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From: jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms.programmer
Subject: Suitability of Windows platform
Message-ID: <27331@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
Date: 7 Mar 91 02:35:43 GMT
Sender: news@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU
Organization: UF CIS Dept.
Lines: 35

I am an MS-DOS programmer working in VR (Virtual Reality) research and have
been contemplating doing some work in VR under Windows 3.0.  However, I am
not a Windows programmer so I am not very familiar with the suitability of
its functions.  If someone could please answer these questions via
E-MAIL(!) I would appreciate the help deciding if it is right for my
purposes.

1.  Does Windows support joystick (at all) and mouse and joystick
simultaneously?
2.  Can I write a 8+ bit ONLY application under Windows, or will it dither
to lower (4-bit) resolution?
3.  I understand that I can write a lot of my functions using far calls and
store them in a separate file/library, much like a shared lib under UNIX or
VMS (I believe they are called DLLs).  Please tell me about these.
4.  Does Windows supply me with information on determining the current
hardware (type of processor, video adapter, etc.)?  Most of the tricks I
have heard of determining clock speed and chip type won't work under
enhanced mode windows.
5.  What is the maximum color resolution of Windows?  Will it do 16 or
24-bit color?
6.  How good is Windows in doing frame animation?
7.  How good is Windows in doing high speed (19,200bps) asynch
communications over COM1 and COM2 to another Windows machine?
8.  Does Windows automatically take advantage of a math coprocessor?

This is all to do a real time, rendered architecture design tool that will
allow multiple users to be "inside" a structure of some type and do a
complete walk through.  I do not want to go to a system that is proprietary
since many of the Windows niceties would be very helpful, I daresay
REQUIRED, for what I am doing (multiple instances of the same program, the
help engine, etc.)....

ANY help would be appreciated.

Brian