controversy free question: DSOCK + DOS?

[mennonite]

i know, dsock is for dos.
last i heard (i'm mostly unfamiliar) though, dsock requires windows internet layer.
someone close to the project (forget who, it's in the first issue of qbe) hoped someone would make a dos + dos version (i believe) instead of a dos + windows version... i know a way this is possible: maybe.
not that i know enough about the internal workings (of anything involved) to do it myself.
only arachne, the shareware dos browser (now the gnu dos browser) has a really reliable dialer and network layer, most of it is gnu (like that matters, because anyone can download it for free) and it's easy to set up on a dialup net connection. it's possible (but less likely to work) on a NIC connection as well.

so i'm thinking maybe there's a solution in this? i don't know how popular dsock is now, i hear it mentioned on the qbasic forum, but i don't know if anyone's active with it. anyone got thoughts on this? other than the fact that almost no one would be interested in such a project, of course. i can guess why

[Pete]

As far as I know, there has only ever been one DSOCK application made: Connect 4 QB by WisdomDude and Marcade.

[mennonite]

although it could be a sign that no one who knows about dsock will actually read this thread.
so the cs2d clone didn't use dsock then?
i don't remember anymore than you do.
i just finished reading qbe 1 and qbe 2, edited by pete, and now that you're posting here it's like stepping out of a time machine. that and i'm half asleep.

again, dsock works with winsock, and arachne (really more of a tiny suite than an app, also now freeware) contains everything you need for a dos internet layer... wondering if the authors are still interested in adapting it for dos+dos instead of dos+win.

but then there was something called ds4qb. dunno if that ever got off the ground, still learning about this stuff... and groggy. still got julia set and camera 3d swimming in head like a little gold fishie. great magazine. ow, now the julia set is 3d.

anyway, nevermind, unless someone is eager to say something about dsock. i guess it's all in the past but this was just last year. and the c4 game looked really cool, on a loosely related note.

[Antoni]

AFAIK the author of Dsock is the same V1ctor who invented and is actively developping FB. Probably he is too busy now...

BTW, FB will have built-in internet support in the near future , I suppose the DOS version too.

[Pete]

Yeah, V1ctor made DSOCK. I believe you're right that the Counterstrike 2D Clone was going to use DSOCK, but that project has been cancelled ever since V1ctor started working on FreeBasic.

[ShadowWolf]

i don't think freebasic dos version will have built in support for socket programming.

for the simple fact writting a network backend from the ground up is a large job. writting all the network layers would take alot of time for IP and TCP/UDP protocals that would take atleast a month to write and test

below the IP layer is where all the really hard stuff pops up. for Dial UP you need to writte a PPP layer then a modem driver.

for DSL you might need to write a PPPoE layer along with raw ether packets then a ethernet card driver for dos

Cable connection you can just go to just Ether.

it be pretty cool is some one want and did all the work create socket lib for dos but i really don't think you will find many programmers that would be willing to go through the hell of trying it.

[Antoni]

Someone (Sebasitian Mate?) did a pure DOS TCP-IP library for QB years before DSock, I remember it used an external TCP-IP lib, don't rememeber its name, but FB devs could use it.
That QB library went unnoticed because of the install process of the TCP-IP lib was tricky, to use a soft expression...


EDITED: I found it. It was Sebastian, here is the program http://home.arcor.de/sebmate/more.htm and the packet driver is Crynwr.
...Thinking it twice, it's a 16bid driver, so not apropiete for FB.

EDIT2: I just goggled this TCPIP driver for Win 32 http://www.bgnett.no/~giva/

[SebMcClouth]

Probably this code can be found in the near future (probably before the end of this year) in qbinux... By that time I gonna do some beta testing on it for home-networking... if that works... we might gonna see qbinux hooking up to the internet... through text-mode or if we reach version 1.0.0 before that time... in the future GUI.

grtz

Seb

[{Nathan}]

Seb, I didn't know you were a matricx fan! I love the matrix, whats better than not only having your activities being dictated by computers but being controlled by them

[mennonite]

i'm more a fan of the idea than the movie, even. i don't think the matrix is made of computers, of course. i think the matrix is made of culture, not silicon. the effect is the same.

anyways, now you both think i'm nuts. it's okay. the purpose of my original post was to mention that arachne for dos has the dialer and ppp layer and everything you need to put an dos app online. i thought it would be cool if someone could adapt dsock (or tell me more about ds4qb) so that it could use the ppp layer in dos instead of still needing windows. of course i'm not holding my breath. i won't hold my breath for internet support in fbdos either, although that would be just as good a solution, if not better.

as far as i know, and i am fairly new to the scene, there is only one v1ctor (not his first name) and he was responsible for dsock and is half of badlogic (the other half being blitz. however, was blitz behind "blitzbasic?") and if there is only one, then he is the same v1ctor behind freebasic, which makes him a bit of a god among men. not that he didn't have help. an of course it was drv that translated the headers for dos use. i would have said something about how great they are in the "who are your favorite..." thread, but i didn't think anyone would really care who my heroes are. of course pete runs the best qbasic portal online (imo) so i look up to him too. eh.

i wonder if drv is at all invovled with the freedos project. it seems he should be... but my understanding is that he did fbdos for a lark, and won't be bending over sideways to keep it a big project. it is in version 0.14 now though, and that thrills me to pieces. i do hope someone will provide an all-purpose basic internet connection for BASIC/qb/fb someday though. not that i am holding my breath

i still say the arachne suite would be the easiest way to get an internet layer. although it is put together for the arachne browser, the same dialer and ppp layer is available to lynx and a dos irc program, not written by the makers of arachne, once you've connected... in dos, without windows. i wish i knew enough to make it happen on my own. i'd do it myself if i could. maybe i should mention this on the arachne forum. there might still be one.

[SebMcClouth]

Yes I am a matrix fan, from the first hour. I just had to know what was inside...

hehehe

grtz
Seb

[DrV]

There is a possibility that the sockets stuff in FB would work in the DOS port, but it is a very remote possibility. It would probably use WattTCP-32 or something similar, which requires the user to install an appropriate packet driver for his network card (or modem, I guess) - I have not personally tried it since I don't have any network cards that I could find a DOS packet driver for.