[GEM Development] OpenGEM 5 freezes/hangs/locks on FreeDOS 0.9 SR2

[John Hupp]

I have more to report on this problem.

I am using current stable:
kernel - 1.1.35 Build 2035b-cvs, 2006-05-21
freecom - 0.84-pre XMS_Swap, 2006-05-21
himem + emm386 - from emmx208 or emm208x ZIP archive

I might have added to the original post by saying that this problem does not occur on an older 486 SX2-50 (no math coprocessor) in an ISA-only motherboard.  Only on this newer Pentium 100 with PCI + ISA.

I could also have added that all my DOS games (Doom, Quake, Duke, Spacequest, Beneath A Steel Sky) run fine on this computer and configuration.

On the chance that there was a physical memory problem I dropped from 16 to 8 MB (no difference), and then also swapped in the extra 8 MB (no difference).

One thing I noticed in further testing was that Draw, Paint and Doodle have the most problems.  All freehand programs.  And if they load successfully, then they work until you try to close them.  Artline is rather stable by comparison, though it does not seem to offer a freehand tool, at least that I could find quickly.

If I drop all the way to no HIMEM and no EMM386, there is insufficient memory to run Artline or Paint.  Draw, Write, Tetris, Scgem, and Fanwor all seemed to work.  But Doodle locks the machine when it closes.

If I add back HIMEM but not EMM386, Doodle causes a reboot while it is loading.  And Write and Draw lock up the machine while loading.

If I add back HIMEM and EMM386, Doodle, Draw and Paint all lock up the machine while closing.

I don't know if they are related, but I read with interest the two threads here that started with these messages:
http://www.simpits.org/pipermail/gem-dev/2006-April/001056.html
http://www.simpits.org/pipermail/gem-dev/2006-March/001027.html

--John Hupp

P.S. my test config & autoexec, further simplified from the originally reported configurations - more mod reports above:

LASTDRIVE=Z
BUFFERS=30
FILES=40
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\FDOS\BIN\HIMEM.EXE
DEVICE=C:\FDOS\BIN\EMM386.EXE NOEMS X=TEST VDS
SHELL=C:\command.com C:\ /E:512 /P=C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SET PROMPT=$P$G
SET DOSDIR=C:\FDOS
SET PATH=C:\NET;C:\;C:\FDOS\bin;C:\DOSSHELL;C:\PKZIP
SET TEMP=C:\FDOS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\FDOS\TEMP

CTMOUSE

----- Original Message ----- 
From: John Hupp 
To: gem-dev at simpits.org 
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 1:49 PM
Subject: [GEM Development] OpenGEM 5 freezes/hangs/locks on FreeDOS 0.9 SR2


I just posted this on the FreeDOS list also.

I just loaded OpenGEM 5 (full version) on a pure FreeDOS 0.9 SR2 machine (Pentium 100, 16MB, Mustang socket 7 motherboard).  The only installation hitch I noticed is that a message flashed by at the outset - something about TZ environment variable not found, I believe.  But the installation did not stop and seemed to finish without error.

OpenGEM starts fine and displays the desktop, but freezes whenever I try to run an application.  One of the Help files loaded fine however.  If I F5 to bypass FreeDOS startup files and then start OpenGEM, it loads but the mouse does not work.  However the pointer will move in response to the arrow navigation keys.  (I believe it will load CTMOUSE on its own.)

This FreeDOS installation is as loaded by the SR2 CD, except that I updated the KERNEL to 1.1.35 Build 2035b-cvs, 2006-04-18 and COMMAND to 0.84-pre XMS_Swap, downloaded 2006-04-18 in cmdxms.HEAD.zip.

My normal DOS configuration follows below.

--John Hupp

------------------------------------------------------------------

CONFIG.SYS
----------------
SWITCHES=/F
COUNTRY=001,858,C:\FDOS\BIN\COUNTRY.SYS
SET LANG=EN
LASTDRIVE=Z
BUFFERS=30
FILES=40
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DOSDATA=UMB
SET DIRCMD=/OGN /4
DEVICE=C:\FDOS\BIN\HIMEM.EXE
DEVICE=C:\FDOS\BIN\EMM386.EXE X=TEST VDS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\CDROM\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:FDCD0001
SHELL=C:\command.com C:\ /E:512 /P=C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

AUTOEXEC.BAT
-------------------
SET PROMPT=$P$G
SET DOSDIR=C:\FDOS
SET PATH=C:\NET;C:\;C:\FDOS\bin;C:\DOSSHELL;C:\PKZIP
SET NLSPATH=C:\FDOS\NLS
SET HELPPATH=C:\FDOS\HELP
SET TEMP=C:\FDOS\TEMP
SET TMP=C:\FDOS\TEMP
SET CODEPAGE=858
SET WATTCP.CFG=C:\FDOS\BIN
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T4

IF EXIST C:\FDOS\BIN\MOUSE.EXE CTMOUSE
LH LBACACHE.COM
LH C:\SHSUCD\SHSUCDHD.EXE /F:?C:\GAMES\SKY\CD.ISO
SHSUCDX /Q+ /D:?FDCD0001 /D:SHSU-CDH
C:\ESSUTIL\ESSCFG.EXE /A:220 /I:5 /D:1 /E:5 /B:330 /J:E !
C:\ESSUTIL\ESSVOL.EXE /V:8 /L:8 /W:8 /M:0 /C:8 /S:8 /A:8
DOSSHELL /G:M2


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