Subject: comp.lang.pascal.borland Mini-FAQ
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 03:05:22 BST
Summary: Mini-FAQ for the Newsgroup comp.lang.pascal.borland.  It covers
         issues relating to the Borland compilers and the newsgroup.
         Contains numerous links to other documents with Pascal FAQs/Tips.
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*                                                                        *
*                   =======  WELCOME ALL USERS =======                   *
*                                                                        *
*                      TO comp.lang.pascal.borland!                      *
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\ * * * * http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/2678/clpbfaq.html * * * * /
                                                                         
  This is the comp.lang.pascal.borland Mini-FAQ, maintained by Tom Wheeley
  mailto:tomw@tsys.demon.co.uk.

  What's New?  (New bits are marked with a '|' at the line beginning)

     + Now available in *.answers and at rtfm.mit.edu :)
     + FAQ regarding difference between BP and TP

  ***********************************************************************
  Contents:
  
          1  What is comp.lang.pascal.borland?
            1.1  History of the Group
            1.2  Posting Guidelines
  
          2  Where can I find {more?} Information?
            2.1  FAQs (about pascal)
            2.2  FTP sites
            2.3  WWW sites
            2.4  Notable sources of information
            2.5  Uploading your masterpieces to an FTP site
      
          3  Frequently Asked Questions (Not for the pascal language). 
             *Including*
             . How do I make EXE files with Turbo Pascal?
             . Is it possible to 'decompile' pascal EXEs or TPUs?
             . What is the difference between BP, TP and TP for Windows?

          APPENDIX A - FTP site mirrors
          APPENDIX B - Credits
  
  ***********************************************************************
   1.  What is comp.lang.pascal.borland?
  *************************************************************************

  This is the group for discussion on Borland Pascal, Turbo Pascal and
  Pascal for windows systems.  All users are welcome, and this group is
  not moderated.  In order to keep usenet confusion down, we request that
  you post only questions or discussions concerning pascal on the Borland
  Pascal compilers. Please note that the Delphi does not really belong in
  this group, seeing as there are three other groups for Delphi discussion
  
       news:comp.lang.pascal.delphi.components
       news:comp.lang.pascal.delphi.databases
       news:comp.lang.pascal.delphi.misc
  
  There are also the following pascal groups:
  
       news:comp.lang.pascal.ansi-iso
       news:comp.lang.pascal.mac
       news:comp.lang.pascal.misc
  
  And the Turbovision group described as "Borland's text application
  libraries."  It is C-biased, but Pascal does get a look-in:
    
       news:comp.os.msdos.programmer.turbovision
  
  Prof. Timo Salmi posts a FAQ regarding the newsgroup reorganization
  weekly.  It is also available from garbo (see 'FTP sites')
  
  Important: *+* Please do not post to the obsolete comp.lang.pascal *+*
  
  * History of the Group
  
  This group was created by popular vote on June 12, 1995. 
  Information on the group is available from:
    ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/doc-net/pasgroup.zip
  
  * Posting Guidelines
  
    * "A problem well stated is a problem half solved" -- Charles F. Kettering

    *  Put as much information as you can early in the subject line.
       Subjects like "help me" or "question about Pascal" are silly.  Please
       also note that some newsreaders truncate the subject line early.

    *  Usually, it will be sufficient to post to a single one of the Pascal
       groups.  But if you ever need to post to more than one group, be sure
       to use a single cross-posted article rather than multiple postings;
       the Newsgroups entry lists the groups, separated by commas.

    *  Please do not request the answer to your question solely via e-mail!
       Someone else will be interested, and it is only polite to the readers
  
    *  We will not do your homework for you!
       We will, however, give advice on specific topics.

    *  Be aware of limits. Many newsreaders have difficulty with subject
       lines over 40 characters (which get chopped up). Try to keep
       your posting text lines to 70 characters or LESS. If you use more,
       your posts will look messy when quoted.  My excuse is I use Dos Edit.
  
    *  Binaries should NOT be posted to this group.  Nor MIME Attachments.
       (Especially nasty are those mailers which convert '=' to '=3D', a very
       bad thing to do to some Pascal source code...)
       If you want to distribute binaries or large source files then you could
       upload it to one of the FTP sites. See the section 'Uploading your
       masterpieces to an FTP site'
  
       If you are wondering *why* binaries are banned, read this:
       ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/ts/tsfaqn43.zip 
        13. *****
         Q: May I just go ahead and post binaries to discussion newsgroups?

       Expressly forbidden is posting of any commercial material, for
       example Turbo Pascal 7, or even just GRAPH.TPU.  *This is illegal*
       Do not even ask for these.  Contact Borland if you have a problem.
  
  *************************************************************************
   2.  Where can I find more information?
  *************************************************************************
  
  * Pascal FAQs:
     - The infamous, ubiquitous, mandatory and downright useful
       Timo Salmi's 'Common Turbo Pascal Questions and Timo's answers'
       is available at ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/link/tsfaqp.zip

     - Jon Shemitz' comp.lang.pascal FAQ
       http://www.armory.com/~jon/clp-faq.html
  
     - Pascal Turbo Vision FAQ
       http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/pasfhome.html (see WWW section)
        
  *************************************************************************
   2.2   FTP sites: See Appendix A for mirrors
  *************************************************************************
  
  'Garbo'   The primary Turbo Pascal source/unit site.
            ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/   {turbopa* directories}
            http://garbo.uwasa.fi

  'Oulu'    Lots of files related to game (and demo?) programming.
            ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/
            http://x2ftp.oulu.fi

  'SimTel'  "The Coast to Coast Software Repository"
            ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/turbopas         {../info too}
            http://www.coast.net/SimTel
              
  'Borland' Borland's Web site
            ftp://ftp.borland.com/
            http://www.borland.com/index.html

  TV site   Turbovision source/applications ?
            ftp://jam.cog.brown.edu/pub/turbo-vision
  
  These may be referred to by the name in the left hand column, both in
  this FAQ, and on the newsgroup.  For SimTel and Garbo at least, please
  try to use a closer, faster, mirror site. (In Appendix A)
  
  *************************************************************************
   2.3   WWW sites
  *************************************************************************

  If you have a Web site concentrating on Pascal (esp. Borland), then why
  not get it added to the list in the FAQ.  Just send the URL and a short
  description to me, <URL:mailto:tomw@tsys.demon.co.uk>.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Turbo Pascal Programmers Page
    http://www.cs.vu.nl/~jprins/tp.html
  
  This page is supposed to give a quick overview of what is available
  on the net for programmers in Turbo/Borland Pascal.
  
  The page covers:
  
     BGI drivers, Book descriptions, Compilers, Delphi, FAQ's,
     FTP sites, Game programming, Genetic programming, Graphics programming,
     Information, Manuals, Newsgroups, Numeric programming, Sources,
     Sound programming, Turbo Vision, Websearching, Windows programming,
     Winsock programming, WWW sites, ZZZ attic
  
  {Jeroen Prins}
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Scott's Cool Programming Page
    http://www.vivanet.com/~scotts/pascal
 
  This page is mainly devoted to the cooler aspects of programming
  including sound blaster, cd-rom and graphics. I have articles which are
  articles I've either found or written on certain topics and I have a file
  formats section and a newgroups section (only has one newgroup in it
  right now). Its not entirely pascal, there is some C code in one or two
  of the articles but I program in pascal and my articles all have pascal
  code in it.
 
  {Scott Serven}
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * TVPlus: Home Page
    http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/tvhome.html

  This is mainly C-biased, but the Pascal section is accessible from
  http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/pasfhome.html
 
  This page contains frequently (and not so frequently) asked Pascal
  TurboVision questions with Berend's and other users's answers. Comments,
  corrections, and additions are solicited.

  {?}
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Rex K. Perkins Pascal Page
    http://www.iii.net/users/rexkp/ppp

  This page provides current information on BugSlay, The Pascal Postmortem
  Debugger, as well as links to other Pascal related information. 
 
  Initially I am focusing on the Borland compilers. If sufficient interest
  is shown, along with information on WWW/ftp sites, I will expand this
  page to cover other flavors of Pascal.
 
  If your favorite online source of Pascal information/code is not listed
  here, email me, Rex Perkins.  Many thanks to those who have already done
  so.
 
  {Rex K. Perkins}
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Tims Pascal FAQ
    http://WWW.LIII.COM/~tlittle/misc.html
 
  Tims Pascal FAQ
 
  Note: This is primarily oriented toward Borland's dialects of Pascal
  since the original Pascal was an intentionally crippled programming
  language. Borland and many other software companies brought Pascal into
  the world of productive languages.
 
  With the recent introduction of Delphi, Pascal has gained a strong foot-
  hold in the business field again.
 
  This is a work in progress; albeit, said progress has slowed to a
  veritable sub-crawl phase, as lately I have been swamped with work.
  However this page is continually being modified and added to.
 
  {Tim Little}
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Borland Pascal Petition
    http://132.230.63.1/~klaus/pascal.html
 
    Add your name to the petitions to try to persuade borland to create
    new versions of Turbo/Borland Pascal:
 
        Borland Pascal 8 (for Dos)
        Borland Pascal / Turbo Pascal for Linux
        Borland Pascal for other platforms
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Turbo Pascal for Windows Page
    http://mindlink.net/apang/tpw.html
  
  I finally collected together a few gripes, bugs, answers (to
  not-so-frequently asked questions) for TPW 1.5.  It could use some more
  work and links to other pages...but I'm busy enough as is.  ;)
  
  What I would like to see (and maybe work on with others) is a centralized
  index (as opposed to a repository) to the numerous TPW sources and packages
  available on different sites via http and/or ftp.  As it is, some packages
  are mirrored, some aren't, some are found on some sites and not others,
  etc.
  
  {Anthon Pang}
  *************************************************************************
   2.4   Notable sources of information
  *************************************************************************
  
  * SWAG.
  . Available from Garbo and SimTel directory turbopas/
  . 1st time: get swaga-c.zip...swags-z.zip + swag.zip.
  . Updating: get the latest swagYYMM.zip only.
  
    A free archive of Turbo Pascal code, updated quarterly, produced by
    the 'Source Ware Archival Group'. Note that the inital download is ~5Mb
  
    Many people would consider SWAG essential before posting here!
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Ralf Brown's Interrupt List
  . SimTel in the msdos/info/
  . inter48a.zip -> inter48d.zip  (Remember, the number will increase)
  . inter48e.zip contains a viewer
  . inter48f.zip contains utils to convert to Windows Help files.
  
    A comprehensive list of all the interrupts, their functions and
    subfunctions.  You will need this if you want to do any serious asm
    programming.  This is also quite large to download...
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * The PCGPE 'PC Games Programmers Encyclopaedia'
  . ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/gpe/pcgpe.zip
  . http://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/gpe/00index.html

    Version 1 contains lots of information on interfacing with games
    related hardware - Mouse, joystick, Sound Cards, VGA specs.
    Useful software techniques include BSP trees, 3d algorithms, a
    starfield sim and fire effects.  gfx file formats included too.
  
    Includes Assembly and VGA tutorials by Asphyxia and VLA.
       
    Thankfully, the author is a Pascal afficionado, and so most of the code
    is in Pascal or Pascal-style pseudocode.  It also focusses on
    techniques, rather than doling out code or units, aiding understanding.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Glenn Grotzinger's Turbo Pascal Tutor
  . ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/turbopas/tptutr03.zip

    Currently under development, (watch the newsgroup for new parts), this
    tutor is broken into several parts covering important sections of
    Turbo Pascal.  Larger versions (with more parts) will have a higher
    version number in the .zip filename.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Bug Lists
 
  Believe it or not, your favourite Borland products are not 100% perfect.
 
  + Borland Pascal 7 (also includes an old Turbovision bug-list)
    ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/turbopas/bp7bugs2.zip
 
  + Turbo Pascal 6
    ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/turbopa6/tp6bugs7.zip
 
  + TurboVision (possibly newer versions of Brad Williams's TV bug list)
    ftp://vtucs.cc.vt.edu/turbo-vision/faq/

  *************************************************************************
   2.5   Uploading your masterpieces to an FTP site
  *************************************************************************
  
  If you upload your splendid TPU, program or source code, then it doesn't
  clutter up the newsgroup and will be publicly available for longer.
  
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Garbo
    Make sure you get these files:
      ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/UPLOAD.INF   (Info on uploading)
      ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/UPTEXT.INF   (Questionnaire to fill in)
    And remember to send an e-mailed anouncement!
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * SimTel   (From the SimTel FAQ at www.coast.net)
    Can authors of ShareWare, FreeWare and Public Domain programs upload
    their programs to SimTel?
 
    Yes. For details send e-mail to listserv@SimTel.Coast.NET with this
    command in the body of the message: get simtel-upload.info
 
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  More could well follow.  There are {nearly!} always helpful pointers at
  other ftp sites saying what you should do.  If in doubt, there may be a
  .message in an incoming directory, or you could politely mail the site.
  
  *************************************************************************
  3) Frequently Asked Questions.
  *************************************************************************
  
  * How do I make EXE files with Turbo Pascal?
 
  In Turbo Pascal, in the compile menu, select COMPILE TO MEMORY. Open the menu
  again, and it should say COMPILE TO DISK. Then select COMPILE, and it will 
  create the file XXX.EXE, where XXX is the name of your .PAS file.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Will Delphi32 do DOS programs as well as Windows?
  
    Delphi32 is for Windows 95 and Windows NT.  It is not a DOS product. It
    will create 32-bit console mode apps, but it will not create DOS apps.
         -Steve Teixeira  <steixeir@borland.com>
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Is there a Borland Pascal Mailing list?
 
    No, there is not.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Is it possible to 'decompile' pascal EXEs or TPUs?

    No.  Too much information is lost in the compiling process.  For a more
    detailed explanation see Prof. Timo Salmi's FAQ.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
| * What is the difference between BP, TP and TP for Windows?
|
|   In essence, Borland Pascal is the 'professional' product, whilst the
|   Turbo Pascals are 'hobbyist' products.
|
|   Borland Pascal can do everything that both Turbo Pascals can do, plus:
|
|   .  Compile for DOS Protected mode
|   .  Full Run Time Library Source code
|   .  Lots of assorted debugging and programming tools
|
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * How should I unsubscribe from the INFO-PASCAL mailing list?

  Send the message "unsubscribe INFO-PASCAL" to

      mailto:info-pascal-request@brl.mil

  Please do not send such requests (or others) to info-Pascal@brl.mil

  *************************************************************************
   Appendix A - Ftp Mirror sites (Choose the closest to you)
  *************************************************************************

* Public, authorized Garbo mirror sites:

               France:  ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/pc/garbo
              Germany:  ftp://ftp.germany.eu.net/pub/comp/msdos/mirror.garbo
    Chemnitz, Germany:  ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/garbo
    Erlangen, Germany:  ftp://ftp.easynet.de/pub/pc
      London, England:  ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mirrors/garbo
          Pisa, Italy:  ftp://cnuce_arch.cnr.it/pub/msdos/garbo.uwasa.fi
         Riga, Latvia:  ftp://ftp.lanet.lv/pub/windows
   InfoMagic, AZ, USA:  ftp://ftp.infomagic.com/pub/mirrors/garbo/msdos
Walnut Creek, CA, USA:  ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/garbo
      Urbana, IL, USA:  ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/systems/pc/garbo
   St. Louis, MO, USA:  ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/msdos/garbo.uwasa.fi
   Austin, Texas, USA:  ftp://ftp.dataplex.net/pub/garbo/pc
 Melbourne, Australia:  ftp://archie.au/micros/pc/garbo
 Melbourne, Australia:  ftp://ftp.bhp.com.au/pc/garbo
      Hong Kong, Asia:  ftp://ftp.hkstar.com/pub/garbo
         Taiwan, Asia:  ftp://NCTUCCCA.edu.tw/PC/garbo
   Seoul, Korea, Asia:  ftp://ftp.nuri.net/pub/garbo
   Seoul, Korea, Asia:  ftp://ftp.sogang.ac.kr/msdos_garbo
  Natal, South Africa:  ftp://Owl.und.ac.za/mirrors/garbo/pc


* SimTel, the Coast to Coast repository (tm)
  Canberra, Australia:  ftp://archie.au/micros/pc/SimTel
    Sao Paulo, Brazil:  ftp://ftp.unicamp.br/pub/simtel
       Beijing, China:  ftp://ftp.pku.edu.cn/pub/simtel
   Prague, Czech Rep.:  ftp://pub.vse.cz/pub/simtel
   Lancaster, England:  ftp://micros.hensa.ac.uk/mirrors/simtel
      London, England:  ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/packages/simtel
      London, England:  ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/mirrors/simtel
       Espoo, Finland:  ftp://ftp.funet.fi/mirrors/simtel.coast.net/Simtel
      Neuilly, France:  ftp://ftp.grolier.fr/pub/pc/SimTel
        Paris, France:  ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/pc/SimTel
      Bochum, Germany:
              ftp://ftp.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mirrors/simtel.coast.net/SimTel
    Chemnitz, Germany:  ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/simtel
       Mainz, Germany:  ftp://ftp.uni-mainz.de/pub/pc/mirrors/simtel
   Paderborn, Germany:  ftp://ftp.uni-paderborn.de/SimTel
   Tuebingen, Germany:  ftp://ftp.uni-tuebingen.de/pub/simtel
            Hong Kong:  ftp://ftp.cs.cuhk.hk/pub/simtel
            Hong Kong:  ftp://ftp.hkstar.com/pub/simtel
        Haifa, Israel:  ftp://ftp.technion.ac.il/pub/unsupported/simtel
          Pisa, Italy:  ftp://cnuce-arch.cnr.it/pub/msdos/simtel
       Saitama, Japan:  ftp://ftp.saitama-u.ac.jp/pub/simtel
       Saitama, Japan:  ftp://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/SimTel
         Tokyo, Japan:  ftp://ftp.crl.go.jp/pub/pc/archives/simtel
         Seoul, Korea:  ftp://ftp.kornet.nm.kr/pub/SimTel
         Seoul, Korea:  ftp://ftp.nuri.net/pub/Simtel
          Netherlands:
             ftp://ftp.nic.surfnet.nl/mirror-archive/software/simtel-msdos
       Wellington, NZ:  ftp://ftp.vuw.ac.nz/pub/simtel
       Krakow, Poland:  ftp://ftp.cyf-kr.edu.pl/pub/mirror/simtel
       Warsaw, Poland:  ftp://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/simtel
     Aveiro, Portugal:  ftp://ftp.ua.pt/pub/simtel
         South Africa:  ftp://ftp.sun.ac.za/pub/simtel
      Slovak Republic:  ftp://ftp.uakom.sk/pub/SimTel
             Slovenia:  ftp://ftp.arnes.si/software/SimTel
    Stockholm, Sweden:  ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/pc/mirror/SimTel
  Zurich, Switzerland:  ftp://ftp.switch.ch/mirror/simtel
       Taipei, Taiwan:  ftp://NCTUCCCA.edu.tw/PC/simtel
 Nonthaburi, Thailand:  ftp://ftp.nectec.or.th/pub/mirrors/SimTel
       Ankara, Turkey:  ftp://ftp.metu.edu.tr/pub/mirrors/simtel
     Concord, CA, USA:  ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/simtel
      Urbana, IL, USA:  ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/systems/pc/simtel
   Rochester, MI, USA:  ftp://OAK.Oakland.Edu/SimTel      *Primary Mirror*
   St. Louis, MO, USA:  ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/ibmpc/simtel
      Norman, OK, USA:  ftp://ftp.uoknor.edu/mirrors/SimTel
   Corvallis, OR, USA:  ftp://ftp.orst.edu/pub/mirrors/simtel
Salt Lake Cy, UT, USA:  ftp://ftp.pht.com/pub/mirrors/simtel

  If you know of a mirror not on this list (f.e. on your service provider)
  then it is probably a 'restricted' mirror, intended for speedy access for
  a small group of users only.  It is probably best if you use that.

  *************************************************************************
   Appendix B - Credits
  *************************************************************************
  Scott A. Moore <sam@ccnet.com>        - Original posting guidelines
  Dr John Stockton <jrs@dclf.npl.co.uk> - WWW sites, many corrections/tips
  Prof. Timo Salmi <ts@uwasa.fi>        - Garbo mirrors, corrections galore
  Anthon Pang <apang@mindlink.bc.ca>    - Beta testing WWW sites
  Keith Petersen (of SimTel)            - SimTel mirror sites
  *************************************************************************
  Thankyou for reading the c.l.p.borland mini-FAQ   <tomw@tsys.demon.co.uk>
