From: davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen) Subject: Re: Free software and the future of support for Diamond products Date: 21 Sep 1992 15:08:21 GMT
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.