BL> if you are stupid enough (or desperate enough) to write in
BL> BASIC, you spend half your time trying to work out how to get
BL> around things!

JB> yeah, C is much better but I've not seen any interpreters :)

 Java goes close...

BL> I've finally worked out how to LOCK my small partition so I can
BL> wipe it with a direct write and strangely, it's really fast!
BL> What I have to do, is write the lock program in DOS using BP7
BL> Pascal and assembler, and run it in Win98 in a DOS window. I
BL> can't use the CRT unit, because that barfs in 32-bit.

JB> !

JB> CRT doesn't like processors faster than about 200 MHZ either.
JB> hmm. BP7 is a 16-bit compiler.

 Yair... but Win98 isreally good on 16-bit DOS. M$ must have made a
mistake.

BL> and I can't write it in Win98 because Win98 won't let me make
BL> the int26h calls. I can't use a DOS7 batch file becasue LOCK is
BL> owned by the window that calls it.

JB> ??? can't run it in the same dos window as the app.

 The batch file must call its own window, and then when you call the
LOCK function, it's a different app.

BL> But it works really well (so long as I don't expect to see
BL> anything on the screen). It beats the hell out of me. To wipe
BL> the 32Mb drive takes 4 seconds in DOS6 native, but it seems to
BL> do it in 2 secodns in Win98...

JB> 32-bit vs 16 bit disk accesses.

 Yes.

BL> except that it takes 6 seconds to LOCK and UNLOCK the drive.

JB> D'oh!

 That's a mystery to me. What the hell does it do? I suspect that it
might write something into the Registry...

BL> Yair... but how do you do that? You can run Linux out of
BL> Windows, but how do you run Windows out of Linux?

JB> vmware or wine...

 VMWARE is too expensive and WINE doesn't work. It's really anoying.
It *nearly* works. Like everything else I try in LINUX, it *nearly*
works. In fact, it was not until I used LINUX for a few weeks that
I realised what a good job M$ has done with Windows. Linux itself is
great, it's just all the bloody amateur-hour programs. GDE and
Gnome are supposed to give the functionality of Windows (and they do)
but they're not as stable!

JB> but to answer your first question, use a linux pc as a
JB> firewall.

 What... and network another PC on Windows?

JB> [ISP] -------- [modem etc]  ---- [linux pc] --lan--  [windows pc]

 Ahh... I should have read ahead.

 I knew that. At present, I've only got the two PCs, and the old
100mHz 486 is not really suitable as a Linux box unless I strip the
kernel to the bone. My problem is that if I have to buy a 2nd PC I'd
rather buy a laptop to give me mobility.

JB> If the modem connects to the PC via ethernet you need two
JB> ethernet adaptors on the linux machine.

 That's my other problem. The old 486 is *too* old.

Regards,
Bob
       

--- BQWK Alpha 0.5