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- Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!umn.edu!csus.edu!netcom.com!samiam
- From: samiam@netcom.com (Scott Moore)
- Subject: Re: OS/2's guts are 16bit
- Message-ID: <1992Dec20.071743.28270@netcom.com>
- Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
- References: <1992Dec19.220131.23333@rose.com>
- Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 07:17:43 GMT
- Lines: 33
-
- victor.ng@rose.com (victor ng) writes:
-
- >I heard from someone that some of the in OS/2 is 16-bit. I thought he
- >was talking about the GRE in GA but he's not. What's this guy talking
- >about, or is it just more BS?
-
- IBM performed an incremental move from 16 bit os/2 to 32 bit os/2. The new
- code (such as memory management, kernal etc) required to make os/2 fully
- support the 386 advanced modes was implemented first. A system called "thunks"
- was introduced to allow 32 bit code and 16 bit code to cross call each other.
- This allowed IBM to get a full version of os/2 2.0 up in far less time than
- a from-scratch rewrite of os/2 (many sections of os/2 are in assembly, so
- you cannot just recompile). Understanding that they would be accused of
- putting a 32 bit face on a 16 bit system, IBM has moved quickly to get the
- most time critical sections still written in 16 bit moved to 32 bit.
- For instance, the "graphics engine" was 16 bit, but the recent service pack
- included a 32 bit version, that also allows 32 bit video drivers to be
- created.
- My understanding (the understanding of someone not from IBM) is that most of
- the code in os/2 2.0 is now 32 bit.
- Note that the easy communication between 32 and 16 bits has allowed us to
- make immediate use of the 16 os/2 programs written for os/2 1/x. Contrast
- that with windows 3.0 virtually dumping all the 2.x programs in the trash
- (and that wasn't even a 16 to 32 bit change).
-
- [sam]
-
- --
- Scott A. Moore [SAM] | "Cash is more
- samiam@netcom.com | important than your
- Santa Cruz, CA USA | mother"
- 408-423-1624 | Allan Shugart - CEO Segate Corp.
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