Re: BIOS differences ][+/europlus?

[et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black)]

David Empson (dempson@actrix.gen.nz) writes:
> Dave Althoff Jr <dalloff@gcfn.org> wrote:
> 
>> David Empson (dempson@actrix.gen.nz) wrote:
>>
>> : It isn't called the "BIOS", by the way - that term is used on the PC and
>> : on CP/M machines, but not for the Apple II firmware, which is just known
>> : as the "firmware", or possibly broken up into components such as the
>> : "monitor" and "AppleSoft BASIC".
>> 
>> Or simply ROM by most of us... 8-)
>> 
>> Probably because BIOS is "Built-In Operating System" and on PCs includes
>> such things as PRAM data and OS boot code.
> 
> I thought that BIOS stood for "Basic Input-Output System".  I'll have to
> dig out the old CP/M 2.2 documentation at work to see what it has to say
> on the subject.
> 
That's what I was going to say.  The point being that BIOS in CPM
(and maybe other operating systems before that, but it's CPM that
I first learned of the term) is for the hardware specific stuff.
This section of code (and it wasn't necessarily in ROM in CPM days)
would take care of the video and keyboard and hardware level disk
controlling.  CPM only had to be written once, with methods layed
out for interfacing with the BIOS.  Each manufacturer would work
up their own BIOS to deal with their specific hardware.  The BIOS
was in effect the drivers for the hardware, in a standard format
so CPM could deal with it.

   Michael