Far pointers and 386

[Brad Templeton]

While general 386 programs will never want to use large model and far pointers,
they could be of value.  Different segments can be given different
permission levels on the 386, and they can be used for a variety of special
purposes.  One could be handed a read only segment of some OS data, for
example, or a part of the memory of another task.  Or a program could contain
both segments 8086 code and 386 code, and call in between them.

Programs that want to be able to load up dynamic code modules from files would
like the ability to put them in isolated segments, and not hand them access
to their own memory except in a controlled fashion.  It allows an OS within
an OS, if you do it right (I think you need real OS calls to set this up.)

Anyway, as I said, you don't have to worry about it at all in regular
applications, but it is there if you need it.
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd.  --  Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473