[fpc-pascal]Access BIOS from fpc

[Thomas Schatzl]

Hello,

> Is it possible to access the PC BIOS from FPC?
> I want to create a fpc program to read the name and
> version of the BIOS
> or maybe even change some settings like boot from cdrom
> or IDE or PXE using
> FPC. The PC has Phoenix bios, is that possible?

Depends on the platform you're compiling for, the type of access required
and the operating system the program will run on.

For the go32v2 - target, read the go32 unit documentation about accessing
DOS memory, this might help.
For the others it depends highly on the operating system (as it is with
DOS/go32) and the API calls offered - but generally speaking the answer is
"no" without special preparations and/or knowledge of OS internals (this is
not the fault of the compiler ;-).

If you do extensive manipulation, and limit yourselves to the DOS platform I
recommend using a native 16 bit compiler just because FPC programs introduce
lots of unnecessary overhead. Iirc Borland gives away its TP/BP7(?) for
free....

Regards,
  Thomas

... another 2 cents ...