The NewDAS system was written under DesqView/DOS back in the late '80's, using a serial port communications C-library from Greenleaf Corp. I used the old code pretty much intact when I ported it to the Win95 environment in the new computer at the IRTF. The main change I made was utilizing the serial port link to the TCS instead of a software socket which connected via the network to the comm link daemon running on stefan.

Unfortunately, because the Greenleaf open function asiopen() in comproc.c accesses the serial port directly which was OK in DOS, it crashes when run in a Win95 window. Windows doesn't permit applications to access basic resources. Thus, the way it has to execute is in "DOS Mode" where Windows is out of the picture, as is the network.

It would be very useful to be able to run NewDAS in a Win95 window. That way, the remote directory on the IRTF workstation network would be available during observations, as would be the laser printer. This has all kinds of advantages to the observer.

The only thing keeping us from doing that is the asiopen() call. I dummied that out and the rest of the system worked fine in a Win95 window, except of course the serial port remained closed. I recently purchased an updated version of the Greenleaf comm function library which is compatible with Win95 and allows applications to access the serial port though Windows.

What needs to be done now is to replace the asiopen() call (and perhaps the other serial port function calls) in the only C module that accesses the serial port, comproc.c. The latest Greenleaf library, version 5.2, should be installed and referred to in the make file in place of the old library, and compiling comproc.c attempted with the old Microsoft version 5 C-compiler on the remote drive (on herschel). Perhaps this will work.

I say perhaps, because Greenleaf says their library will only compile under Microsoft version 6 or higher. It's worth a try with the old compiler. If it doesn't work, I have glommed onto Borland's Version 3 C/C++ compiler, which is with the Greenleaf package in my office. You would then have to install the Borland compiler, modify the make file(s) if necessary, and compile that way. This should create a NewDAS comproc executable that will allow running in a Win95 full screen window.