lennox@paris.sw.stratus.com (Craig Scott Lennox) (01/18/90)
I've been an MS-DOS programmer (assembly and C) on 8086-based machines for some time now, and for years have avoided the issue of protected-mode programming. Now I'm interested in learning about it but don't know where to start. I'm looking for a good reference book which will explain the concept of protected mode from a PROGRAMMER'S point of view (with code samples, et al). I'd like to know how different protected mode programming is from real mode. Also, will I need a special compiler and assembler? What exactly prevents a program which enters protected mode from being run by DOS? Are there any features of protected mode which are usable in a DOS environment; I really do not wish to switch to OS/2, but I've done enough DOS kernel hacking so that I'd be tempted to recode certain system routines to use protected mode if it were feasible. Also, does protected mode get you any more functionality than is available with, say, an m68020? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Craig Lennox Speaking for myself, not Stratus Computer.