From: rugxulo@gmail.com   
      
   Hi, glad to hear from you again.   
      
   On Monday, November 20, 2023 at 7:29:10 AM UTC-6, Paul Edwards wrote:   
   >    
   > I think we previously touched on NE executables,    
   > but it wasn't a priority for me to continue at the time.    
   >    
   > I also previously discussed limitations I saw on MZ    
   > that would prevent my 16-bit executables suddenly    
   > getting access to 16 MiB (80286) or even 256 MiB    
   > (PM16 on 80386) or 512 MiB (PM32 with D-bit) or    
   > 4 GiB (theoretical maximum).    
      
   Didn't the 16-bit pmode stuff from Borland Pascal use NE?   
      
   Anyways, EMX (a.out) and DJGPP (COFF) have no problems with 100+ MB of RAM.   
   Or did you mean a pure 16-bit MZ .EXE was limited by default?   
   (In other words, MZ by itself doesn't stop anyone, but I guess we're splitting   
   hairs.)   
      
   > The solution appears to be to use the NE format.    
   >    
   > So probably when PDOS/286 exists one day, I will    
   > probably create a flavor of PDOS/86 that uses the    
   > exact same NE executables.    
      
   I hear it's a complicated format (e.g. resources).   
      
   > The executable I tested does a printf and then opens a    
   > file and writes to it. When run on Windows 2000 the    
   > executable is treated as a Win16 and the printf goes    
   > nowhere but the file open happens successfully.    
      
   Wasn't Win2k the last to support OS/2 1.x textmode apps?   
   Try using OpenWatcom to build one.   
       
   > On PDOS/86 you get the printf too.    
      
   Surely you're aware of OS/2 family/bound apps too, right?   
   The 1996 DOS + OS/2 build of mawk is one example.   
       
   > Only the NE format was changed - it's still unchanged    
   > 8086 code. Doing INT 21H etc. ie this is a DOS program.    
   >    
   > So 16-bit DOS programs more-or-less already have access    
   > to more than 640k/1MB.    
      
   They already could with EMS or XMS. Jim Leonard (Trixter)'s 8088   
   had 2 MB of real EMS (not emulated).   
      
   The HX extender's HXDEV16 should have some OS/2 emulation.   
   So hdpmi16 and NE and DOSCALLS or whatever. (I don't know much.)   
   Again, OpenWatcom is your friend.   
      
   P.S. I'm rereading some old posts on BTTR from you about NE, but I don't   
   recall the details. Either way, I'm far from an expert. Good luck!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)