Does it not make sense to port that code to compile with gas?
What's that magic that keeps the dependency to some pre-civilization microsoft product?
You have to produce 16-bit output. Both for assembly and the couple of C files that are in there. You could use NASM for the 16 bit assembly but I'm not sure about the C. OpenWatcom still has a 16 bit C compiler in thier offerings. I pulled it down but I've not really groked the license yet.
The ADLO code in V1 is mixed C/asm in 16-bit mode with NASM and gcc. I'm going to go back and take a look at how that was done.
Without me knowing the code it feels a bit against the LinuxBIOS idea to ship binary stuff because noone can compile it.
I agree fully. It should be ported. It will be a large project to undertake since there is a pile of assembly code.
I also don't fully yet grok the inner workings of the VSA. All you who are in this deeper perhaps can comment. Is there any hardware reason that the VSA _has_ to be in 16-bit mode? I know orginally it had to be 16-bit for the BIOS callbacks, but we don't require all that legacy stuff.
Can we port the necessary parts over to protected mode?
-- Richard A. Smith