vm86 in kernel [was: vesafb...]

[Alan Cox]

> > limitation on using the vm86 services in the kernel from another part 
> > of the kernel directly (as opposed to from a user space app)? 
> 
> This is what I hoped for originally but according to Alan Cox was hackish
> or unsuitable. I don't know about the details.

The big problem with putting BIOS code into the kernel is it can do a lot more
harm there. In a user process the BIOS code can be a bit more constrained
on the I/O ports you let it loose with and its ability to hit physical
kernel pages you dont expect. Now it simply COW's some zero pages and does
no harm.

Its a containment thing.

Of course it makes doing a vesa 1.2 console interesting to say the least


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