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Help with Borland C++

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Anonymoose

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Not sure if this goes here or in software but…

Anyways, I wanted to find a version of Gnuplot that works with an 8088, and the oldest version hosted on the SourceForge doesn’t seem to (3.7.3). I email some people, they tell me that I should rebuild my own version given the tarballs they provide or to find earlier versions hosted on other websites.

(https://www.funet.fi/index/gnu/funet/historical-funet-gnu-area-from-early-1990s/old/ is where I got version 3.2)

Now here’s the problem, I’m not entirely sure what to do. There’s a readme file that does state instructions, but I can’t seem to understand them. Can someone point me in the right direction with compiling using Borland C++ 2.0? And hopefully teach me how to do things like this should the need arise again.

“Using Borland C++ 2.0, Turbo C++ 1.0”

copy makefile.te makefile

Edit makefile to change TC, BIN, BGI, BGIOBJ. You may also want to turn
on overlays (See manual for more on overlays).

Edit linkopt.tc (linkopt.tco if overlays on) to change location of libraries.

make
 
Anonymoose said:
Not sure if this goes here or in software but…

Anyways, I wanted to find a version of Gnuplot that works with an 8088,
Click to expand...

I would have suggested this thread be started in the IBM PC/XT subforum since you specifically want a version to run on that platform.

and the oldest version hosted on the SourceForge doesn’t seem to (3.7.3). I email some people, they tell me that I should rebuild my own version given the tarballs they provide or to find earlier versions hosted on other websites.

(https://www.funet.fi/index/gnu/funet/historical-funet-gnu-area-from-early-1990s/old/ is where I got version 3.2)
Click to expand...

They told you to try something that might not work out. While you might be able to compile 3.7.3 on an XT, you have to be sure you have all your settings straight and all the source code has to have been tested to compile properly which might have stopped happening by that time.

Version 3.2 had been tested to compile and should work. Would you be interested in a pre-compiled version 3.5 for the XT? Source code and doc files are also available:

http://ftp.sunet.se/mirror/archive/ftp.sunet.se/pub/simtelnet/gnu/gnuish/dos_only/gpt35exe.zip
http://ftp.sunet.se/mirror/archive/ftp.sunet.se/pub/simtelnet/gnu/gnuish/dos_only/gpt35src.zip
http://ftp.sunet.se/mirror/archive/ftp.sunet.se/pub/simtelnet/gnu/gnuish/dos_only/gpt35doc.zip

Now here’s the problem, I’m not entirely sure what to do. There’s a readme file that does state instructions, but I can’t seem to understand them. Can someone point me in the right direction with compiling using Borland C++ 2.0? And hopefully teach me how to do things like this should the need arise again.
Click to expand...

This is something you want to know anyway so here goes:

“Using Borland C++ 2.0, Turbo C++ 1.0”

copy makefile.te makefile

Edit makefile to change TC, BIN, BGI, BGIOBJ. You may also want to turn
on overlays (See manual for more on overlays).

Edit linkopt.tc (linkopt.tco if overlays on) to change location of libraries.

make
Click to expand...
These instructions are for using the command line tools for Borland/Turbo C++. The compiler has unix-like programming tools as well as the IDE interface. Since gnuplot was originally written for GNU (a unix-like OS), the command line tools allow the authors to set up basically the same procedure for each OS.

The key program here is called make and versions of it exist as part of many/most C/C++ compilers. It is sort of like a super batch file processor and has its own command set specifically designed to ease complicated compiling processes. So to compile a program, make needs a file containing the "recipe" for how to compile a program and this file can be given a specific file name like "gnuplot35" or just the standard name: makefile.

Each OS/C++ compiler will have differences in the way it needs to compile a program. The authors of gnuplot provide different versions of makefile for each build with a different file extension. The correct one for Turbo C++ (and Borland C++) is makefile.tc so the first thing you're told to do is copy that file to the standard file name for make.

(Incidentally, there's a typo in the instructions you quoted above: "makefile.te" should be "makefile.tc")

Now you have to edit the new copy of makefile to match your installation of Borland/Turbo. Looking inside makefile you will see places where file paths are set to defaults like "c:\turboc" or the like. Change those to match your set up and any other settings that you know about. After saving the file, you now have to do the same thing for the linker which uses the "linkopt.tc" or ".tco" file to allow your library files to be found.

After all of that is done, run make and it will find the file makefile and run all the commands in it to compile and link gnuplot. Because you copied and edited makefile, you only have to type make at the command line, no parameters are required.

As you can see, this would be a simple and straightforward process if you are used to using the command line tools and your copy of Borland C++ was already installed and you know where all its file are located. Otherwise it can be a real hassle just to compile a single program.
 
acgs said:
Since gnuplot was originally written for GNU (a unix-like OS), the command line tools allow the authors to set up basically the same procedure for each OS.
Click to expand...

Reading this again, I see that this part of my explanation could be misunderstood. In an attempt to be as to the point as possible, I oversimplified this statement. The "gnu" in gnuplot is not the GNU in "GNU is Not Unix", but a coincidence. More precisely stated:

gnuplot was originally written for operating systems like Unix, Linux, and GNU. These OSs all include make as a standard part of their C programming tools and therefore allow the process to be more portable.

Sorry if I confused anyone.
 
Thank you!! This was very helpful. I’m not home at the moment but I’ll update my progress when I’m back :)
 
The version 3.5 you found online works! I'll still try compiling it anyways, I get an error of sorts that says "Hidden Line Removal not supported in LITE version".
 
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