On 23/07/2010 11:08, Ruben J=F6nsson wrote:
> I have made a lot of programs that use the serialport back in the dos day=
s. I
> did write my own UART ISR and it worked good on dos and Win 95. But when =
I run
> these programs on XP or later they don't work very well, if at all. And t=
he
> biggest problem is that sometimes when the dos program exits, the com por=
t is
> not released as far as windows is concerned so I can't try it again witho=
ut
> rebooting windows. I don't get a error message telling me what is going on
> either.
>
> Maby this is your problem also.
>
NT3.5, NT3.51, NT4.0 NT5.x (Win2K, XP, Win2003), NT6.x (Vista, Win2008, =

Win7) all use HAL. Direct I/O (without some sort of real 32bit Windows =

driver) will fail. So DOS programs that use BIOS will work via =

Virtualised ports in NTVDM. Win3.1/win9x Win16 APIs will work only for =

HW, SW or no Handshake actual serial transfer, not for "bit bang" serial =

on handshake ports aka I2C, PIC ICSP etc.

VB6 software using Com OCX is fine as that is windows 32bit DLL. But =

higher speed "bit bang" serial on handshake ports aka I2C, PIC ICSP etc =

won't work well, lower speed is OK (up to about 2,400). CPU speed =

doesn't help as the task & Thread scheduler screws up timing of "bit =

bang" serial I/O on a handshake pin.

On NT3.5, NT3.51, NT4.0 NT5.x (Win2K, XP, Win2003), the "DirectIO" =

device driver will work for DOS and Win9x sw, mostly. You need to setup =

DirectIO and make sure no windows app or service is using the port.


Some programs the timing is in SW and direct port access is used =

(set-box channel editors and Firmware update,  Motorola and other Mobile =

radio frequency/Channel programming etc). So even DOS boot doesn't work..

Simplest way to have DOS & Win98 SE:
Create a 2G partition with FAT16 (not FAT32).
Install Win98SE (gives you DOS7 and you can edit so it always asks DOS =

or Windows at boot).
Then install NT of Choice from NT3.1 to XP, maybe 2003 also. NOT vista, =

Win2008 or Win7 on the rest of the disk (2nd partition).
Now on boot you are offered Win98 or XP.
On selecting Win98 you are offered DOS 7 or Win98
(You can now install Linux on a 3rd partition and use Lilo, Grub OR NT =

Bootloader ini to select all OS)

This may be pointless.

I've found that really old SW for some things needs a 286 or 386. A 486 =

is too fast. I have an old DELL 386 DOS 6.22 for such devices.
I have a 450MHz PIII laptop with DOS6.22/WFWG3.11, Win98/Dos7 and Win2K =

(it used to have Debian and NT4.0 also).

Since DOS6.22/WFW installed 1st, Win98 has option of DoS7, Win98 or =

"previous OS" (=3D DOS6.22 + WiFW3.11)
Since Win2K installed Last, it offers Win98 (which loads win98 menu) or =

Win2K. It used to offer NT.4 and Debian.

I find anything that doesn't like the XP (even with DirectIO) on the =

1.8GHz CPU works on Win98 on the PIII 450, except one DOS Motorola Radio =

programming app (lives on the old 386).

I also have an old 486 160MHz (really), that has Win98 + WFWG3.11 for a =

HW ISA MPEG1 capture/playback card with 100% Philips CDi/VCD  player =

support :-)
(it's been in attic a long time)


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