Mail Archives: djgpp/1997/09/15/20:46:08
Michael F Brenner wrote: (a thoughtful position on the reasons for
desiring a 32-bit DOS)
After thinking a bit more, I'd like to support this idea
with the following proposal. Why not generalize DJGPP in
the following ways,
a. provide a small newOS .h and .lib which can be invoked
in any regular DJGPP DOS load module.
b. create_newDOS() would invoke autoFAT and find an EMPTY
absolute disk sector and put FAT entries and boot code
on the principal HD.
c. test_newDOS() would cause a re-boot of the system
with a hook to the newDOS loader, which would then
re-activate the calling program
d. the calling program from that point on would only have
BIOS support and could perform whatever scheduling
event, I/O or other tasks it requires.
e. run_newOS() would function as a stub, invoking a
complete, mature version of newOS whenever required
f. examine_oldOS() would run under either the kernel
or from a regular DOS DJGPP load module and would
evaluate its current environment and save parameters
needed for any newOS.
g. examine_PC() would collect facts about the current
physical environment and save them
It would seem like there would be only several minor
changes to an otherwise fairly complete OS support
system as it stands. Any programmer can therefore
create whatever parts of a "complete" operating system
they choose to, and in theory it should run on any PC
platform. Not only 32-bit, but perhaps in 5 years 64-bit
architectures as well.
Dick Taylor
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