Old C++ Library to talk to ISA Card

[mikkojay]

Sorry Man,
I have sort of a short attention span!
Here is a recap of what happened:
+ My end goal was to be able to load/run large (1000's+ lines) Gcode files using a program that would communicate with my Techno-Isel ISA card-->controller-->servos.
+ The Techno MS Dos software I was using was puking out on me when I tried to load a file over a relatively minimum size (200kb).
+ Since their new software only talks to new/PCI/$$$$ hardware, I believed my only solution was to write my own simple program using a LIB & Header file provided to me by a Tech Rep at Techno Isel. These were sent to me free since they are no longer supported, and the guy at Techno Isel was just a cool dude.
+ I had a heck of a time getting any of my C compilers to link an executable using the 16-bit LIB file. I must have tried 4 or 5 dirrerent ones, all failed for various reasons.
+ I ended up compiling an exe successfully using Borland Turbo C 3.1 (the same compiler used to create the LIB file). I could tell it was originally compiled using TC 3.1 by opening a copy of the LIB file in a hex editor. How about this for a twist- I looked on ebay and was amazed how much $ people were asking for old versions of Borland's Turbo C (the Dos version). Is this story making me sound like a cheapskate? I hope not- anyway, I read on the web that there was an old Sam's C++ book that actually came with a full copy of Turbo C 3.1. I ended up finding a copy of it used on amazon.com for 13 bucks! Compiler and a free book for that price was great.
+ Anyway, I started to experiment with some of the library's function calls and made a little 5 line program that initialized the servo controller & locked the servos.
+ This was a promising start, but I realized that many of the calls were going to require some serious geometry calculation, etc.., i.e. TONS OF TIME and some stuff that I admit would be a little, well, ok, alot, over my head.
+ Meanwhile, I get an email from some guy who tells me that the Dos program I was using should be capable of running large files- he has done so in the past.
+ Knowing now that this was really possible, I went back to plan "A" and monkeyed with the Dos program some more. After messing with the Ramdrive settings a little and using a different way to open files (too much to describe here), I successfully opened what I considered to be a "large" file without error.
+ My end goal was met, although the trip there was a pain in the ass.

This concludes my saga, or actually, it is just starting because now my machine will be able to crank out some detailed stuff!

Thanks, Mike

[FishGuy876]

Some compilers do tend to add the '_' character to the front of their functions, and to make things even worse, some (gives the Mac an evil look) even use common names, and collide with existing function names. If the compiler chokes on simple names (such as your example there) there isn't much to do but change the code and all references. Newer compilers fix these problems now, but it still sucks having to build for DOS and not being able to use all the tweaks and fixes that we take for granted in Visual Studio =)

I'm glad you were able to get your application running ok =)

FishGuy