Mailing List lswitcher-dev@2rosenthals.com Archived Message #32

From: "Lewis" <lswitcher-dev@2rosenthals.com> Full Headers
Undecoded message
Subject: Re: [lswitcher-dev] Priority dialog and help
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2020 13:52:38 -0400
To: lSwitcher Developers Mailing List <lswitcher-dev@2rosenthals.com>

Hi, Gregg...

On 09/04/20 10:53 pm, Gregg Young wrote:
On Fri, 4 Sep 2020 17:19:39 -0400 Lewis wrote:
I've just made some interesting rediscoveries:

While my comments in the help section regarding DOS sessions are mostly
correct, the behavior we currently have and what is possible to change
is not.

All VDMs run at some delta between 0 and 31 in priority class
PRTYC_REGULAR (Class 2). The VDM handler apparently maps the DOS Setting
"SESSION_PRIORITY" values 1 to 32 to priority deltas 0 to 31.

This is essentially what I put into the help text. However, what is not
clear (or stated incorrectly, based upon program observation) is that
SESSION_PRIORITY (i.e., delta) *cannot* be changed for running VDMs,
and neither (as stated in the help) can the class be changed. IOW, All
VDMs run in class 2. SESSION_PRIORITY is settable in program properties
*before* starting the session, and fixed at that level (delta) once
started. There is no way to adjust these DOS session settings once
running.
Thanks for the info. If the fact that something is a VDM is available when the menu is being generated this would be an easy fix. If not probably not worth doing. I don't know if it is available but I will check.

I don't know if it is available, either. WatchCat doesn't treat these entries any differently, and like lSwitcher, allows the user to jockey priority and delta just like for other OS/2 processes, but selecting a different process and then switching back to the VDM in question shows everything as it was before making any changes. Whether these are listed similarly in WatchCat as the result of an oversight or because there is no way to identify them other than "VDM" I have no idea.

Polling options can be changed for running VDMs, however (IDLE_SECONDS
and IDLE_SENSITIVITY), but lSwitcher provides no dialog for doing this.

So, what is needed is an RFE for lSwitcher to remove the Priority menu
selection for VDMs as it is simply irrelevant and misleading and to
adjust the help as necessary. (Likewise, XWP help should be updated to
include this tidbit pertaining to DOS sessions, but that's a different
discussion for a different project.)
This would require you making a case for this being needed by ArcaOS for something (retro gaming?) and I would then expect lSwitcher to at minimum be an install option for ArcaOS.

This would have to be paired with a second RFE to create an object in the lSwitcher folder to toggle between standalone and widget. The only alternative becomes too cumbersome (creating software selection entries for lSwitcher and an optional Standalone sub-item, and all that that entails on the backend for doing the install).

I would love to see lSwitcher made available as an install-time software selection, but we would need the above to do it effectively.

Comments and discussion welcome for all of this absurdity.
:-) Thanks


I know, it's silly to be hashing out these little nonsense items for the few of us using DOS sessions. That said, as you point out, if we are to get into the weeds for DOS games and such, it seems reasonable to expect that we'll handle DOS sessions with some degree of seriousness.

--
Lewis


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