Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-mpd!kentd From: kentd@FtCollins.NCR.com (Kent.Dalton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Laser C V2.1 vs MiNT?? Message-ID: Date: 9 Oct 90 10:17:45 GMT References: <1990Oct8.144159.12610@doe.utoronto.ca> Sender: uucp@ncr-mpd.FtCollins Reply-To: Kent.Dalton@FtCollins.NCR.com Distribution: comp.sys.atari.st Organization: NCR Microelectronics, Ft. Collins, CO Lines: 53 In-reply-to: david@doe.utoronto.ca's message of 8 Oct 90 14:41:59 GMT >I know that the Laser C shell is incredibly buggy. I know that Megamax >also had a lot of problems with its libraries. I would be surprised here >if the problems were in any way MiNT's fault, especially since Laser >has had problems even with different TOS versions. I don't use the Laser shell so I've never noticed it's bugs... Admittedly, Laser definitely has its problems but I've discovered workarounds for all the library bugs I've seen, to this point. It does have its good points: excellent docs, speed, a very nice source code debugger, inline assembly, I got it used for like ~$80 below the average purchase price :^), etc. But enough about Laser C. I think incompatibility with Laser C programs (not necessarily the compiler itself) would be a serious hinderance to MiNT? I'm sure a lot of stuff available out there PD and commercially has been written using Laser C and hence MiNT will have a lot of problems running this stuff. >Scrap laser C. There are much better packages available, some of them >for free. Thanks for the advice. In my eyes, MiNT has a lot of potential as a TOS replacement since it has so many nice UNIX inspired features and still offers a degree of compatibility and if that compatibility can be maximized while adding the features people want everyone will be happier in the long run. So, I think the best long-term plan is to get Laser and MiNT working together at least stuff compiled with Laser, if not the actual compiler. I'm willing to look into the Laser/MiNT compatibiity issue myself and if any other Laser users have advice suggestions, want to help, already have done some research, etc, let me know. Also, Eric Smith, if you have any ideas on what's happening please say so. Here's a little additional info for those interested: When in debug mode, MiNT shows Laser Programs malloc'ing 8K (presumably stack), it then tries to grab some more mem and gets a message to the effect of: get_region, no region is big enough or some such. -- /**************************************************************************/ /* Kent Dalton * EMail: Kent.Dalton@FtCollins.NCR.COM */ /* NCR Microelectronics * CIS: 72320,3306 */ /* Fort Collins, Colorado * "This mind intentionally left blank" */ /* (303)223-5100 X-319 * All standard disclaimers apply */ /**************************************************************************/