Date: Wed, 05 Feb 1997 11:08:16 -0600 (MDT)
From: Roger Ivie <IVIE AT cc DOT usu DOT edu>
Subject: Re: [opendos] Accessibility of OpenDOS with braille and speech
 output...
To: OPENDOS AT MAIL DOT TACOMA DOT NET
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Mark Harris wrote:
>On Mon, 3 Feb 1997, Roger Ivie wrote:
>> COMMAND.COM doesn't actually do BIOS output. It does DOS output. That is, it
>> writes to a file handle open on the console and reads from a file handle
>> also open on the console. This does two things:
>> 
>> 1)	Makes it possible to run on weird machines like the DEC Rainbow which
>> 	don't have a PC-compatible ROM BIOS.
>
>DOS is a PC operating system.  Non-compatibles are just that: not
>compatible.  Should we make DOS so that it can run on the VIC-20
>as well?  It is not PC-compatible either.

The VIC-20 is not an x86 machine. MS-DOS was, and IMHO should still be,
generic to x86 machines. A specific OEM (such as IBM) can customize to their
particular hardware (giving rise to PC-DOS), but the OS itself should be
as generic as possible.

Again, IMHO.

Roger Ivie
ivie AT cc DOT usu DOT edu