OBRIEN%OBRIEN@VENUS.YCC.YALE.EDU ("James A. O'Brien 432-4382", 203) (01/08/88)
I got the Turbo V4.0 upgrade for IBM machines by upgrading from my DEC version.
The integrated environment version does not seem to run, even with CODE
BLUE (V2.01), although I didn't investigate thoroughly. However, the command
line version is just fine. Regarding IBM-specific code, it is all contained
in what Borland calls UNITS - sets of linkable runtime code, invoked in
the Pascal code using a USES statement. The units which handle DOS (DOS),
the printer (PRINTER) and various internals of Turbo (SYSTEM) are generic
and run on ANY MS-DOS machine. The problems occur with the graphics (GRAPH)
and screen-handline (CRT) units. While graphics are going to be a problem
anyway (solutions for DEC PCs include ReGIS and GSX-86 for MS-DOS), the
CRT unit can be rewritten to be DEC-compatible. I have done this, except
for the windowing stuff and the text-mode and text-colour functions. Most
of the code is straight ANSI codes, so it should even work on an IBMPC with
ANSI.SYS installed. An exception is the code for WhereX and WhereY, the
cursor location routines, which are just identical to the code that Alan
Vymetalik posted to the net the other day. I'd be happy to e-mail this
code to anyone interested. Of course, one could code these functions for
the Rainbow's ROM video calls, but I have no need for this at the moment.
By the way, having used the integrated environment of TPV4 on my AT at work,
I am disappointed that there isn't a version for the Rainbow - it is amazing!
Jim O'Brien
Department of Chemical Engineering
Yale University
P.O.Box 2159 Yale Station
New Haven, CT 06520, U.S.A.
+1 203 432 4382
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