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Comment by zerr

1 year ago

Is there anything in EDIT.EXE for MS-DOS that inherently hinders porting to x64?

I wish they have implemented the same color theme as well.

There is no EDIT.EXE. If you have an EDIT.EXE you probably need to check for malware. (-:

It was EDIT.COM, and in the days of long ago that was just a way of invoking QBASIC with the /EDIT command-line option. At which point the project becomes one of porting an old MS-DOS full programming IDE to 64-bit Windows, just for its text editor part.

Also, much of MS-DOS was written in 16-bit 8086 assembly language; so porting MS-DOS programs is not a mere matter of compiling a high level language with a compiler that targets the new platform and processor architecture and tweaking whatever breaks.

  • Sure about that? So in 32bit Windows where we still have EDIT, do we also have QBASIC?

    • Yes. In those days of long ago, I saw the .COM extension with my own eyes and ran QBASIC /EDIT directly just for kicks.

      Once upon a time, this knowledge was one of those non-secret secrets that made it onto the letters pages of the computer magazines and into every "MS-DOS secrets" book out there. (-:

      And yes, Windows NT 4 had the MS-DOS QBASIC.

      1 reply →

    • Who knows?

      Can't imagine anyone here using 32bit Windows and limiting themselves to 4GB of RAM.

      Are there even any cheap laptops sold with that little nowadays?