0

Are there still 8088 based computers or pre-80286 computers in use? Why should this backward-compatibility feature of "first-starting-in-real-mode" be still present if those old processors are not in use anymore? Why cannot processors directly run in protected mode and avoid all the compatibility hack etc? Why cannot BIOS be written to run directly in protected mode?

Kamalakshi
  • 6,918
  • 3
  • 17
  • 21
  • 1
    I think the question should be more like "is there real-mode-only software still used?". It's the only thing that justifies still having a real-mode. – m0skit0 May 17 '15 at 16:59
  • Even the most modern operating systems start in real mode and then switch to protected mode. If you do the switch in bios then no current os world work. – Chris Desjardins Jun 01 '15 at 06:13

1 Answers1

2

BIOS has largely been replaced by UEFI which does run mostly in long mode (or protected mode in a few systems) and typically invokes the operating system in long mode.

Many (most?) UEFI implementations provide a BIOS compatibility layer.

Timothy Baldwin
  • 3,551
  • 1
  • 14
  • 23