[Oberon] Improving Oberon-0

[Douglas G. Danforth]

muller at inf.ethz.ch wrote:
> 
> "Douglas G. Danforth" <danforth at greenwoodfarm.com> wrote:
> > When trying to decide if one's machine is capable of running
> > Native Oberon or Bluebottle such a Wizard written for MS Windows
> > or Linux would seem appropriate.
> 
> I think time would be better spent improving the Oberon-0
> environment, especially diagnostic information when things
> go wrong.  

Yes, this certainly is needed.

> There is no guarantee that the environment
> detected or presented by Linux or Windows is the same as
> what would be seen when Oberon is booted.

I assumed that information concerning the hardware
would be obtained identically whether run from the high level
operating system or from the Oberon-0 boot.  That is, the
high level extractor would simply wrap the low level
extractor as an executeable.  I would not expect to make
high level operating system calls to obtain the information.
(But then there are interrupt issues and what handler
is installed, so that conflicts between the extractor and
the operating system become an issue.)

In general I am looking for a way to "hide information" as 
much as possible from the user so that details such as

> ... switch back
> and forth between 32-bit protected mode and 16-bit real mode
> on-the-fly. ...

would not be seen by the casual user.  Yes, these details are 
very necessary to provide the underpinnings and allow complete
control over the hardware.

I see 4 levels of user
(1) ETH: totally knowledgeable engineer, hardware & software
(2) Developer: Desires to add drivers & software but doesn't
    want to operate at level (1)
(3) User: Cares nothing about level (1) or (2) but just wants
    to install and run where "install" means plug & play.
(4) Buyer: System already installed and user buys it (cares nothing
    about levels (1-3).

Pieter's comments are directed somewhere between level (1) and
level (2).  Again, they are very necessary.  I am just trying
to provide a prospective where the goal is to move toward levels
(3) and (4).

Now, where is my 386 assembler with the description of
real and protected mode (I do have one!).

-Doug