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A FAT32 bus mouse

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Hi guys,

I have caught a little of the conversation of Mike's
Virtual FAT32 concept, though I have not commented much
on the reason why he has made it, though I have an
idea.  (and please forgive me of the subject line)

However, without commenting any more on it, I would
like to bring something else to the table and hopefully
you can get my idea of why he introduced the Virtual FAT32
concept.

As you know, and with everyone else here, I enjoy
the process of creating an operating system and the
hardware drivers that go along with it.  The process
of creating a driver for a piece of hardware is my
most enjoyable part.

I also enjoy writing the books that go along with it,
hence my OS Series of books.  As with the next in
line to be published, Vol 4 is all about input devices.

As I was deciding what to include in it, and going through
all of my notes, I dug up three old Bus Mouse cards.
Two of them are standard Bus Mouse cards and one is
an MS InPort Bus Mouse card.

I had these stored away in my shop and actually reached
over and grabbed the air nozzle and blew the dust off
of them.  People are selling these cards online as
vintage hardware for $60 (USD) each.

I just had to plug them in and see if I could get them
to work.

As you know, there is very little documentation left
around and the Linux code was sparse at that. However,
after a few days work, I figured out how to get them
going, despite the erroneous Linux code.

The standard bus mouse has an advantage over the InPort,
while the InPort has an advantage over the standard
card.

With help from a Bochs Maintainer, I recently updated
the Bochs Emulator to support both protocols.

It was quite interesting and enjoyable to plug these
cards in, and through trial and error, see what output
I could get from the registers as I would set up certain
conditions to see what the results were.

Yes, you are probably asking, "why the heck would Ben
ever want to include the Bus Mouse in his code, let alone
in one of his books?"  :-)

As you know, I don't write the books for profit, though
the slight income each month does make it just that more
enjoyable.  I write the books because I enjoy it and I
hope that others will learn from it.

I also have you guys to thank for that.  It is this group
that has kept me on my toes, kept me interested in this
hobby of mine.

Bernhard, I am sure I have asked you this before, but
how do you get your posts to all be justified? (the text,
not the content.) :-)

I mean, do you go through it by hand and add or subtract?
Do you have a routine you have created to do it?  I see
that the width is different each time, so I am sure the
count of chars per line has to do with it.  It just amazes
me each time I see it.  No extra spaces, no extra or
obvious punctuation.  Nice work.

Anyway, I think I know why Mike has created the Virtual
FAT32 concept and I may go investigate it a bit more.
He is just like me, and probably the rest of us, messed
up beyond words, but enjoy the hobbies we have. :-)

Again, I probably say it too much, but I thank those
who still post here and each of you for your support
in my hobby, my books.  Vol. 4 is coming along well,
and I should have it and Vol. 6 done within the next
months to come. Since you don't mind, and I know you
don't, I will leave the URL of the book series below
for those that would like to learn more of the hobby
we enjoy.

Thanks,
Ben

P.S. That last paragraph was for you Bernhard. :-)

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Thread

A FAT32 bus mouse "Benjamin David Lunt" <zfysz@fysnet.net> - 2016-04-01 11:57 -0700
  Re: A FAT32 bus mouse "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2016-04-01 21:41 +0200
  Re: A FAT32 bus mouse Bernhard Schornak <schornak@web.de> - 2016-04-01 23:15 +0200
  Re: A FAT32 bus mouse Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-04-01 21:23 -0400
    Re: A FAT32 bus mouse "Mike Gonta" <mikegonta@gmail.com> - 2016-04-03 08:50 -0400
      Re: A FAT32 bus mouse James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-04-04 14:19 +0100

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