[fpc-other] Re: [fpc-pascal] Re: Console Encoding in Windows (Local VS. UTF8)

[Tomas Hajny]

On Thu, July 11, 2013 13:23, Lukasz Sokol wrote:
> On 10/07/2013 13:38, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:


Hi *,

Moving here (from fpc-pascal), since this discussion became off-topic.

 .
 .
>> And is so since Win95. Just amazing that Windows Console is so far
>> behind other platforms - it's rather ridiculous if you think about it.
>>
>> If I used Windows, I would install a different console application —
>> there must be better after-market ones out there. But yes, this probably
>> doesn't solve your or your clients problems.
>
> I seriously doubt it...

It is not clear which part of the previous paragraph the "doubt" was
related to, but I've found http://sourceforge.net/projects/console -
depending on your needs, it may address some features not supported by MS
Windows console windows directly / easily.


> I mean, in the olden days, the cmd program was actually a fully/partially
> [delete inappropriate]
> DOS compatible virtual machine, starting with : being able to run real x86
> mode programs...

Well, CMD.EXE obviously does not "run" x86 real-mode programs (it's
ntvdm.exe doing this together with the respective OS drivers as far as I
know), but it can indeed start such programs (as well as any other program
types supported by the operating system) and also display their output
within the allocated console window (as long as this output is textual -
otherwise you need to switch to full-screen; unlike OS/2 CMD.EXE which
cannot do this directly by default and needs to open a special DOS window
instead).


> It wasn't a shell as *nix has, never was meant to be...

It was meant to be a shell as much as command.com was meant to be a shell
with DOS as far as I know (and the differences between the two clearly
show that attempts have been made to make it more useful as a shell).


> You'd have more luck using DosBOX emulator these days...

That obviously depends on ones needs, right? CMD.EXE / Windows console is
also used for running Win32 console applications - certainly not an area
for DosBOX.

Tomas