MS-DOS and Windows Console

[Doug Franklin]

Howdy, folks,

I'm new to the Ncurses world (hope I capitalized that right).  On the 
other hand, I'm also an old fart with lots of lines of code under my 
belt, so it won't bother me if you tell me to p*** off. :-)

I noticed that your "stuff to be done" page included both Windows 
console and "MS-DOS" (I'm assuming raw text video buffer in x86 real 
mode) support.  Are these things that the Ncurses world still desires? I 
ask because I've written a boatload of code to do "Ncurses-like" things 
(and more) in these environments in the past (the way freakin' distant 
past).  Heck, back in the early 1980s I wrote high performance code for 
all the video modes on the CGA (before the EGA saw daylight) :-).

The point being, if the community desires them, I'll poke around and see 
if I can provide a suitable answer for Ncurses on "MS-DOS real mode" as 
well as "Win32 console mode".  I don't know what accommodations Win64 
might (or might not) make for console apps and the console API, but it 
deserves a slap on the forehead to see where the lump rises, either way.

It's time for full disclosure here, too.  :-)

I'm throwing this out there because I'm looking for a /quid pro quo/. 
:-) Some "brownie points" I can earn before I throw some turds in the 
punchbowl.  In particular, I'd like to find a way to build Ncurses apps 
that can access any key code that VIM or emacs can in the same 
environment, independent of the run-time platform.

This is (obviously) pretty straightforward for the keys with 
termcap/terminfo entries.  But the "PC" keyboard (and driver, and 
"virtual" terminals, and all that stuff) allows a /lot/ more 
combinations.  I'd like, with the community's help, to find a way to 
bridge that gap without creating a boatload of compatibility problems. 
Maybe it doesn't involve Ncurses directly, maybe it's more about a 
platform-accessible extension mechanism.  Maybe I'm an idiot and it's 
already there, but I'm missing it.  (I'm also not terribly happy about 
cygwin on Windows XP translating Shift-F1 into F11, but that's another 
argument).

Yes, I realize that I'm probably the twelve thousandth Don Quixote to 
tilt a this particular windmill. :-)  If nothing else, I'll learn 
something.  Maybe only some new curse words, but, hey, that's learning, 
too.  I've already learned that the Form library is a tricky and subtle 
beast.

I've got no problem writing code to effect the changes I'd like.  But I 
also realize this is a community, and backwards compatibility can be a 
bitch.  BTDT, GTTS. And I'm certainly not an expert on the huge universe 
of terminal(emulation)s that Ncurses supports.  So I want to find 
solutions and write code that's acceptable to the community and aligned 
with the community's goals, while "scratching my itch", too.

I also hope I haven't just contributed unwanted substances to a bunch of 
Wheaties out there.  That's /really/ not my goal.  I just want to offer 
my services on stuff that seems unpopular but is within my personal 
knowledge as an ante to get a little discussion with the community on 
the best ways to accomplish what I /do/ want, or whether it's a pipe 
dream, or better left to site-specific extensions, or my own "escape 
sequence parser" embedded in my apps and portability be damned. :-)

--
Thanks,
DougF (KG4LMZ)