vDos Changelog
What's new in vDos 2022.05.01
May 1, 2022- vDos.exe is again smaller, with a (final?) speed boost for FoxProX based programs.
- UMB (Upper Memory Block) support dropped.
- Support of external (non-Windows) code page definitions.
- More comprehensive ASCII/Unicode conversions.
- Support of UTF-8 encoded config.txt, autoexec.txt and batch files.
- Retrieving (pasting) text from the Windows Clipboard could in specific situations keep the Clipboard locked.
- Finger tipping (touch screen) fix for some DOS programs.
- Fix for DOS programs not keeping up with Windows key stuffers.
- With NumLock off, Shift NumPad digit didn't return correct ASCII value.
- Taskbar notification when vDos isn't focused and goes idle (DOS program awaits input).
- Updated FreeType library to version 2.11.0.
- Set of alternative icons (file icons.icl) to eventually replace that of vDos.
- Faster rendering (displaying) text, though that already was real fast.
- More accurate rendering/positioning of external fonts.
- DOS beep is Windows standard sound.
- Support of UNC paths in DOS API if those resolve to a drive letter reference in vDos.
- Config.txt directive FPUAWARE = 0-3 (0 = None, 1 = Present + conditional rounding (default), 2 = Rounding off, 3 = Rounding on.
- Support of additional PCL print commands, and more accurate positioning.
- Changed syntax of config.txt HORZ and VERT directives. To be more intuitive (see Printing.pdf).
New in vDos 2020.05.01 (May 3, 2021)
- vDos.exe is once more smaller (for if you would question that). Some 15% CPU overall speed gain, though FoxProX code will run up to 50% faster. Priority of vDos.exe set to “High” to give it a slight advantage when competing with other programs for CPU attention.
- Detection of extensive keyboard polling by a DOS program: vDos will then drop to idle mode sooner.
- Print processor passes on eventually set copies option and the like to the print driver.
- Text is transferred as strings instead of individual characters, resulting in smaller Windows print jobs and PDF's.
- Added a bold variant of the internal font (can also be used for display).
- Changed the DOS DTA based find file API to Windows search handles conversion strategy.
- Switched from Windows GetBinaryType() API to examining the header bytes to determine a file type.
- Screen DPI awareness: vDos renders text at the (higher) native resolution if Windows is set to scale content.
- Added a simulated dark mode of the DOS screen (probably a gimmick?).
- Changed WINDOW= to size%[,horz%:vert%] for more consistency and uniform positioning. “Set as default” system menu option added when the window is resized, saving the window size and position to config.txt.
- Some refinements to command line parsing. Redirecting output was 'sticky', it stayed active.
- Redirection of Windows CMD or START command are no longer trapped by vDos command line processor.
- Forced pasting text in programs that bypass INT 16.
- Extended functionality for select/copy text. See the last paragraph of Printing.pdf for details.
- Faulty EXEPACKed DOS programs will load/start correctly w/o external help or sacrificing the first 64KB memory block.
New in vDos 2020.03.01 (Mar 9, 2020)
- Machine code routines converted to C/C++, vDos is potentially CPU type (not Windows) independent. Loss of performance of the emulated CPU is limited to a few percent by squeezing out the last possible optimizations.
- There’s now also a 64-bit edition (vDos64), however not publicly available/advertised. That would mostly just be confusing: "I need that version since I have Windows 64-bit". vDos64 has a larger footprint and is slightly slower than its 32-bit counterpart, that runs in both Windows 32- and 64-bit.
- Unused FreeType options/extensions removed, some common code of the 3 CPU emulators merged, rarely used code compiled for size. vDos.exe lost weight, despite added functionality.
- Added KEYCODE= option, setting the reported scan and ASCII code of a specific key.
- Alt+Space opens the vDos system menu, Win+Dn minimizes, Win+Up restores the window.
- Ctrl+Mousewheel changes the font/window size. As with Windows CMD, the top left corner is fixed.
- The Windows command line processor (CMD) needs the current work directory set to a drive letter. With network/mapped Windows drive letters, this gave a problem since vDos always used the UNC paths.
- Removed stripping double quotes from the command line to better support calling Windows CMD.
- vDos will refuse to run if started elevated. There should be no need for that.
- The eventual nag couldn’t be clicked away if vDos was minimized.
- As vDos went to 'Hibernate', it could become unresponsive.
- FreeType library updated to version 2.10.1.
- Internal TTF font character positions vertically raised so they center better within the cells. Some other refinements to individual characters.
- Line drawing characters of the internal font set to single points (more discreet lines) at all resolutions.
- Added EXTEND= option to mask/hide on-screen text, like a silly (or even annoying ticking) clock.
- COLORS= dropped in favor of the more convenient THEME=<number> (0-9). System menu item added to cycle thru the themes (preview, if not explicitly set).
- Default color of the DOS text cursor changed.
- Internal printing is handled by a separate thread to facilitate some HP drivers and Microsoft virtual printing.
- Added timeout options to optimize faster printer response. Added PRIVATE option to skip creating print files.
- Some improvements to the PCL printer code parser.
- 'Turbo' text pasting reinstated. It was once disabled to overcome a Clipper bug. Now pasting in other programs should again be as fast as those can process input.
- Added BTRIEVE= option to connect to a Windows Pervasive/BTR2SQL interface. Mind, this extension/functionality doubles the vDos license fee.
- Fixed FPU rounding errors in specific situations. Added support of some obscure FPU instructions.
- Some (built-in) ANSI.SYS refinements.