Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-mpd!kentd From: kentd@FtCollins.NCR.com (Kent.Dalton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st.tech Subject: More on Laser 2.1 vs MiNT Message-ID: Date: 12 Oct 90 09:18:25 GMT Sender: uucp@ncr-mpd.FtCollins Reply-To: Kent.Dalton@FtCollins.NCR.com Distribution: comp.sys.atari.st.tech Organization: NCR Microelectronics, Ft. Collins, CO Lines: 54 I've moved discussion of this topic to ...st.tech since it's getting more technical than general interest. The following is a reply to my query about Laser C's incompatibility with MiNT. Sam Streeper writes: From: Sam_Streeper@NeXT.COM To: Kent.Dalton@FtCollins.NCR.com Subject: Re: Laser C V2.1 vs MiNT?? Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st In-Reply-To: References: <1990Oct8.144159.12610@doe.utoronto.ca> Organization: NeXT, Inc. >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. From this description, I know exactly what the problem is. The laser init code can start both programs and desk accessories. It tests something undocumented to determine which it is starting. If it is starting a program, it gives back all the memory except what it needs for a stack (using Mfree()). If it is starting a desk accessory, it mallocs a stack, but has no need to free any memory, since accessories are already "shrunk to fit" The init thinks the program is an accessory, so it is a big memory pig and all subsequent mallocs will fail. I don't consider this a Laser bug, because all versions of TOS set this up correctly, and lots of people use this trick to get their gem applications to work as both programs and DA's. With this being the case, MiNT should really start apps with the same setup as TOS. I had to patch the original MichTron juggler to get it to correctly start Laser (and other dual purpose) programs. If you write back, I'll check what it is that Laser init checks when I get home. Feel free to post this information; I don't really know how to do News posting... -sam -- /**************************************************************************/ /* 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 */ /**************************************************************************/