Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!ander
From: ander@pawl.rpi.edu (Michael R. Primm)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2
Subject: Re: OS/2 ON CLONES
Summary: OS/2 on AT-class machines bypasses BIOS
Message-ID: <1989Oct27.180215.3879@rpi.edu>
Date: 27 Oct 89 18:02:15 GMT
References: <13065@s.ms.uky.edu>
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Lines: 15


       I'm pretty sure that when OS/2 is installed for AT-class machines,
(meaning those without ABIOS (the protected mode BIOS on PS/2's)), it will
totally circumvent BIOS.  The reason being that BIOS is non-reentrant, and
has an unhealthy (for multitasking machines) habit of waiting patiently for
the hardware its requesting service from (hard disks, keyboard, etc), 
instead of going off and doing something useful while the request is
being handled.  The end result is that OS/2 needs to be "tweeked" to
cover any port-level incompatabilities that many machines, hard disk 
controllers, etc may have.  But, if your machine is 100% port-level
AT-compatable (as well as you disk controllers, video, etc), you can
run IBM OS/2 without any problems (as I'm doing on my Austin 286 right now).
The BIOS your using will have little to nothing to do with compatability
with OS/2 (unless its an ABIOS close).
                                                   --Mike Primm