From 332b1a598d6c707c859e51181ecc4368eecef24f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: gered Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2019 18:06:56 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] add README.md --- README.md | 49 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 49 insertions(+) create mode 100644 README.md diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f452218 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,49 @@ +# FTE: The Folding Text Editor + +This is a fork of the "20010819" source release [available here](http://fte.sourceforge.net). + +**This is NOT based on the newest FTE sources available. Please check the actual SourceForge +project page for newer source updates if you're not interested in the DOS-specific changes +that this Git repo is about.** + +Changes: + +* Built against Watcom C/C++ 11.0 and DOS/4GW +* Fixed the `ScreenSizeX` and `ScreenSizeY` global config properties so that they are actually used under DOS. + +Existing `.CNF` files built for the 20010819 FTE release should all work the same and not need +to be rebuilt. + +From the "Release" page, the ZIP file contains two pre-built CNF config files that are otherwise +identical except that `FTE.CNF` sets 80x25 text mode while `FTE80x50.CNF` sets 80x50 text mode. +The `config/` directory contains everything you'll need to build your own custom config via the +included `CFTE.EXE`. Just make any changes you like and then run: + +``` +CFTE config/main.fte +``` + +Which will result in a new file `FTE-NEW.CNF` being built (assuming no errors). + +### Background + +The motivation for these changes comes from the fact that I wanted a DOS build of FTE that I could +use on my "retro" DOS-based PCs for writing code using Watcom C/C++ and DOS/4GW. The only DOS +release of FTE that I'm aware of is compiled with DJGPP and hence uses CWSDPMI. Different DOS +extenders usually don't mix well together and as I found out for myself, when trying to use FTE's +Run/Compile menu options to run external Watcom tools (like wlink, wd, etc) most anything that +uses DOS/4GW would crash likely due to the fact that FTE was running under CWSDPMI. + +After looking at the source code, it seemed that only minor changes would be needed to get a +DOS/4GW-compatible build going (and indeed, _some_ of the Watcom-specific work had been done +already ... I guess in the past someone else had this building with Watcom?). + +After I got it building I noticed that it didn't support DOS 80x50 text mode, even though from +looking at the code it was clear that support for customizable screen sizes was planned from the +start. I guess whoever did the original DOS porting work didn't hook up different DOS text mode +support where it needed to be hooked up. + +For my modified source release of FTE I've cleaned out any sources and build scripts that are +NOT related to Watcom/DOS support. Since this fork is based off an older version of FTE, I feel +like if you're looking for support for some other OS, you're not going to be best served by +starting off from here anyway. Go to the more up to date SourceForge project page instead.