🚀 go-pugleaf

in article <1652@bnr-rsc.UUCP>, schow@bcarh185.bnr.ca (Stanley T.H. Chow) says:

>>Granted, Intel did a very nice thing in giving us the "virtual 8086"
>>mode to allow multiple 8086-based programs (DOS-based?) to execute
>>concurrently.  This seems to be an excellent idea, but why then
>>does OS/2 only allow one DOS task (in the compatibility box)?

> I assume this is a limitation of OS/2 that is designed to force users
> to migrate to "true" OS/2 applications.

The limitation is because OS/2 is currently only setup for things a '286
can do.  One of the things a '286 can't do is run virtual 8086s, only a
'386 can do that.  You can kick a '286 into 8086 mode, and use a keyboard
controller reset kludge to get back into '286 mode, so it's possible to
simulate one 8086 task by storing state information in some of the SRAM
found in your AT clock.  

Or something like that; it's pretty ugly.

> Stanley Chow        BitNet:  schow@BNR.CA
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