FPKPascal is a 32 bit compiler for the i386 and higher. This allow you to use up to 4 GB memory. The real available amount depends on the DOS extender
FPKPascal is less or more compatible with Turbo Pascal 7.0 and Delphi II (not yet completely implemented). Some extensions are added to the language, like function overloading.
For news for the last version look at the README file which comes with the compiler.
The installation is controlled by the program INSTALL.EXE. Follow the instructions of this program.
You must mostly set no enviroment variables, these are set by SET_PP.BAT which is generated by the installation program.
The installation program doesn't modify the AUTOEXEC.BAT, since people like me hate this. Therefor you must extend your path variable and insert a call to SET_PP.BAT (use the statement CALL SET_PP.BAT and not only SET_PP.BAT to avoid problems).
The path variable must point to the BIN directory of FPKPascal.
The place of SET_PP.BAT is the main directory of FPKPascal.
The installation program has currently a bug: If you select the coprocessor emulation the program ignores this and you must do this by hand e.g.:
SET GO32=emu C:\PP\DRIVERS\EMU387
perhaps with another path.
After the installation is complet and the enviroment variables are set as described below, the first program can be compiled. The compiler is PPC386.EXE . To compile a program do the following (perhaps DEMO\HELLO.PP):
PPC38 HELLO
(The switch -a is needed currently to call the external assembler until the internal works stable). If you got no error messages the compiler has generated an executable in the AOUT format (which is also used by UNIX) called HELLO (no extension). To execute this program you need the DOS extender GO32.EXE.
Now you can start the program with
GO32 HELLO
and you get a message of the DOS extender and
Hello world
No space in enviroment
An error message like this can ocure, if you call SET_PP.BA in the AUTOEXEC.BAT . To solve this problem, you must extend your enviroment memory. To do this, search a line in the CONFIG.SYS like
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM
and write after this /E:1024 or a higher value, if this parameter is already set.
Coprocessor missed
If the compiler writes a message that there is no Coprossor, install the coprocessor emulation.
Not enough DPMI memory
If you want to use the compiler with DPMI you must have at least 7-8 MB free DPMI memory
There two ways to create a DOS exetutable: if the GO32.EXE is already installed on the computers where the program should run, you must only copy a program called STUB.EXE at the begin of the AOUT file. This does the program AOUT2EXE.EXE which comes with the compiler:
AOUT2EXE HELLO
and you get a DOS executable which needs the GO32.EXE . This program must be in current directory or be reachable over the path variable.
The second way to create a DOS exectutable is to copy GO32.EXE at the begin of the AOUT file:
COPY /B GO32.EXE+HELLO HELLO.EXE
This becomes a standalone executable for DOS.
If you create a DOS executable, you can first strip the symbol informations from the AOUT file:
STRIP HELLO
Copyright (c) 1996,97 by Florian Klaempfl