes/failures.

Email:
doug@ohioclimbers.org
mgarmon@kent.edu

Running/using the UNFOLD program

Please see the UNFOLD Homepage for links to documentation about program usage.