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Posted on Request




Here comes a message from german MAUS-Net. It was asked to be posted
here on the list. For I didn't see it yet, I'll do it...

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RFC: TOS compatible software running on foreign hardware

Some people might already have heard that there'll soon be a TOS
compatible operating system running on Mac-68-Hardware: MagiC is currently
being ported to the Macintosh platform.

For application and library developers, there are some issues to look for.
Below are some of them (actually those I could think of right now):

(1) Probing for OS features: NEVER use version numbers when there's a
defined return code for non-existant calls. Example:
Dopendir/Dreaddir/Dclosedir can be used on MagiC 3.0, MetaDOS 2.40
(form some devices only) and MiNT -- not only on MiNT.

(2) Cookies. Unfortunately, there are two cookies signaling hardware
features which haven't a value for 'not applicable'. In particular, a
`_MCH' cookie value of 0xFFFFFFFF should be interpreted as `this is not an
Atari Computer, don't make any assumptions about hardware features and
don't touch I/O registers). The same applies to `_VDO'. Note that `_SND'
is not a problem, because it's defined as bitset.


Note that I'm not directly connected to the people working on the project;
I'm just trying to clear things up as early as possible. And: don't ask me
about more details right now; it'll be there sooner than you think :-)

Comments to: jr@ms.maus.de

-!-

Kann das jemand in die MiNT-Liste posten? Danke.
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If you don't get answers from the given address try 
"Julian_Reschke@wi2.maus.de". I think I saw his last postings from there.


Ciao, Stefan

-- 

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