Also, Windows XP has problems running some DOS programs. There is a solution to this problem called DOSBox. DOSBox can run DOS programs in the Vista and XP environments.

Borland Turbo Pascal: A free pre-Windows treasure How to install. The advice here was tested on an XP machine. If you have a Windows 98 (or earlier) machine that you can use, that would be fine. Maybe even better. Turbo Pascal 5.5: Long ago in the dim dark distant days before Windows, one of the most important programming environments for PCs was Borland's Turbo Pascal. Version 5.5 of that classic is now available free, online.

You can use this excellent Pascal for reasonable purposes (see the fine print if in doubt). Being from before Windows, the download is, by today's standards, small (just under 1 megabyte. It would fit on a floppy! Remember those?). Don't let the efficiency of the code fool you. Pereletnie i zimuyuschie ptici prezentaciya dlya detej. It can do many, many things. You can download Borland's Turbo Pascal 5.5 from: which should put the file 'tp55.zip' on your hard disc.

(Elect 'Save to disc', not 'open' or 'run'.) (Borland was called 'Inprise' for a moment, and now some of their products are available from 'Codegear'. Codegear's page says it was 'created by Borland's decision to separate its developer tools group.' ) (You can get the download page directly with the link above, or go there via pages with introductions, etc, from.

Down to article 'Antique Software: Turbo Pascal v5.5', click to open it.) I'm cautious: I download things to an archive area, and then work with a copy. In this case, I put the copy in C: tmp.

That's not a place I normally work, but in this case there's a reason to break the rule. You will eventually delete this, so don't worry too much.

While unzipping the contents of tp55.zip, I got all tangled up, but that was just my fault. Eventually, you should have two folders, 'Disk1' and 'Disk2', in C: tmp.

Neither has sub- folders. I then went down a blind alley which I can save you exploring. Ignore whatever you may have noticed in the install instructions about keeping things in the folders created by the zip/unzip processes. Move everything from the 'Disk2' folder into the 'Disk1' folder.

(There are no name duplications.) Go into 'Disk1', double-click on 'Install.exe' (which may show on your system as 'Install'.) The window that opens is rather crude. Don't be alarmed. (If you have problems doing the install, just press escape (perhaps several times) to back out. Be advised: All of the little things we've come to take for granted in Windows are not 'givens' when you're working with an old application.