19 Jan
2007
19 Jan
'07
6:03 p.m.
On 19 Jan 2007 at 8:13, Chris M wrote:
There's sufficient code to load the boot record
from
a disk present in the firmware, this we know for a
fact. We can get into definitions of bootstrapping,
and you would be far more qualified to give it
accurate and thorough justice, but "boot code" has to
be present in any computer. But again there is the
possibility that the bios code, *whoops* that resides
on disk just like a Tandy 2000, could be burned to an
eprom.
Oh, true. If I were to set out to bring something like MS-DOS 2.11
over to the Victor, the first thing I'd be coding right now is a
simple loader/debugger that worked over the serial port. Most
UART/USART chips are fairly well documented and straightforward to
program. I could then load bits of code into the machine via a
second system and observe the operation. Eventually, I could get
enough code in to get MS-DOS to run without trying to figure out how
to get it onto floppy in the right format.
I might be better off starting with CP/M-86 however-- the internals
as far as customization are well-documented and very straightforward.
Just a random thought or two.
Cheers,
Chuck