
RUCKUS-DAC for PowerBASIC 3.0                                  6-Oct-93
Registered Version. For registered Ruckus users only!

Okay, here is a beta version of Ruckus-DAC (VOC/WAV/MOD). MIDI will come
later (perhaps next week -- I don't relish the thought). First, some of
my thoughts about this port:

;major hacking involved since PB3 cannot
;1) deal with FAR calls (its linker really messes up)
;2) deal with code segment name other than CODE
;3) handle more than one data segment (though $ALIAS can be used to name it)
;4) do justice to current assemblers (MASM 6.1a, for example)
;5) be called a professional tool by me since it lacks adequate linkage ability
;   Do I really have to think about any more problems I had in converting this?

R1 was also _relatively_ simple in layout, being comprised of essentially
one module (the second module was for Borland C compiler patching) though
made up of about 10 source files (INCLUDEd to form a single assembled unit).
Like I said, relatively simple. R2, on the other hand, is relativley very
very complex and is made up of over 50 separate modules with two versions
available to the PRO-level (static and dynamic linking, for DOS).

This is RUCKUS-DAC for PB3. I haven't tested it much since I've only tried
the X01PB3.BAS source with it. This does work. However, since I must have
touched a good 10-15% of the code (and all the entry/exit code) I wouldn't
be too surprised if there's a bug. If there is, it's bound to be a fatal
(crash) one. Let me know.

As you can probably guess, I'm not terribly thrilled about PB3, but only
because its linkage it proprietary, and not all that well geared for
external code (simple code it can deal with, but anything created that
is complex is next to impossible to port). I'd put it on par with tools
dated 1985 or so, only because, like I said, the linkage mechanism
is inadequate.

Use: Pretty simple I suppose. Use the same docs as the RUKQ version.
Example X01PB3.BAS shows how to do the $LINK. Also included is the
.BI which must be used. Better to rename it to something so not to
mix it up with the QB version. Any questions? Call the BBS and leave
me some feedback. BTW, this should also work for TP/BP.
