toppin@melpar.UUCP (Doug Toppin X2075) (03/06/90)
This is a question that I believe I know the answer to but would like to get a confirmation: "Does Xenix use the BIOS in the [23]86 at all?" My boss has always been convinced that it does and I believe that it does not. I am guessing that the Xenix drivers do everything on their own. If you know for sure please post. The reason that I am interested right now is that I need to modify some of the characters in the EGA font. I can find plenty of DOS examples on how to do this but all of them reference a BIOS interrupt 0x10. I believe that to perform the same function under Xenix I will have to do what the BIOS does using the termio ioctls for mapping my application to the EGA card, others believe that all I have to do is write a driver in assembly that will invoke the associated BIOS function. We are running SCO Xenix 2.2.3 on the 286. thanks Doug Toppin uunet!melpar!toppin
usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (03/06/90)
From article <115@melpar.UUCP>, by toppin@melpar.UUCP (Doug Toppin X2075): $ This is a question that I believe I know the answer to but would $ like to get a confirmation: "Does Xenix use the BIOS in the $ [23]86 at all?" My boss has always been convinced that it does $ and I believe that it does not. BIOS is non-reentrant therefore it is impossible for a multitasking system to trust it. Therefore you are right and your boss knows nothing. j |%|John Lawitzke, Dale Computer Corp., R&D |%|UUCP: uunet!frith!dale1!jhl Work |%| uunet!frith!ipecac!jhl Home Inquiring minds just wondering. |%|Internet: jhl@frith.egr.msu.edu
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (03/06/90)
In article <115@melpar.UUCP> toppin@melpar.UUCP (Doug Toppin X2075) writes: | This is a question that I believe I know the answer to but would | like to get a confirmation: "Does Xenix use the BIOS in the | [23]86 at all?" My boss has always been convinced that it does | and I believe that it does not. Your boss is right. Xenix used the BIOS to read the boot sectors off the hard disk at system startup. After that, no. I have run Xenix on a system with such a messed up BIOS that stock MS-DOS didn't run reliably, hanging on keyboard in, etc. Xenix booted and ran beautifully, and stuff runs under VP/ix which can't run on DOS on this machine. Bear in mind I'm cheap, and wouldn't replace the BIOS for $30 when I have a way around it... -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc "Getting old is bad, but it beats the hell out of the alternative" -anon
palowoda@fiver.UUCP (Bob Palowoda) (03/07/90)
From article <115@melpar.UUCP>, by toppin@melpar.UUCP (Doug Toppin X2075): > This is a question that I believe I know the answer to but would > like to get a confirmation: "Does Xenix use the BIOS in the > [23]86 at all?" Yes, to boot the disk. That's about it. ---Bob -- Bob Palowoda indetech!fiver!palowoda *Home of Fiver BBS* login: bbs Home {sun|daisy}!ys2!fiver!palowoda (415)-623-8809 1200/2400 Work {sun|pyramid|decwrl}!megatest!palowoda (415)-623-8806 2400/9600/19200 TB Voice: (415)-623-7495 palowoda@fiver Public access UNIX XBBS
rogerk@sco.COM (Roger Knopf 5502) (03/07/90)
In article <115@melpar.UUCP> toppin@melpar.UUCP (Doug Toppin X2075) writes: >This is a question that I believe I know the answer to but would >like to get a confirmation: "Does Xenix use the BIOS in the >[23]86 at all?" My boss has always been convinced that it does >and I believe that it does not. I am guessing that the Xenix >drivers do everything on their own. You are right. The boot programs use the BIOS to get the kernel loaded and are never used again. Use the MAPCONS ioctls. The doc for 2.3 says that they return a selector; in reality they return a far pointer under 286 and a pointer under 386. Roger Knopf SCO Consulting Services -- "His potential clients were always giving him the business." --Robert Thornton