From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sun Feb 9 08:10:02 2020 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F20AE230CB2 for ; Sun, 9 Feb 2020 08:10:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bennett@sdf.org) Received: from mx.sdf.org (mx.sdf.org [205.166.94.20]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "mx.sdf.org", Issuer "Let's Encrypt Authority X3" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 48FhXn6Lhzz3KrX for ; Sun, 9 Feb 2020 08:10:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bennett@sdf.org) Received: from sdf.org (IDENT:bennett@miku.sdf.org [205.166.94.6]) by mx.sdf.org (8.15.2/8.14.5) with ESMTPS id 01989x48019946 (using TLSv1.2 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256 bits) verified NO); Sun, 9 Feb 2020 08:09:59 GMT Received: (from bennett@localhost) by sdf.org (8.15.2/8.12.8/Submit) id 01989xgi025440; Sun, 9 Feb 2020 02:09:59 -0600 (CST) From: Scott Bennett Message-Id: <202002090809.01989xgi025440@sdf.org> Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2020 02:09:59 -0600 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re updating BIOS Cc: ralf.mardorf@rocketmail.com User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 6/20/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 48FhXn6Lhzz3KrX X-Spamd-Bar: - Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; dkim=none; dmarc=none; spf=none (mx1.freebsd.org: domain of bennett@sdf.org has no SPF policy when checking 205.166.94.20) smtp.mailfrom=bennett@sdf.org X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-1.32 / 15.00]; ARC_NA(0.00)[]; NEURAL_HAM_MEDIUM(-0.98)[-0.982,0]; RCVD_TLS_ALL(0.00)[]; FROM_HAS_DN(0.00)[]; IP_SCORE(-0.30)[ip: (-0.93), ipnet: 205.166.94.0/24(-0.46), asn: 14361(-0.03), country: US(-0.05)]; MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; TO_DN_NONE(0.00)[]; DMARC_NA(0.00)[sdf.org]; AUTH_NA(1.00)[]; NEURAL_HAM_LONG(-0.94)[-0.938,0]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_SOME(0.00)[]; RCPT_COUNT_TWO(0.00)[2]; RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE(0.00)[20.94.166.205.list.dnswl.org : 127.0.10.0]; R_SPF_NA(0.00)[]; FROM_EQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[]; R_DKIM_NA(0.00)[]; MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+]; ASN(0.00)[asn:14361, ipnet:205.166.94.0/24, country:US]; FREEMAIL_CC(0.00)[rocketmail.com]; MID_RHS_MATCH_FROM(0.00)[]; RCVD_COUNT_TWO(0.00)[2] X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2020 08:10:03 -0000 On Thu, 6 Feb 2020 21:04:23 +0100 Ralf Mardorf wrote: >On Thu, 6 Feb 2020 20:54:26 +0100, Ralf Mardorf wrote: >>On Thu, 6 Feb 2020 11:24:48 -0800, Martin Glazer wrote: >>>Freedoms is the correct program. I use it. Good luck >> >>FreeDOS probably was required to update a PC BIOS, the time when I >>didn't use a PC, but a C64 or Atari ST. IOW that was a long, long time >>ago. I'm not aware of any 64 bit architecture PC, that requires >>more than a FAT 32 formatted device, to update the BIOS or UEFI thingy. >>IIRC I even updated a decades old 32 bit machine, just by using a FAT >>32 partition. That time the computer just supported PATA (IDE), no SATA >>and I still used a floppy disk for some purposes. AFAIK updates on even >>relatively aged machines doesn't require an operating sytsem at all, it >>could be done by the BIOS and a FAT 32 partitioned device. It's just >>important to read the vendor's hints. Sometimes updating from a very >>old release to the latest release might brick the machine, it might >>be required to upgrade from one release to another and IIRC sometimes >>it could be impossible to downgrade, if an upgrade should suffer from a >>regression. > >FreeDOS is not a program, it's an operating system. The first part of the above, mispunctuated pair of sentences is correct, but the latter part is not. FreeDOS, like PC-DOS and MSDOS before it, is/was not an operating system, but rather a more primitive creature known as a monitor system. It offered no access methods, scheduling, or storage separation (whether through storage protection keys, protective mapping in address translation tables, or some other method), or accounting, any one of which might have been grounds to argue that it was an operating system. >For my Atari ST's 80286 hardware emulator I used DR-DOS >[ https://i.imgur.com/lx5pucp.jpg ]. > I recall only three OS that ran in native protected mode on 80286 machines: IBM's OS/2 version 1, Microport's UNIX System V/AT, and XENIX/AT by...hmmm...I think possibly Micro$lop, but I no longer remember for sure. None of these was terribly usable because of the hardware limitation of potentially thousands of small address spaces per process. All address spaces were limited to a maximum of 65535 bytes in a segment and segments were *not* contiguous in any sense, but were essentially separate address spaces. But they were interesting to play with at the time. Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG ********************************************************************** * Internet: bennett at sdf.org *xor* bennett at freeshell.org * *--------------------------------------------------------------------* * "A well regulated and disciplined militia, is at all times a good * * objection to the introduction of that bane of all free governments * * -- a standing army." * * -- Gov. John Hancock, New York Journal, 28 January 1790 * **********************************************************************