-=> Robin Sheppard wrote to Tom Torfs <=-

 RS>    I'm a bit apprehensive about pmode stuff, though.  Several months 
 RS>    back, I grabbed a book on 80386 assembly, and all the stuff on 
 RS>    local descriptor tables, global descriptor tables, selectors, 
 RS>    interrupt descriptor tables, and I/O privilege made my head spin.  

You don't need to worry about that stuff unless you're writing an
operating system, or a DOS extender. User-level programming is simpler
than in 16-bit real mode.

 RS>    It seems that pmode might stop such stuff as writing directly to 
 RS>    video memory, serial communications, and custom keyboard handling 

Although you may have to approach those things a little differently, you
can still do them.

 RS>    With Watcom C, and the GCC ports, do the programs produced run
 RS>    under DOS, or do you have to run them from a protected-mode OS?

They're DOS programs, but they require a DPMI (DOS Protected Mode
Interface) server to be running. OS/2, Windows, and Linux's DOSEMU provide
that; but you can run a DPMI server under raw DOS, too. You can even bind
one to the EXE, so that it will run in any environment (ceding control if
another DPMI server is already running).

... DalekDOS v(overflow): (I)Obey (V)ision impaired (E)xterminate
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