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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:2427 comp.os.linux.misc:14033 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yarrina.connect.com.au!werple.apana.org.au!bushwire.apana.org.au!zot.apana.org.au!zot.apana.org.au!not-for-mail From: hamish@zot.apana.org.au (Hamish Coleman) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: Impressions: FreeBSD vs Linux Date: 5 May 1994 22:55:19 +1000 Organization: WFLGA (Worlds First Linear Gerbil Accelerator :) Lines: 35 Distribution: world Message-ID: <2qaqbn$3md@peril.zot.apana.org.au> References: <2pfjmi$3j9@u.cc.utah.edu> <e8oDLc1w165w@oasys.pc.my> <2pk3in$nor@acme.gatech.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: localhost Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In <2pk3in$nor@acme.gatech.edu> gt8134b@prism.gatech.edu (Robert Sanders) writes: >othman@oasys.pc.my (Othman Ahmad) writes: >>terry@cs.weber.edu (Terry Lambert) writes: >>> Actually, a better plan is a protected mode vm86() call so anything >>> anyone wants to write in kernel space could make a BIOS call if it >>> needed one. >>This may be called biosemu. >>Implementing this should be easier than dosemu. >Er, well, maybe. The VGA BIOS doesn't run in a vacuum: I know of at >least two that use the PIT and PIC chips (interval timer and interrupt >controllers). That's not trivial to implement correctly. These >BIOSes also assume the standard memory map. Hmmm - - Just came in on this one, but I have written such a 'biosemu' program some time ago, just to see if it was possible. If you have Linux, and want to have a look, it is included as part of a program called virtdos, and is called 'readm' itself. tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/ALPHA/dosemu/virt_dos0.04.tar.gz using this program, I could successfully change video modes on my et4000 and my trident 8800. It doesnt emulate anything besides 1M of ram and a braindead vert/horiz retrace CRTC status register. Also, it dumps out a list of the IO instructions and their results. -- Use Linux! hamish@zot.apana.org.au |-----------------| Bill posters will be shot on sight |-----------------| ``Life is like a grapefruit ... it's sort of orangey-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It's got pips inside too. Oh, and some people have half a one for breakfast.'' -- Ford Prefect