> The part about a kernel sensing the hardware it is on and being
> able to decide to boot in classic 16 bit mode or go full 32 bit and
> behave as a supervisor is technically feasible.  But I don't think
> it's going to fit on a floppy disk. 

you are missing the fact that

    device= EMM386.EXE (or its brothers and sisters)

puts the machine in 32bit, protected mode, and *everything* runs under
the control of EMM386.EXE.

even if it currently reflects most interrupt handling down to the
'real mode' KERNEL.SYS and BIOS, there is no reason that it couldn't handle
some part or all of INT21, INT13, INT10, INTxyz handling *inside* EMM386,
fully in protected mode, making it a real, true 32 BIT DOS.

I even think it should be possible (with reasonable effort) to
compile KERNEL.EXE in 32Bit mode (with some glue code) and make it part
of EMM386; this would make this 32BIT DOS 100% compatible to FreeDOS
by definition. not exactly trivial, but not (much) more complicated
that moving KERNEL.EXE into HMA.


> Just out of curiosity, who is signing up to work on a 32 bit
> FreeDOS derivative, whether for the $2500 Kickstarter or just for
> the technical challenge? 
so far the people working on FreeDOS did it for fun or technical
challenge, not for the money. $2500 would have been ridiculous bad
hourly wage.

> Who out there with the skills to do this
> kind of work is actually standing up to do the work?
I don't expect anyone.

not that many people out there with the required skills, and there are
other, more rewarding projects waiting

Tom


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