Subj : Bink and DOS
To   : Sean Dennis
From : Jerry Schwartz
Date : Fri Sep 13 2002 10:14 am

Hello, Sean...

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

SD> How can I get Bink/W32 to drop a com port, not a com handle, to a
SD> DOS-based
SD> BBS?  I've searched the docs and couldn't find anything.  This is the
SD> first
SD> time I've tried to use BT/W32 with a DOS-based BBS.  Any and all help
SD> is
SD> 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:[email protected]
http://www.writebynight.com

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