Re:Infinite complexity in 4096 bytes
by exDM69 on Friday May 11, 2012 @07:30AM
(#3958690)
> Yeah, I think you got the int 10h right (not sure I remember this as well)
10h is correct. The contents of ax register might not be. Is the graphics mode (13h) supposed to be in the al or ah part? That I can't remember.
> But then came VESA which was a little bit more complex and of course, screen sizes bigger than a segment (ouch)
Yeah, early VESA Bios extensions were hairy. With VBE 2.0 you can get a simple linear framebuffer with a high resolution quite easily.
> About audio, IMHO it's much easier now, dealing with those interrupt handlers and dma controllers wasn't easy. Of course, once the library worked it was ok.
Interrupt handlers and DMA controllers were used for PCM audio. I agree that writing that stuff by hand was harder than doing it today with libraries. And you'd still have to write the PCM-emitting synth.
But chip synths were generally programmed with simpler memory mapped I/O and they did the actual audio synthesis for you, not only PCM output.
10h is correct. The contents of ax register might not be. Is the graphics mode (13h) supposed to be in the al or ah part? That I can't remember.
> But then came VESA which was a little bit more complex and of course, screen sizes bigger than a segment (ouch)
Yeah, early VESA Bios extensions were hairy. With VBE 2.0 you can get a simple linear framebuffer with a high resolution quite easily.
> About audio, IMHO it's much easier now, dealing with those interrupt handlers and dma controllers wasn't easy. Of course, once the library worked it was ok.
Interrupt handlers and DMA controllers were used for PCM audio. I agree that writing that stuff by hand was harder than doing it today with libraries. And you'd still have to write the PCM-emitting synth.
But chip synths were generally programmed with simpler memory mapped I/O and they did the actual audio synthesis for you, not only PCM output.