Testing Help

[Omega]

Hi. Been trying to write a driver outside my OS and I have it compiling, but it seems that my outportb's, etc return nothing. I am trying to read the PCI bus while running in Windows, is there a reason why I return nothing, perhaps because I am in Windows? Is this just one other thing you can not do because of the restrictions Windows places on hardware access? Or, should I be able to do this? Thanks

[bewing]

Um, yes, if you are messing with hardware while windows is trying to use it, your results are going to be completely screwy.
I know that it is possible to send and receive data over the IO port bus while windows races you for the data, but you'll crash windows sooner rather than later, and you will only get the results you expect about 50% of the time. Whether simple IN and OUT commands will work, depends on which version of windoze you are using.

[Omega]

Just as I suspected. I was returning bogus values all across the board, which really, really sucks! I need another PC to test on. I just have this one and when I set it up I never thought in a million years that I would use it to dev an OS on, so my setup is rather modern and difficult to program. I literally have to reboot every time I want to test it live and since I cannot look at my code, I have to mentally visualize what went wrong and later reboot to Windows to review my code; and that just sucks it hard (teeth and all, so it hurts too). I went to the flea market the other day and they wanted this super old PC (the cheapest available) for 100 dollars, A 100 DOLLARS w/o monitor... uh, pass. My search continues. thanks

[JamesM]

Just as I suspected. I was returning bogus values all across the board, which really, really sucks! I need another PC to test on. I just have this one and when I set it up I never thought in a million years that I would use it to dev an OS on, so my setup is rather modern and difficult to program. I literally have to reboot every time I want to test it live and since I cannot look at my code, I have to mentally visualize what went wrong and later reboot to Windows to review my code; and that just sucks it hard (teeth and all, so it hurts too). I went to the flea market the other day and they wanted this super old PC (the cheapest available) for 100 dollars, A 100 DOLLARS w/o monitor... uh, pass. My search continues. thanks

100 dollars is about 50 pounds - that's about right for a cheap PC. Why don't you use emulators in the meantime for routine tests of your code, then reboot every so often and check it still works? that's what most people do...

[01000101]

free emulators are the cheapest of all.

for cheap/free computers, go down to a recycling centre or a university and see if you can take the old unused computers off their hands.

[Omega]

I went beyond the scope of my emulator and probably all emulators with this driver as it is a S-ATA driver and I don't know of any emulators that actually emulate the S-ATA controller. I was thinking maybe a pawn shop or my uni to find a cheap box. I really don't want to spend more than 50 for the whole thing as I will most likely donate it once I am through anyway. I'll check my uni on Monday to see if I can get one of their surplussed machines; or maybe a yard sale. Thanks for the ideas.

[bewing]

How very odd. There are at least 3 "used recycled PC" stores in my town (less than a quarter million population) that sell Pentium3 PCs for $15. There are many other people who give them away on freecycle.com.

[JackScott]

http://www.freecycle.org/

[Omega]

That is a new concept to me. I never heard of those centers and there is a ton around me. Thanks for posting a link.

[bewing]

They aren't centers. Just individuals who have volunteered to give away some free stuff. You have to be nice to them.