[question/request] Any hope to see a modern 64-bit PC target?

[Fabrizio-Caruso]

I see msdos386 exe files cannot be run under Windows 64-bit. Can they be run under Windows 32-bit (like XP 32-bit?).

I wonder whether we will ever get a target for 64-bit Intel PCs.

[davidgiven]

msdos386 executables should work --- Windows XP has basic DPMI support, and I don't think the ACK port is using any of the unsupported features?

Regarding 64-bit systems: mostly this needs someone to work on the code generator, but there's most likely other stuff which needs fixing to, such as the linker and assembler which assume that pointers will fit into a 32-bit int. The linker is reasonably well-behaved but the assembler is a bit of a mess. And the code generator will be a lot of work.

[Fabrizio-Caruso]

If I try to run under Windows 11 64-bit either CWSDPMI.EXE or a binary built by ACK for the msdos386 target, I get this error on a window:

followed by this terminal error: ``` This version of C:\Retro\CROSS-LIB\build\Xsnake_msdos386.exe is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information and then contact the software publisher. ```

---

Is there a DPMI that can be run under Windows 64-bit?

[davidgiven]

It looks like the problem here is that msdos386 binaries start up in 16-bit radio and then switch to 32-bit mode, but Win64 no longer has the 16-bit emulator. So the binary can't start up. I think the only option here is to make a win32 executable, as they should run, but I don't know how they work!

[Fabrizio-Caruso]

If I understand well there were never real 32-bit binaries under MS-DOS. What ack produces is what was possible in MS-DOS, which is a 16-bit OS. Is this correct? So we cannot run such binaries under any modern Windows unless we install an emulator or something that reintegrates 16-bit compatibility somehow.