Subj : PL/I v 2.1 FixPak 6
To   : Murray Lesser
From : Andy Roberts
Date : Tue Jul 25 2000 05:24 pm

 Murray Lesser,

25-Jul-00 21:48:32, Vitus Jensen wrote to Murray Lesser
 VJ> 24.07.2000, Murray Lesser wrote a message to David Noon:
          Subject: PL/I v 2.1 FixPak 6

 ML>> "On OS/2, all 16-bit support has been dropped."

 ML>> I read this as meaning that there is no longer access to the
 ML>> 16-bit OS/2 API calls :-(. My needs are for KBD and VIO calls,
 ML>> since there are things that I wish to do in interactive text-mode
 ML>> applications that cannot be done in "native" PL/I.
 VJ> ...
 ML>> Two questions:  What could have led the PL/I perpetrators to do
 ML>> such a dirty deed?  More important, can you think of any other
 ML>> workaround than the one I used (restored the previously installed
 ML>> version)?

 VJ> I don't know.  But remember that 1) IBM always discouraged
 VJ> developers to use 16-bit APIs and 2) they dropped 16-bit support
 VJ> in the C++ part of VAC++ 4.0

 VJ> JdBP coded a DLL to supply 32-bit counterparts of Vio, Kbd and Mou
 VJ> (with or w/o unicode support).  AFAIR he annouced the package in
 VJ> OS2PROG.  Look for this

 VJ> conapi.zip

--- FWUTILS ---
Conapi.Zip                      02-11-100          64,787
    JdeBP's 32-bit Unicode Console API, with Developers' Toolkit, which
    allows one to eliminate one more 16-bit vestige from OS/2:  the 16-bit
    thunking code that has to be included in any otherwise 32-bit
    application that uses the existing 16-bit Console API that is supplied
    with IBM OS/2 (a.k.a. the VIO, MOU, and KBD subsystems) even in the very
    latest versions.  By using the 32-bit Unicode Console API, applications
    can be made purely 32-bit (as long as they don't call any other 16-bit
    APIs and don't use the 16-bit Console API internally within their
    compiler's runtime libraries, of course).  Also included is an
    entrypoint-compatible replacement for the broken 32TEXT package from IBM
    that used to be on the DevCon CD-ROMs. Instructions are in README.TXT.
    (c) Copyright 1999-2000 Jonathan de Boyne Pollard.  All Rights reserved.

Conrt.Zip                       02-11-100          1

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