Tom: >> The "issue" is that VirtualBox is not posting diskette media-change >> status in the BIOS data table. > > the 'issue' is that VirtualBox clearly states > 'floppy without change-line support' > > int13/15 returns '01h floppy without change-line support > int13/16 returns '06h change line active or not supported > > but UIDE ignores this, and relies on change line support anyway.
You are WRONG, Tom!! UIDE has NEVER ignored if a diskette has change-line support! It does in fact check the BIOS data table at 0:448h for bit 0 (change line for diskette A:) or bit 4 (change line for diskette B:). If those bits are off, diskette A: or diskette B: will not be cached. My update to UIDE in adding the /E switch was simply to add a mask which is 011h without /E, 000h with /E, to "mask" against the bits at address 0:448h. This works fine. With /E, the mask prevents UIDE from "seeing" any change-line bits, so diskettes go uncached. But, if what you wrote above is correct, VirtualBox expects people to use ONLY the "Int 13h" requests, when determining if a diskette has change-line support. And in any event, by indicating NO such support, as you also wrote above, they make it impossible for UIDE to cache diskettes anyway! I will NOT cache a drive which cannot tell me when its media has changed, and I REFUSE to add all of the logic in UIDE that Eric notes the DOS kernel contains, to find out if a media-change has occurred using other methods! So, I shall amend my earlier post to say that VirtualBox now needs TWO changes: (A) It needs to provide media-change status for each diskette, and (B) It needs to provide a PROPER BIOS DATA TABLE, as the table bits that are "seen" when VirtualBox runs are INCORRECT! > maybe the real issue is that noone finds the time to do a tiny bit of > debugging the problem but finds a lot of time to write loooooong > emails To which I shall add: Maybe you might have read the UIDE.ASM file before making any BASELESS and WRONG accusations about my drivers! Jack R. Ellis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
