C::B as a Win 3.11/95/DOS development workhorse

[adalbert]

I made a bunch of installation batch scripts and config files, which can be used to automatically install Code::Blocks with... Windows 3.11/95 integration (via DOSBox-X, with mouse and network integration), so you can automatically build and execute an application directly in Windows 3.11 / 95 / DOS. Win 3.11 / 95 is installed in emulated hard drive from your own installation files via automated installation script.

I also adjusted wxWidgets 2.8.12 to work with Win 3.11/Win32s and wxWidgets 3.0.5 to work under Windows 95.

A set of compilers for various build targets is downloaded, installed and automatically configured inside C::B.

Everything uses relative file paths, so you can just launch C::B and start building apps for legacy systems without manually setting up anything. I adjusted wxWidgets templates so you can select Win 3.11 / 95 target and it selects a compiler and configures app execution automatically.

I know this is weird and eccentric, but maybe someone will find a use for it. You start the installation process via SetupCodeBlocks_AllInOne.bat script.

Repository: https://github.com/adbrt/cb-legacy-dev
Video overview/tutorial: https://youtu.be/d6L272OApVg

[omlk]

@adalbert Great video. You can only clarify - did you edit everything yourself and make scripts for the demonstration, or is your video based on other people's video materials, and you just edited it and voiced it?

[adalbert]

@adalbert Great video. You can only clarify - did you edit everything yourself and make scripts for the demonstration, or is your video based on other people's video materials, and you just edited it and voiced it?

Thanks! I did everything from scratch, the technical side (whole installation script, C++ sample apps, build scripts, config files etc) and the video. I was working on it for around a year step by step with really long breaks. Finding working compilers and proper versions of libraries for old platforms was probably the most time consuming part. All files that I prepared are available in the linked GitHub repository. I may even need to divide it into different repositories because there is a lot off stuff going on, e.g. the "launch in emulated Windows 3.11" thing can be used independently of CodeBlocks. And each step probably could benefit from additional documentation.


It started when I wanted to make a simple drag-n-drop file transfer app which would work between new and legacy machines (still didn't polish it to the stage where I could publish the code, but that's what you see on the old laptop and the new Mac), I used an ancient version of C++ Builder first, but then I wanted to use more recent tools and have cross platform capabilities. And code completion, etc. So C::B and wxWidgets worked pretty well here, by providing the same RAD-style experience after setting everything up properly.