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- Path: sparky!uunet!pipex!unipalm!uknet!strath-cs!st-and!rwmj
- From: rwmj@st-andrews.ac.uk (Richard William Martin Jones)
- Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
- Subject: Minix/386: why are 16-bit binaries not allowed?
- Keywords: Minix 386
- Message-ID: <1992Sep3.084243.2589@st-andrews.ac.uk>
- Date: 3 Sep 92 08:42:43 GMT
- Organization: Daesbury Lab., Warrington
- Lines: 19
-
- Hi.
-
- As it stands, you don't appear to be able to run 16-bit binaries under
- Bruce's 32-bit kernel. Why is this? I was under the impression that by
- setting a bit in the control register (the 'default size' bit), 16-bit
- code can run in a segment of its own, alongside other 32-bit processes.
- Would it be possible to make a small patch to the kernel so that 16-bit
- binaries ran in their own 16-bit segments, or are there more fundamental
- reasons why 16-bit support is not possible? I ask this because I don't
- want to recompile every program when I upgrade (I'd rather do it in
- stages). Also, I have a binary-only program that would be impossible to
- recompile.
-
- Rich.
- --
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