Xref: news2.mv.net comp.os.msdos.djgpp:6521 From: KendallB AT scitechsoft DOT com (Kendall Bennett) Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: DirectX 2 SDK Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 22:21:47 GMT Organization: SciTech Software Lines: 36 Message-ID: <4tgp6q$2nh@nntp.sierra.net> References: <9607251458 DOT AA09446 AT cvfive> Reply-To: KendallB AT scitechsoft DOT com NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.135.220.4 To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp newhallw AT escmail DOT orl DOT mmc DOT com wrote: >The unfortunate aspect of DirectX is that it probably will be >the *only* way to access hardware when the new Windows NT is >released. Isn't it true that the protection in NT prevents >access to I/O ports, mapping of linear frame buffer memory, >redirecting interrupt vectors, and such? Bye, Bye, Mr. DPMI! Actually no. There was an article in Dr Dobb's that explained how you can gain direct access to I/O ports under NT, so that is not a problem. You can also easily write a driver to map in a piece of physical memory, so accessing the framebuffer is also not a problem. The only remaining problem is that you can't communicate with the real mode BIOS, since the code in the BIOS cannot be run in protected mode. However that may be solved soon because VESA is looking at a protected mode interface for the VBE/Core 2.1 specification ;-) Of course the problem's to be solved are complicated, but they are solveable. Regards, +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | SciTech Software - Building Truly Plug'n'Play Software! | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Kendall Bennett, Software Engineer | Email: KendallB AT scitechsoft DOT com | | SciTech Software USA | Fax : (916) 894 9069 | | 5 Governors Lane, Suite D | ftp : ftp.scitechsoft.com | | Chico, CA 95926, USA | www : http://www.scitechsoft.com | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+