Michael Devore schreef:
Let us avoid the sillier debates. You cannot simultaneously argue
that EMM386 may use a 386-level test to help configure loading at boot
time, yet a separate program cannot legitimately perform the same
test. The nature of EMM386 and HIMEM precludes loading them at a
subsequent DOS prompt.
Either you can auto-configure at boot based on a 386-level test or you
cannot. Whether the tests are performed inside or outside a
particular device driver is irrelevant.
Eric is meaning that a safe 386-test is available (his CPULEVEL/GETARGS
program ) for post-config.sys
Autoexec.bat stuff can be scripted to autoconfigure based on a 386-level
test.
Config.sys stuff cannot. Only options there are [load], [abort],
[crash], [hang] and [corrupt].
For config.sys , drivers are forced to do a safe 386 test themselves I
guess.
So yes, you're correct. Tests are possible. But no generic tests (branching)
I think Nick Bright was testing a few applications on 8086. He even has
a cdromdrive working on that platform :)
http://www.freedos.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1907
as for the nature of the XMS driver, to my surprise FDXMS286 *can* be
loaded by DEVLOAD, a commandline loader.
So, it's runtime loadable (no idea if it would also crash on 8086) and
supports 80286 platform
Huge drawback to that is that it's not as advanced as your driver. (A20
styles, 4GB support, XMS3.0 API, options, etc..)
so that means Microsoft's XMSMMGR.EXE can be imitated :)
Anyone who actually *is able* (correct build environment, lots of
knowledge) can decide for himself if he wants to make things foolproof
or rely on the user to not do stupid things (like trying to load an XMS
or UMB/EMS driver on a 8086 computer). Other people can only respect
that decision (or do the implementation themselves ofcourse)
CPU tests are annoying for HIMEM:
*config.sys: 386+;otherwise abort
*commandline: "himem /?" --> 8086"
*commandline: "himem /test" --> 80286?
CPU tests for EMM386:
*config.sys: 386+ otherwise abort
*config.sys: also XMS available, otherwise abort
*commandline: 8086 (as EMM386 has no commandline parameters that do
anything?)
Bernd
-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by:
Power Architecture Resource Center: Free content, downloads, discussions,
and more. http://solutions.newsforge.com/ibmarch.tmpl
_______________________________________________
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
