Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!clyde.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!news.cs.indiana.edu!samsung!dali.cs.montana.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!emory!gatech!prism!bb16 From: bb16@prism.gatech.EDU (Scott Bostater) Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal Subject: Re: Help: 19200 Baud Communications drivers needed Message-ID: <22360@hydra.gatech.EDU> Date: 19 Feb 91 18:46:33 GMT References: <22293@hydra.gatech.EDU> <5550@trantor.harris-atd.com> Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology Lines: 31 In article <5550@trantor.harris-atd.com> gbastin@x102c.ess.harris.com (Gary Bastin 60293) writes: > > >Can someone explain just what a FOSSIL driver is? Is this some kind of >TSR written in Assembly, or what? I have seen mention of this before, >and never have figured out just what it referred to exactly. Are there >different kind of FOSSIL drivers? Why the name FOSSIL? > A FOSSIL driver is a TSR or device driver that you load to replace the BIOS serial routines. It provides interrupt driven serial I/O at rates up to 38400 baud. They also support the FIFO capabilities of the more advanced serial chips. There are different drivers for different computers. This was a feature for many of the early clones that weren't 100% IBM compatible, though the use of the FOSSIL driver, BBS software developers could maintain a consistant interface to the low level hardware and still port their code from platform to platform (DEC Rainbows, Tandy computers, TI Prof, etc. are examples of old clones that were almost IBM compatible). If you want more info I'd suggest looking at the files on simtel20.army.mil in the directory PD1: Oh, BTW it stands for _Fido/Opus/Seadog_Software_Interface_Library_ (or something like that :-) -- Scott Bostater Georgia Tech Research Institute - Radar Systems Analysis "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him" -Ps 62.1 uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!bb16 Internet: bb16@prism.gatech.edu