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Best and most compact compiler to build Freedos Kernel etc.

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First post, by Cyberdyne

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It gives you options:

:- Turbo C 2.01
:- set COMPILER=TC2
:- Turbo C++ 1.01
:- set COMPILER=TURBOCPP
:- Turbo C 3.0
:- set COMPILER=TC3
:- Borland C 3.1
set COMPILER=BC3
:- Borland C
:- set COMPILER=BC5
:- Microsoft C
:- set COMPILER=MSCL8
:- Watcom C
:- set COMPILER=WATCOM

Maybe someone have had experience witch one of those will make the most minimal and effective code. And witch version exactly.

FreeDOS is been dead for so long, that i want to make a minimalist streamline 386+ FAT32 kernel and streamline FreeCOM. And then hand pick the best and essential utilities. Because Freedos 1.2 (1.3RC) have that Linux syndrome, bloatware and too mutch text everywere. I do not need to know in every step, that i am usin something GNU or whatever. So i want minimal text output (smaller binaries), and will delete unneeded some of the commands and features. Do not go apeshit, i will make it for my own personal use. I have allready made an allmost 40kb UPX kernel, but few years ago, based on 2038, now i want to make on based on 2042 and better.

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 2 of 7, by Cyberdyne

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Akuma, so informative! PS. Read Unix Haters Handbook, it still kinda is relevant, and Linux is Unix with added stuff. 😁 another book After The Software Wars allso kinda shoots itself in the foot. God damn, we need backward compatibility. Oh by the way, both books are free to download, and are a good read, even if you are not really a book reader like me.

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 3 of 7, by Cyberdyne

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Tested and answered myself, newest is always better. Watcom gives more optimized code, but strangely UPX-ed Microsoft gives smaller file. Well this just might be a glitch. Kernel has allmost no output, even the errors are minimal. And some unnneeded CONFIG.SYS stuff is also wiped. Now let us butcher the FreeCOM to more sensible size.

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 4 of 7, by Jo22

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Good to hear! I also read that handbook from time to time, by the way.
It's both entertaining and informative. And oddly, holds true still in many cases. 😉

I'm just curious how the UPX compression works.
Is the compression only relevant for file size on disk,
or does it also affect program size once loaded in memory (decompression on demand) ?
I know, this might be a silly question. 😉

Akuma wrote on 2020-10-22, 06:12:

There is no bloatware in Linux, if you don't want it then don't install it 😉

Except for the kernal, I'd say.
It's huge and monolithic (no micro kernal).. 😁

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 5 of 7, by kdr

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I can't help but interpret your question as "what is the smallest compiler that has enough features to compile FreeDOS?" and surely Turbo C 2.01 is the winner on this metric: TCC.EXE is a mere 180,385 bytes. Add 21,717 bytes for TLINK.EXE and you've got a pretty compact toolchain!

Good luck fitting Watcom on a 360k floppy. 😀

Reply 6 of 7, by Akuma

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Jo22 wrote on 2020-10-24, 05:37:
Akuma wrote on 2020-10-22, 06:12:

There is no bloatware in Linux, if you don't want it then don't install it 😉

Except for the kernal, I'd say.
It's huge and monolithic (no micro kernal).. 😁

You can trim that too, just look at any router firmware 😁

Reply 7 of 7, by Cyberdyne

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Jo22 UPX compression does not change the memory footprint, only the file size.

Kdr i do not need the smallest compiler, but the compiler that makes the smallest and most effective code. And i bet that those old single pass compilers are not the best of the bunch.

Akuma we are talking about a full operating system, not some linux based firmware inside a router.

And more or less i just wanted the most compact and functional kernel that has FAT32 capability. Hey if you want the most compact and functional FAT16 kernel, just use MS-DOS 3.31 or 5.00a

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

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