From: rick.c.hodgin@gmail.com   
      
   On 9/20/2019 10:52 AM, Ruud Baltissen wrote:   
   > Hallo Rick,   
   >   
   >> In re-reading the OP, I think he's not looking to create an emulator,   
   >> but rather to write his OS + toolset and run it on real 8086/8 hardware.   
   >   
   > Correct.   
   >   
   >> (though it's arguable if it's his OS, and the Pascal compiler is the   
   >> only one available, what else would there be?)   
   >   
   > At this moment my OS can boot, can start files and I'm busy implementing   
   handling directories. First of all: it is slow but steady fun project.   
   >   
   > This Pascal compiler should be one of it first tools. At this moment it runs   
   under DOS and is only to produce programs containing "write" and "writeln"   
   because so far only the macros for these statements have been filled with ML   
   instructions. It can    
   compile itself and only of all macros have been filled it should run under my   
   own OS.   
   >   
   > Kind regards, Ruud Baltissen   
      
   If you're interested in a fast and easy solution, the best thing   
   would be to create a reader for the existing Microsoft, Borland,   
   or someone else's 16-bit DOS soft-FPU libraries.  They should be   
   available almost everywhere.   
      
   Write a parser for accessing content in those .LIB files, and   
   then write a translator to translate from your Pascal calling   
   convention to the stdcall convention they likely use (or figure   
   out what they use by default), and you should be able to use   
   that existing asset.   
      
   Another option would be to create your own .COM file (flat, 64 KB   
   max size with those libraries), and add entry points into it, and   
   let the DOS compiler + linker do the work.  The .COM file is a   
   straight-forward format that might even be easier to use.  You   
   can place pseudo-opcode "markers" in your file so you can find   
   the entry points.  You can define them at the head of the .COM file,   
   etc.  Many possible solutions.   
      
   Existing assets like those old DOS libraries may be your best way   
   to go.  Just make sure you have a valid license to use them, or   
   that the software is defunct.  Digital Mars may be a way to go as   
   well, as they have old compilers that support DOS and pre-Win95   
   Windows.   
      
   --   
   Rick C. Hodgin   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)