For JPI V3 experts only... writing DOS device drivers in M2

Thread View: comp.lang.modula2

2 messages

[T] Back to Threads [V] Tree View [G] Group Articles

2 total messages Started by "David Collier" Wed, 17 Apr 1996 09:24

#3491

Author: "David Collier"
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 09:24

28 lines
1499 bytes

I recently went with great trepidation into the .txt file which assigns 
compilers to various file extensions and persuaded TSV3 to use MASM for 
compiling .asm files. It works a treat. I even patched masm so the error 
messages come up in window 0. Wonderful.

I need, from time to time, to produce little DOS device drivers. At 
present I have to go and do this in Borland C, and it's a pain in the 
butt. 

The only real reason for using C is that the front end of a device driver 
must have a small table of values on it, describing itself. With tlink I 
can control the link order. M2V3 programs  always start with whatever 
gets linked in first.
 
Peering into the same .txt file, I see stuff which can be paraphrased as 
"for a DOS exe file, link in initexe first"

Has anyone ever fiddled with this stuff, for instance to add a new file 
type "sys", which says " for SYS files, link in driver.obj, and link 
initexe.obj too".
Then in driver.obj I could use "extrn fred", where fred some label in 
initexe, to ensure initexe gets called. 

That would allow me to write my device drivers in M2, and my head could 
cool down a bit.....

David.

Re: For JPI V3 experts only... writing DOS device drivers in M2

#3505

Author: Martin Tom Brown
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 1996 20:27

35 lines
1989 bytes

In article <Dq024M.3Hu@cix.compulink.co.uk>
           dcollier@cix.compulink.co.uk "David Collier" writes:

> I recently went with great trepidation into the .txt file which assigns 
> compilers to various file extensions and persuaded TSV3 to use MASM for 
> compiling .asm files. It works a treat. I even patched masm so the error 
> messages come up in window 0. Wonderful.

Yes, also useful to integrate the OS2 resource compiler too.

> I need, from time to time, to produce little DOS device drivers. 
> Peering into the same .txt file, I see stuff which can be paraphrased as 
> "for a DOS exe file, link in initexe first"
> 
> Has anyone ever fiddled with this stuff, for instance to add a new file 
> type "sys", which says " for SYS files, link in driver.obj, and link 
> initexe.obj too".

I don't see why you couldn't give it a try. It'll be interesting :-)
Do you have the source code kit available ?    
initexe.a isn't all that long, so you have a sporting chance of 
creating an initsys.a based on it. I suspect the hardest part
will be tricking the TS linker and memory models into doing what
you want for a valid SYS file. 

> That would allow me to write my device drivers in M2, and my head could 
> cool down a bit.....

Be interested if you make it work!

Good luck!
Martin
-- 
Martin Brown  <martin@nezumi.demon.co.uk>     __                CIS: 71651,470
Scientific Software Consultancy             /^,,)__/

Thread Navigation

This is a paginated view of messages in the thread with full content displayed inline.

Messages are displayed in chronological order, with the original post highlighted in green.

Use pagination controls to navigate through all messages in large threads.

Back to All Threads