TL;DR
CP/M-386 is an early-stage operating system designed for the Intel 386 architecture, featuring a full 32-bit protected mode. It is bootable from a 3.5" floppy disk or via GRUB Multiboot, but lacks drivers for peripherals.
✦ Why It Matters
Explore CP/M-386 for potential applications in retro computing or embedded systems development.
Key Takeaways
Full Summary
CP/M-386 is a new operating system tailored for 386 architecture, leveraging the protected mode capabilities of the Intel 386 processor. It is based on CP/M-68K and aims to maintain compatibility with various CP/M versions, reporting full parity with CP/M 2.2 and CP/M-68K 1.3.
Currently, it supports basic hardware like VGA and serial consoles, but lacks drivers for floppy, hard disk, or network access. The build process requires tools such as GNU GCC or LLVM Clang, and it has been verified to work on several Linux distributions.
The project is still in its infancy, with plans for future enhancements and additional features. Unique extensions have been added to support new functionalities like direct video access and high-resolution timing.
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