BJ> The advantage of Open Watcom, is that the old Watcom compile allowed 
 BJ> cross compiling for Windows, DOS and OS/2.  I 
 BJ> think it supported both 
 BJ> 16-bit and 32-bit compiles.....  So, there are somethings that 
 BJ> OpenWatcom may allow that GCC will never do... (such as 16-bit 
 BJ> compiles).....

 MK> I'll have to check if there is a Linux version 
 MK> otherwise a crosscompiler isn't an issue.  I'm still 
 MK> not sure I even need one anymore but we'll see.  As far 
 MK> as 16-bit goes, maybe for some PDAs that might be a 
 MK> handy feature.  I think the 3com jobbers run 16-bit 
 MK> apps.  Could be handy to have a crosscompiler for those.

As to cross compiling, GCC can do the job for 32 bit (and probably for 64
bit) systems.  It has been a while since I've done anything with that. 
[NextStep took advantage of that to build fat binaries that would run on up
to four different CPUs under OpenStep.]

The commercial Watcom compiler does cross compile between the platforms
supported.  The 16-bit reference gives you an idea of the age of some of
the roots of that compiler.....  To the best of my knowledge, GCC has
always been a 32 bit compiler, and later also 64 bit systems.  There may
have been ports for some other odd ball systems (such as DEC-10, 36 bit
words, etc.).  I don't think GCC has been drop below 32 bits for what it
supports.  The closest thing was the DJGPP stuff that I believe was a port
of the GCC compiler along with a 32bit DOS extension for 16 bit DOS systems
running on 32 bit CPUs.....  It's been a while since I've played with
systems still limited to 16 bits....

Take care.....

Bob Jones, 1:343/41



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