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From: davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.windows.x,comp.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.mach,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Free software and the future of support for Diamond products
Keywords: Diamond, free-software
Message-ID: <1992Sep21.150821.9472@crd.ge.com>
Date: 21 Sep 92 15:08:21 GMT
References: <1992Sep10.130359.24767@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> <1992Sep11.124831.10108@crd.ge.com> <1992Sep12.035549.4743@zeos.com> <1992Sep20.000851.2641@cbnewsj.cb.att.com>
Sender: usenet@crd.ge.com (Required for NNTP)
Reply-To: davidsen@crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Organization: GE Corporate R&D Center, Schenectady NY
Lines: 15
Nntp-Posting-Host: ariel.crd.ge.com
In article <1992Sep20.000851.2641@cbnewsj.cb.att.com>, dwex@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (david.e.wexelblat) writes:
| Unless I've missed something, a VESA compliant board supports a BIOS standard,
| not a register-level standard. Unix, like other protected-mode operating
| systems, does not use the BIOS at all, except during boot. So there's
| no such thing as a VESA-compliant driver under Unix, unless someone hacks
| the kernel to allow this to work.
Youu've missed something. The kernel supports vm86 operation, and it
is possible to drop into real mode, allow access to the i/o ports
needed, and run the BIOS in real mode, then exit back to protected mode.
I am not suggesting this, I'm just saying it can be done.
--
bill davidsen, GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8; Schenectady NY 12345
I admit that when I was in school I wrote COBOL. But I didn't compile.