where does the rubber meet the road...

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(ompu+3r_u53R

New Member
i've been mulling this about in my head all day, but does anyone know what actually connects the software with the hardware... i mean where is that little flashing curser on a command prompt come from? is it an internal operating system??? like factory from who ever made the computer processer? ... i want the long answer too so a link to a site or article would be awsome... if anyone could help id appreciate it...

and if it is does that mean there is memory on the chip? im really curious about it ... i want to know the 1s and 0s.... like does someone make the memory then load a mini os on it? i dont know ... im pretty literate with the whole computer hardware but software wise i dont really know what makes the computer tick under the os/kernal... you know?>
 
ever since windows 2000, there is no "dos"

there's a command prompt, but that's actually just a windows program, it's no longer the actual backbone of the computer. Windows IS the operating system, and no longer a dos program........

That make any sense?

when you open the 'command' program, that's just a dos emulator, if you will
 
lol. I just saw a book in the library answering your question. Fortunately I didnt take it. It is really hard man. I dont think you will get the answer in a word or sentence. And the number of people who know these things will be less
 
just hit up wikipedia

start at the general 'computers' then hit processors, dos, operating systems

that should give you a good start

every time i go on wikipedia, i learn something new

like, i always thought dos was just dos, but there's msdos, pcdos, drdos, freedos, opendos, prodos, dos16, dos32, etc. etc. etc.

crazy stuff
 
yeah i know that... my bad i was just using dos<win95 as an example... what i mean is, if you write script your writing it in a script editor/command line arena, but what drives that, and so on down to the switches that read the ones(on) xeros(off) ... i just dont know how to ask the question i got i think...

like this... ok i know like on a router, you have an ios right? like an operating system with out a gui, just a command prompt line interface deal... well what allows me to beable to load that on the hardware/other than the program i transfer the file to the router memory? is that ios just a disk image of 1s and 0s? and if so what makes the router beable to read that and under stand the protocol?
 
heyman421 said:
just hit up wikipedia

severy time i go on wikipedia, i learn something new

like, i always thought dos was just dos, but there's msdos, pcdos, drdos, freedos, opendos, prodos, dos16, dos32, etc. etc. etc.

crazy stuff
Click to expand...

yeah dude ive been doing that all day every since i got the itch ... but that is probably the best thing to do...
 
Programmers don't even have to worry about the 1's and 0's......

think about it like this...

Say you're playing a game, that's for the sake of easy explaination written in directx.

Directx takes the game code, and translates it back into data that windows can understand, and then windows translates it into the 1's and 0's that your processor munches down on.

There's layers upon layers of programming languages, so even the people who write 99% of the software you use (besides the windows team themselves) never have to think about what the processor's actually doing. The end programmer uses a very simplified language, which is decoded down from layer to layer on the end user's computer.....

Even people who write games for consoles use development kits, which are essentially layers, and code environments which are simplified as much as possible, so they also never have to think twice about how the processor actually handles the information.
 
im tracking that, but what im trying figure out is what makes the computer beable to read the 1 s and 0 s, eventually the software stops and the hardware begins... and i m just curious about the way the processer reads the ones and zeros...
 
heyman421 said:
Directx takes the game code, and translates it back into data that windows can understand, and then windows translates it into the 1's and 0's that your processor munches down on.
Click to expand...

iirc, windows translates it to hexa-decimal values, and those are translated into memory adresses and data through the hardware. at least thats the way it works with PIC processors (PIC18F2550 for example) wich can be programmed in C (wich windows is based on)

(ompu+3r_u53R said:
im tracking that, but what im trying figure out is what makes the computer beable to read the 1 s and 0 s, eventually the software stops and the hardware begins... and i m just curious about the way the processer reads the ones and zeros...
Click to expand...

the 1's or 0's are basiclt TRUE or FALSE statements. like said, the software points toward a memory space (in the CPU), and can put values there. then the CPU makes the requested opperation (add, divide, multiplie etc, the operation is also given by the software), and puts the new value on a memory space wich adress is already defined in the software too.
I had to work at school a bit with microcontrollers so far, and those are basicly the simpler versions of pc's. If you want to understand how a pc works, i'd suggest you start there. :) (because I must say, i find it a bit hard to explain it in a simple way :o )
 
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