
                                  VERSION 5

1/16/99 Retro now has a linker for RDOFF 2.0 modules, so you can dynamically
	load them. Still needs a disk driver, though.


                                  VERSION 6

3/19/99 We have loadable modules!
	> run 36 1 $10000	(sector 36, 1 sector long, load at $10000)
	.
	Test module successful!

3/20/99 Added a crude "module filesystem".. now you can add/remove modules
	(up to 32 of them) without recompiling the OS. Wrote the "modutil"
	program to read/write the module fs from Linux.


                                  VERSION 7

3/27/99 Almost done rewriting the bootloader... now modules are simply
appended to the kernel, no need for a "module fs" (well, it was good
experience writing modutil :-).  The new setup includes my first Persistent
Store prototype, and it will ease the transition from the traditional
paradigm to the new one; I've replaced the global symbol table with the
hierarchical Object Database, while maintaining compatibility with RDF
kernel modules.

3/30/99 Added a 'callproc' macro for calling with C conventions. That way
I don't need a separate macro for every function, which means I won't
need to prefix all my functions with a _ either..

4/8/99 Rewrote the kernel loader in boot.asm; it should handle any size
kernel now.  Memory & register dumps say it's bug-free; it loads the current
10279-byte image verbatim. (but the RDF loader screws it up :)


                                  VERSION 8

4/8/99 CLEAN-UP: Got rid of a lot of pointless macros by using 'callproc'. 
Added padded number printing routines.  Made 'md' look nice.  Added
'help.txt' to simplify editing (no more 'db "help screen",10' crap :-). 
Fixed the bug in loader.inc (it was in rec_bss).

4/9/99 New features!!
	1. Page fault handler (just does memory allocation for kernel)
	2. Redesigned object system w/ high-level interface.
	3. FORTH interpreter: the basics are done.

4/11/99 Now, 'make' generates an image that can be copied directly to
/dev/fd0 (or with rawrite3 under DOS), instead of using 'writeboot'.
Added math (+ - * / etc...) to Forth. Added compilation words ':', ';',
'constant', 'variable', 'allot' (UNTESTED!).

4/17/99
	forth.asm:
	  Debugged the compiler words (':', ';', 'constant', etc.)
	  Improved 'init' routine (which adds words to dictionary).
	  Added EVALUATE. Now we can run Forth programs!
	  Fixed up multiply/divide/modulus routines.
	  Added '\' comments ("ignore to end of line").
	odb.inc:
	  Fixed handling of .flags in 'insert'.
	  Modified 'show_helper' to show flags.
	display.inc:
	  Added TAB support to putc.

5/1/99	Tested running Retro under Bochs (www.bochs.com).  It works.
Look at .bochsrc for instructions.

5/4/99	Fixed a bug in init.inc:build_GDT.  Now task.asm gets us into the
first task.

5/5/99	Multitasking works! (I tested it)  Now to flesh it out...

5/6/99	Paul Dufrense added some Forth words: CR, =, <, >, U<, AND, OR, XOR.

5/9/99	Rewrote the keyboard driver.  Works great!  Still a little work to
	do...

5/12/99	Paul Dufrense added IOR/IOW (port read/write) to Forth.

5/20/99	Added Paul Dufrense's serial.asm & terminal.asm to CVS.
	Wrote buffer.asm (standard I/O buffer routines).
	Added ASCII display to 'md'.
	Got rid of counted strings.. only using asciiz strings for now.
	(forth is still slightly broken from this)

5/21/99 Fixed some bugs in Forth, but not all of 'em.
	kbd.asm now handles extended scancodes.
	"show" now pauses when the screen is full. :)

5/23/99
 * Fixed kbd.asm to work with terminal.asm.
 * odb.inc:search() takes an 'ifs' parameter now, to specify the path
   separator (or 0, to disregard paths).
 * Forth (in FIND_WORD) first searches /forth with ifs=0. Then it searches
   with ifs='.', to allow "object oriented" references (i.e., 'a.b.c').

5/29/99
 * Preliminary IDE driver (ide.asm) and "install" program (install.asm)

5/30/99
 * Fixed TSS allocation in task.asm; it's no longer _completely_ braindead.
 * Added set_timer to task.asm; increased the task-switch speed from 18.2 Hz
   to 500 Hz (what a difference!)
 * Changed ps->pstr, pc->pchr, pn->pnum, ph->phex.
 * Startup messages for most modules
 * Added LOTS of stuff to Forth.. almost done.

6/3/99
 * init.inc: We now wait for A20 to turn on before entering pmode (exactly
   the way Linux does it).  Hopefully it'll work on Fare's laptop now.
 * forth.asm: Fixed a bug in init() -- it was testing the low byte of a
   dword value for 0.. now it tests the whole dword, like it should.

                                  VERSION 9

6/19/99
 * Decided to make this more of a Forth OS.
   All routines will use Forth calling conventions now.
   Ditched the ddr2 debugger; use Forth instead.
   Retro goes into Forth immediately after protected mode.

7/18/99
 * IDE read/write works now (in bochs, anyway)
 * VGA initialization code added.  It works in bochs, but not on my
   ET4000-based Diamond Speedstar (it's not 100% VGA compatible?)
 * Font, line, pixel, & rectangle drawing routines

7/23/99
 * Merged V9 changes back into the CVS repository.

7/31/99
 * Debugged some VGA code, got it working on my 486 (but it doesn't get back
   to textmode correctly)

8/15/99
 * Got the floppy driver back in semi-working order. A little more work...

8/17/99
 * I (Paul), had my mouse driver show mouse-coordinates on the screen
at least on my computer. mouse-test can be used to test it, if a microsoft
mouse is on serial port 0 (COM1). I have tried to include vga.fo and
do drawing with mouse but msm-read-wait does not work anymore when I load
vga.fo in BOOTSTRAP procedure in forth.inc.

8/18/99 -Tom
 * New 'BETA' option (in 'options' file): experimental/buggy code should
only be included when BETA is defined:

	%ifdef BETA
		< your buggy code here >
	%endif

8/21/99 -Tom
 * dosboot.asm is working great now. 'make' builds it. Use 'make image' for
   the Linux-style raw floppy image.
 * Added W@ and W! words for accessing word (16-bit) memory locations

8/22/99 -Tom
 * Added another loop construct, as requested: BEGIN (test) WHILE (...) REPEAT
 * Made a small hard disk image: 'make hdimage'.  Successfully tested.

9/01/99 -Paul
 * Modified kernel/Makefile image: rule to 'fix' make rawfloppy
