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113-567: Compared to TurboGrafx-16 and the TurboGrafx-CD, TurboDuo has an updated BIOS and 192 KB of additional RAM. The RAM increase and BIOS update afford the TurboDuo and PC Engine Duo compatibility with all CD-ROM² and Super CD-ROM² based software (Japanese and North American). Like the TurboGrafx-CD, the TurboDuo can read Compact Disc Digital Audio and CD+G discs. TurboDuo, however, cannot read PC Engine HuCards without modification or an adapter. With

226-562: A kernel . In the era of DOS , the BIOS provided BIOS interrupt calls for the keyboard, display, storage, and other input/output (I/O) devices that standardized an interface to application programs and the operating system. More recent operating systems do not use the BIOS interrupt calls after startup. Most BIOS implementations are specifically designed to work with a particular computer or motherboard model, by interfacing with various devices especially system chipset . Originally, BIOS firmware

339-463: A network adapter attempts booting by a procedure that is defined by its option ROM or the equivalent integrated into the motherboard BIOS ROM. As such, option ROMs may also influence or supplant the boot process defined by the motherboard BIOS ROM. With the El Torito optical media boot standard , the optical drive actually emulates a 3.5" high-density floppy disk to the BIOS for boot purposes. Reading

452-533: A BIOS upgrade that fails could brick the motherboard. Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a successor to the legacy PC BIOS, aiming to address its technical limitations. UEFI firmware may include legacy BIOS compatibility to maintain compatibility with operating systems and option cards that do not support UEFI native operation. Since 2020, all PCs for Intel platforms no longer support Legacy BIOS. The last version of Microsoft Windows to officially support running on PCs which use legacy BIOS firmware

565-490: A Genesis system, attaching through an expansion slot on the side of the main console. It requires its own power supply. A core feature of the Sega CD is the increase in data storage by its games being CD-ROMs; whereas ROM cartridges of the day typically contained 8 to 16 megabits of data, a CD-ROM disc can hold more than 640 megabytes of data, more than 320 times the storage of a Genesis cartridge. This increase in storage allows

678-734: A HuCard adapter and an Arcade Card Duo, the TurboDuo can also read Arcade CD-ROM² games (which were sold only in Japan). When the PC Engine Duo launched in Japan on September 21, 1991, it retailed for ¥59,800. The product garnered a Good Design Award . NEC later revised the design of the console to reduce both manufacturing costs and the sale price. This new version, the PC Engine Duo R ( PCエンジンDuo-R , Pī Shī Enjin Duo Āru ) , went to market on March 25, 1993 with

791-602: A ROM chip) that contains a BIOS extension ROM. The motherboard BIOS typically contains code for initializing and bootstrapping integrated display and integrated storage. The initialization process can involve the execution of code related to the device being initialized, for locating the device, verifying the type of device, then establishing base registers, setting pointers , establishing interrupt vector tables, selecting paging modes which are ways for organizing available registers in devices, setting default values for accessing software routines related to interrupts , and setting

904-516: A SLIC can be preactivated with an OEM product key, and they verify an XML formatted OEM certificate against the SLIC in the BIOS as a means of self-activating (see System Locked Preinstallation , SLP). If a user performs a fresh install of Windows, they will need to have possession of both the OEM key (either SLP or COA) and the digital certificate for their SLIC in order to bypass activation. This can be achieved if

1017-608: A hard disk that is bootable, but sometimes there is a removable-media drive that has higher boot priority, so the user can cause a removable disk to be booted. In most modern BIOSes, the boot priority order can be configured by the user. In older BIOSes, limited boot priority options are selectable; in the earliest BIOSes, a fixed priority scheme was implemented, with floppy disk drives first, fixed disks (i.e., hard disks) second, and typically no other boot devices supported, subject to modification of these rules by installed option ROMs. The BIOS in an early PC also usually would only boot from

1130-558: A message like "No bootable disk found"; some would prompt for a disk to be inserted and a key to be pressed to retry the boot process. A modern BIOS may display nothing or may automatically enter the BIOS configuration utility when the boot process fails. The environment for the boot program is very simple: the CPU is in real mode and the general-purpose and segment registers are undefined, except SS, SP, CS, and DL. CS:IP always points to physical address 0x07C00 . What values CS and IP actually have

1243-532: A network device or a SCSI adapter) in a cooperative way, it can use the BIOS Boot Specification (BBS) API to register its ability to do so. Once the expansion ROMs have registered using the BBS APIs, the user can select among the available boot options from within the BIOS's user interface. This is why most BBS compliant PC BIOS implementations will not allow the user to enter the BIOS's user interface until

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1356-478: A playable character voiced by Brandstetter in the 2019 puzzle game Crystal Crisis , and in name and image only for Johnny Turbo's Arcade , a Data East arcade game compilation for the Nintendo Switch produced by Brandstetter's company Flying Tiger Development. BIOS In computing , BIOS ( / ˈ b aɪ ɒ s , - oʊ s / , BY -oss, -⁠ohss ; Basic Input/Output System , also known as

1469-422: A portion of the " upper memory area " (the part of the x86 real-mode address space at and above address 0xA0000) and runs each ROM found, in order. To discover memory-mapped option ROMs, a BIOS implementation scans the real-mode address space from 0x0C0000 to 0x0F0000 on 2  KB (2,048 bytes) boundaries, looking for a two-byte ROM signature : 0x55 followed by 0xAA. In a valid expansion ROM, this signature

1582-460: A reserved block of system RAM at addresses 0x00400–0x004FF with various parameters initialized during the POST. All memory at and above address 0x00500 can be used by the boot program; it may even overwrite itself. The BIOS ROM is customized to the particular manufacturer's hardware, allowing low-level services (such as reading a keystroke or writing a sector of data to diskette) to be provided in

1695-583: A retail price of US$ 299. Advertising included one of Sega's slogans, "Welcome to the Next Level". Though only 50,000 units were available at launch due to production problems, the Sega CD sold over 200,000 units by the end of 1992 and 300,000 by July 1993. As part of Sega's sales, Blockbuster purchased Sega CD units for rental in their stores. Sega of America emphasized that the Sega CD's additional storage space allowed for full-motion video (FMV), with Digital Pictures becoming an important partner. After

1808-408: A retail price of ¥39,800. The Duo R omits the 3.5 mm phone connector for headphones , and the locking switch for the lid of the Duo's top-loading CD-ROM drive. The Duo R has a differently shaped, off-white casing. NEC released its final variation of the PC Engine Duo on June 25, 1994. The PC Engine Duo RX ( PCエンジンDuo-RX , Pī Shī Enjin Duo Āru Ekkusu ) has a bluer case, and was bundled with

1921-458: A second model, the Sega CD 2 (Mega-CD 2), on April 23, 1993, in Japan. It was released in North America several months later at a price of US$ 229, bundled with one of the bestselling Sega CD games, Sewer Shark . Designed to bring down the manufacturing costs of the Sega CD, the newer model is smaller and does not use a motorized disc tray. A limited number of games were developed that used

2034-500: A simple boot loader in its ROM.) Versions of MS-DOS , PC DOS or DR-DOS contain a file called variously " IO.SYS ", " IBMBIO.COM ", "IBMBIO.SYS", or "DRBIOS.SYS"; this file is known as the "DOS BIOS" (also known as the "DOS I/O System") and contains the lower-level hardware-specific part of the operating system. Together with the underlying hardware-specific but operating system-independent "System BIOS", which resides in ROM , it represents

2147-607: A software licensing description table (SLIC), a digital signature placed inside the BIOS by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), for example Dell . The SLIC is inserted into the ACPI data table and contains no active code. Computer manufacturers that distribute OEM versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft application software can use the SLIC to authenticate licensing to the OEM Windows Installation disk and system recovery disc containing Windows software. Systems with

2260-454: A standardized way to programs, including operating systems. For example, an IBM PC might have either a monochrome or a color display adapter (using different display memory addresses and hardware), but a single, standard, BIOS system call may be invoked to display a character at a specified position on the screen in text mode or graphics mode . The BIOS provides a small library of basic input/output functions to operate peripherals (such as

2373-510: A three comic campaign that ran in issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly , the stories featured Johnny opposing agents of the company "FEKA" (a thinly veiled parody of Sega ) who were tricking children into buying their CD-based add-on instead of the TurboDuo. Reactions to the advertising campaign were negative, with Jonathan J. Burtenshaw of GameSpy descring them as "petty" and "overly confrontational," and further conjectured that it hurt TurboDuo sales. Despite this Turbo would later resurface as

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2486-724: A two-disc set, along with a compilation CD of five Mega Drive games. Only 70,000 units were initially available in the UK, but 60,000 units were sold by August 1993. The Mega-CD was released in Australia in March 1993. Brazilian toy company Tectoy released the Sega CD in Brazil in October 1993, retaining the North American name despite the use of the name Mega Drive for the base console there. Sega released

2599-472: Is Windows 10 as Windows 11 requires a UEFI-compliant system (except for IoT Enterprise editions of Windows 11 since version 24H2 ). The term BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) was created by Gary Kildall and first appeared in the CP/M operating system in 1975, describing the machine-specific part of CP/M loaded during boot time that interfaces directly with the hardware . (A CP/M machine usually has only

2712-530: Is allocated as the backup memory. Additional backup memory in the form of a 1 Mbit Backup RAM Cartridge was also available as a separate purchase, released near the end of the system's life. The graphics chip is a custom ASIC , and can perform similarly to the SNES's Mode 7 , but with the ability to handle more objects at the same time. Audio is supplied through the Ricoh RF5C164, and two RCA pin jacks allow

2825-406: Is bootable by attempting to load the first sector ( boot sector ). If the sector cannot be read, the BIOS proceeds to the next device. If the sector is read successfully, some BIOSes will also check for the boot sector signature 0x55 0xAA in the last two bytes of the sector (which is 512 bytes long), before accepting a boot sector and considering the device bootable. When a bootable device is found,

2938-449: Is followed by a single byte indicating the number of 512-byte blocks the expansion ROM occupies in real memory, and the next byte is the option ROM's entry point (also known as its "entry offset"). If the ROM has a valid checksum, the BIOS transfers control to the entry address, which in a normal BIOS extension ROM should be the beginning of the extension's initialization routine. At this point,

3051-556: Is not well defined. Some BIOSes use a CS:IP of 0x0000:0x7C00 while others may use 0x07C0:0x0000 . Because boot programs are always loaded at this fixed address, there is no need for a boot program to be relocatable. DL may contain the drive number, as used with interrupt 13h , of the boot device. SS:SP points to a valid stack that is presumably large enough to support hardware interrupts, but otherwise SS and SP are undefined. (A stack must be already set up in order for interrupts to be serviced, and interrupts must be enabled in order for

3164-465: Is performed each time the system is powered up. Without reprogrammable microcode, an expensive processor swap would be required; for example, the Pentium FDIV bug became an expensive fiasco for Intel as it required a product recall because the original Pentium processor's defective microcode could not be reprogrammed. Operating systems can update main processor microcode also. Some BIOSes contain

3277-530: Is rebooting. When interrupt 19h is called, the BIOS attempts to locate boot loader software on a "boot device", such as a hard disk , a floppy disk , CD , or DVD . It loads and executes the first boot software it finds, giving it control of the PC. The BIOS uses the boot devices set in Nonvolatile BIOS memory ( CMOS ), or, in the earliest PCs, DIP switches . The BIOS checks each device in order to see if it

3390-480: Is running. The interrupt vectors corresponding to the BIOS interrupts have been set to point at the appropriate entry points in the BIOS, hardware interrupt vectors for devices initialized by the BIOS have been set to point to the BIOS-provided ISRs, and some other interrupts, including ones that BIOS generates for programs to hook, have been set to a default dummy ISR that immediately returns. The BIOS maintains

3503-663: Is unique among PCs in having two ROM cartridge slots on the front. Cartridges in these slots map into the same region of the upper memory area used for option ROMs, and the cartridges can contain option ROM modules that the BIOS would recognize. The cartridges can also contain other types of ROM modules, such as BASIC programs, that are handled differently. One PCjr cartridge can contain several ROM modules of different types, possibly stored together in one ROM chip. The 8086 and 8088 start at physical address FFFF0h. The 80286 starts at physical address FFFFF0h. The 80386 and later x86 processors start at physical address FFFFFFF0h. When

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3616-504: The Amiga CD32 . Newer CD-based consoles such as the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer rendered the Sega CD technically obsolete, reducing public interest. In late 1993, less than a year after the Sega CD had launched in North America and Europe, the media reported that Sega was no longer accepting in-house development proposals for the Mega-CD in Japan. By 1994, 1.5 million units had been sold in

3729-510: The CD-i from Philips arrived later that year. According to Nick Thorpe of Retro Gamer , Sega would have received criticism from investors and observers had it not developed a CD-ROM game system. Shortly after the release of the Genesis, Sega's Consumer Products Research and Development Labs, led by manager Tomio Takami, were tasked with creating a CD-ROM add-on. It was originally intended to equal

3842-608: The CPU , chipset , RAM , motherboard , video card , keyboard , mouse , hard disk drive , optical disc drive and other hardware , including integrated peripherals . Early IBM PCs had a routine in the POST that would download a program into RAM through the keyboard port and run it. This feature was intended for factory test or diagnostic purposes. After the motherboard BIOS completes its POST, most BIOS versions search for option ROM modules, also called BIOS extension ROMs, and execute them. The motherboard BIOS scans for extension ROMs in

3955-544: The Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles . Originally released in November 1991, it came to North America in late 1992, and the rest of the world in 1993. The Sega CD plays CD -based games and adds hardware functionality such as a faster CPU and a custom graphics chip for enhanced sprite scaling and rotation. It can also play audio CDs and CD+G discs. Sega sought to match

4068-601: The Sega Saturn . Retrospective reception has been mixed, with praise for some games and functions, but criticism for its lack of deep games and its high price. Sega's poor support for the Sega CD has been criticized as the beginning of the devaluation of its brand. Released in 1988, the Genesis (known as the Mega Drive in most territories outside of North America) was Sega's entry into the fourth generation of video game consoles. In

4181-541: The System BIOS , ROM BIOS , BIOS ROM or PC BIOS ) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the booting process (power-on startup). The firmware comes pre-installed on the computer's motherboard . The name originates from the Basic Input/Output System used in the CP/M operating system in 1975. The BIOS firmware

4294-505: The original Genesis model . The main CPU of the Sega CD is a 12.5  MHz 16-bit Motorola 68000 processor, which runs 5 MHz faster than the Genesis processor. It contains 1 Mbit of boot ROM , allocated for the CD game BIOS , CD player software, and compatibility with CD+G discs. 6 Mbit of RAM is allocated to data for programs, pictures, and sounds; 128 Kbit to CD-ROM data cache memory ; and an additional 64 Kbit

4407-423: The "first sector" of a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM is not a simply defined operation like it is on a floppy disk or a hard disk. Furthermore, the complexity of the medium makes it difficult to write a useful boot program in one sector. The bootable virtual floppy disk can contain software that provides access to the optical medium in its native format. If an expansion ROM wishes to change the way the system boots (such as from

4520-430: The 1980s under MS-DOS , when programmers observed that using the BIOS video services for graphics display were very slow. To increase the speed of screen output, many programs bypassed the BIOS and programmed the video display hardware directly. Other graphics programmers, particularly but not exclusively in the demoscene , observed that there were technical capabilities of the PC display adapters that were not supported by

4633-568: The Arcade Pad 6, a six-button controller, instead of the standard Turbo Pad controller. TTI released the TurboDuo to consumers in North America in October 1992, at a retail price of US$ 299.99. The price was, in part, a consequence of the relatively high cost of CD-ROM drive manufacturing. In the United States, the TurboDuo was marketed by Turbo Technologies, Inc. (or TTI) of Los Angeles , a joint venture of NEC Home Electronics and Hudson Soft . It

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4746-424: The BIOS after completing its initialization process. Once (and if) an option ROM returns, the BIOS continues searching for more option ROMs, calling each as it is found, until the entire option ROM area in the memory space has been scanned. It is possible that an option ROM will not return to BIOS, pre-empting the BIOS's boot sequence altogether. After the POST completes and, in a BIOS that supports option ROMs, after

4859-601: The BIOS to carry out most input/output tasks within the PC. Calling real mode BIOS services directly is inefficient for protected mode (and long mode ) operating systems. BIOS interrupt calls are not used by modern multitasking operating systems after they initially load. In the 1990s, BIOS provided some protected mode interfaces for Microsoft Windows and Unix-like operating systems, such as Advanced Power Management (APM), Plug and Play BIOS , Desktop Management Interface (DMI), VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE), e820 and MultiProcessor Specification (MPS). Starting from

4972-408: The BIOS transfers control to the loaded sector. The BIOS does not interpret the contents of the boot sector other than to possibly check for the boot sector signature in the last two bytes. Interpretation of data structures like partition tables and BIOS Parameter Blocks is done by the boot program in the boot sector itself or by other programs loaded through the boot process. A non-disk device such as

5085-630: The BIOS. Code in option ROMs runs before the BIOS boots the operating system from mass storage . These ROMs typically test and initialize hardware, add new BIOS services, or replace existing BIOS services with their own services. For example, a SCSI controller usually has a BIOS extension ROM that adds support for hard drives connected through that controller. An extension ROM could in principle contain operating system, or it could implement an entirely different boot process such as network booting . Operation of an IBM-compatible computer system can be completely changed by removing or inserting an adapter card (or

5198-487: The Dolphin . The Sega CD library includes several FMV games , such as Night Trap, Dragon's Lair and Space Ace . FMV quality was substandard on the Sega CD due to poor video compression software and limited color palette, and the concept never caught on with the public. According to Digital Pictures founder Tom Zito, the Sega CD's limited color palette created "a horrible grainy look". Likewise, most Genesis ports for

5311-696: The IBM BIOS and could not be taken advantage of without circumventing it. Since the AT-compatible BIOS ran in Intel real mode , operating systems that ran in protected mode on 286 and later processors required hardware device drivers compatible with protected mode operation to replace BIOS services. In modern PCs running modern operating systems (such as Windows and Linux ) the BIOS interrupt calls are used only during booting and initial loading of operating systems. Before

5424-423: The Mega-CD went off the rails. The whole company fell in love with the idea without ever really asking how it would affect the games you made." Sega of America producer Michael Latham said he "loved" the Sega CD, and that it had been damaged by an abundance of "Hollywood interactive film games" instead of using it to make "just plain great video games". Former Sega Europe president Nick Alexander said: "The Mega CD

5537-456: The Sega CD and 32X add-ons. Well regarded Sega CD games include Sonic CD , Lunar: The Silver Star , Lunar: Eternal Blue , Popful Mail , and Snatcher , as well as the controversial Night Trap . Although Sega created Streets of Rage for the Genesis to compete against the SNES port of the arcade hit Final Fight , the Sega CD received an enhanced version of Final Fight that has been praised for its greater faithfulness to

5650-580: The Sega CD and another Genesis add-on, the 32X , released in November 1994. On December 9, 1993, the United States Congress began hearings on video game violence and the marketing of violent video games to children. The Sega CD game Night Trap , an FMV adventure game by Digital Pictures, was at the center of debate. Night Trap had been brought to the attention of United States Senator Joe Lieberman , who said: "It ends with this attack scene on this woman in lingerie, in her bathroom. I know that

5763-416: The Sega CD featured additional FMV sequences, extra levels, and enhanced audio, but were otherwise identical to their Genesis release. The video quality in these sequences has been criticized as comparable to an old VHS tape. Given a large number of FMV games and Genesis ports, the Sega CD's game library has been criticized for its lack of depth. Kalinske felt this was a valid criticism, and that while it

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5876-580: The Sega CD in the first quarter of 1996, saying that it needed to concentrate on fewer platforms and that the Sega CD could not compete due to its high price and outdated single-speed drive. According to Thorpe, the Sega CD only reached a more popular price point in 1995, by which time customers were willing to wait for newer consoles. The last scheduled Sega CD games, ports of Myst and Brain Dead 13 , were cancelled. 2.24 million Sega CD units were sold worldwide. The Sega CD can only be used in conjunction with

5989-557: The Sega CD is the seventh-lowest-selling console; reviewer Blake Snow wrote: "The problem was threefold: the device was expensive at $ 299, it arrived late in the 16-bit life cycle, and it didn't do much (if anything) to enhance the gameplay experience." However, Snow felt that the Sega CD had the greatest Sonic game in Sonic CD . IGN ' s Levi Buchanan criticized Sega's implementation of CD technology, arguing that it offered no new gameplay concepts. Jeremy Parish of USgamer wrote that Sega

6102-455: The Sega CD to output stereophonic sound separate from the Genesis. Combining stereo sound from a Genesis to either version of the Sega CD requires a cable between the Genesis's headphone jack and an input jack on the back of the CD unit. This is not required for the second model of the Genesis. Sega released an additional accessory to be used with the Sega CD for karaoke, including a microphone input and various sound controls. Several models of

6215-464: The Sega CD to play FMV games . In addition to playing its own library of games in CD-ROM format, the Sega CD can also play compact discs and karaoke CD+G discs, and can be used in conjunction with the 32X to play 32-bit games that use both add-ons. The second model, also known as the Sega CD 2, includes a steel joining plate to be screwed into the bottom of the Genesis and an extension spacer to work with

6328-601: The Sega CD was merely "a big memory device with CD sound" rather than a meaningful upgrade. They gave it a "thumbs sideways" and recommended that Genesis fans buy an SNES before considering a Sega CD. In a special Game Machine Cross Review in May 1995, Famicom Tsūshin scored the Japanese Mega-CD 2 17 out of 40. Retrospective reception of the Sega CD has been mixed, praising certain games but criticizing its value for money and limited upgrades over Genesis. According to GamePro,

6441-579: The Sega CD were released. The original model used a front-loading motorized disc tray and sat underneath the Genesis. The second model was redesigned to sit next to the Genesis and featured a top-loading disc tray. Sega also released the Genesis CDX (Multi-Mega in Europe), a combined Genesis and Sega CD, with additional functionality as a portable CD player . Three additional system models were created by other electronics companies. Working with Sega, JVC released

6554-407: The Sega CD's limited sales, including its price, lack of significant enhancement to the Genesis, and the fact that it was not a standalone console. Retro Gamer writer Aaron Birch, defended the Sega CD as "ahead of its time" and said that game developers had failed to meet the potential of CD technology. Sega's poor support for the Sega CD has been criticized as the first step in the devaluation of

6667-448: The Sega brand. Writing for IGN , Buchanan said the Sega CD, released without a strong library of games, "looked like a strange, desperate move—something designed to nab some ink but without any real, thought-out strategy. Genesis owners that invested in the add-on were sorely disappointed, which undoubtedly helped sour the non-diehards on the brand." In GamePro , Snow wrote that the Sega CD was

6780-525: The Super System Card via mail order, which provided the original TurboGrafx-CD with the 192 KB RAM upgrade. Unlike the previous consoles which used actual game characters as mascots, for the TurboDuo marketing campaign TTI created a character called "Johnny Turbo". Turbo, a superhero character, was the alter ego of Jonathan Brandstetter, who himself was based in part on real-life game developer and TurboDuo brand manager John C. Brandstetter. Consisting of

6893-511: The Super System Card, which enabled the TurboGrafx-CD to play the new Super CD games. The Super System Card is programmed with the updated v3.0 BIOS, and increases the TurboGrafx-16's RAM by 192 kilobytes. The TurboGrafx-CD requires the updated BIOS to read Super CD discs, and the additional RAM to run the software capably. The Super System Card retailed for US$ 65 or, when bundled with the TurboDuo's Super CD compilation disc, US$ 95. TTI also offered

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7006-502: The United States and 415,000 in Western Europe. Kalinske blamed the Sega CD's high price for limiting its potential market; Sega attempted to add value in the US and the UK by bundling more games, with some packages including up to five games. In early 1995, Sega shifted its focus to the Sega Saturn and discontinued advertising for Genesis hardware, including the Sega CD. Sega discontinued

7119-653: The Wondermega, a combination of the Genesis and Sega CD with high-quality audio, on April 1, 1992, in Japan. The Wondermega was redesigned by JVC and released as the X'Eye in North America in September 1994. Its high price kept it out of the hands of average consumers. Another console, the LaserActive by Pioneer Corporation , can play Genesis and Sega CD games if equipped with the Mega-LD attachment developed by Sega. The LaserActive

7232-429: The add-on 8, 9, 8, and 8 out of 10; reviewers cited its upgrades to the Genesis as well as its high-quality and expanding library of games. In 1995, four Electronic Gaming Monthly reviewers scored it 5 out of 10, citing its limited game library and substandard video quality. GamePro cited the same problems, noting that many games were simple ports of cartridge games with minimal enhancements; GamePro concluded that

7345-542: The analogue to the " CP/M BIOS ". The BIOS originally proprietary to the IBM PC has been reverse engineered by some companies (such as Phoenix Technologies ) looking to create compatible systems. With the introduction of PS/2 machines, IBM divided the System BIOS into real- and protected-mode portions. The real-mode portion was meant to provide backward compatibility with existing operating systems such as DOS, and therefore

7458-464: The arcade original. Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side was noted for its impressive use of the Sega CD hardware as well as its violent content. In particular, Sonic CD garnered acclaim for its graphics and time travel gameplay, which improved upon the traditional Sonic formula. The Sega CD also received enhanced ports of Genesis games including Batman Returns and Ecco

7571-500: The boot sequence by inserting its own boot actions into it, by preventing the BIOS from detecting certain devices as bootable, or both. Before the BIOS Boot Specification was promulgated, this was the only way for expansion ROMs to implement boot capability for devices not supported for booting by the native BIOS of the motherboard. The user can select the boot priority implemented by the BIOS. For example, most computers have

7684-455: The capabilities of the TurboGrafx-CD, but with twice as much random-access memory (RAM). In addition to relatively short loading times, Takami's team planned to implement hardware scaling and rotation similar to that of Sega's arcade games , which required a dedicated digital signal processor . A custom graphics chip would implement these features, alongside an additional sound chip manufactured by Ricoh . According to Kalinske, Sega

7797-436: The capabilities of the competing PC Engine CD-ROM² System , and partnered with JVC to design the Sega CD. Sega refused to consult with their American division until the project was complete, fearful of leaks. The Sega CD was redesigned several times by Sega and was also licensed to third parties, including Pioneer and Aiwa who released home audio products with Sega CD gaming capability. The main benefit of CD technology at

7910-454: The card is not supported by the motherboard BIOS and the card needs to be initialized or made accessible through BIOS services before the operating system can be loaded (usually this means it is required in the boot process). An additional advantage of ROM on some early PC systems (notably including the IBM PCjr) was that ROM was faster than main system RAM. (On modern systems, the case is very much

8023-484: The computer, and if it was lost the system settings could not be changed. The same applied in general to computers with an EISA bus, for which the configuration program was called an EISA Configuration Utility (ECU). A modern Wintel -compatible computer provides a setup routine essentially unchanged in nature from the ROM-resident BIOS setup utilities of the late 1990s; the user can configure hardware options using

8136-668: The creator of the game said it was all meant to be a satire of Dracula ; but nonetheless, I thought it sent out the wrong message." Lieberman's research concluded that the average video game player was between seven and twelve years old, and that video game publishers were marketing violence to children. In the United Kingdom, Night Trap was discussed in Parliament . Former Sega Europe development director Mike Brogan noted that Night Trap brought Sega publicity, and helped reinforce Sega's image as an "edgy company with attitude". Despite

8249-440: The device's configuration using default values. In addition, plug-in adapter cards such as SCSI , RAID , network interface cards , and video cards often include their own BIOS (e.g. Video BIOS ), complementing or replacing the system BIOS code for the given component. Even devices built into the motherboard can behave in this way; their option ROMs can be a part of the motherboard BIOS. An add-in card requires an option ROM if

8362-523: The early 1990s, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske helped make the Genesis a success by cutting the price, developing games for the American market with a new American team, continuing aggressive advertising campaigns, and selling Sonic the Hedgehog with the Genesis as a pack-in game . By the early 1990s, compact discs (CDs) were making headway as a storage medium for music and video games. NEC had been

8475-480: The expansion ROMs have finished executing and registering themselves with the BBS API. Also, if an expansion ROM wishes to change the way the system boots unilaterally, it can simply hook interrupt 19h or other interrupts normally called from interrupt 19h, such as interrupt 13h, the BIOS disk service, to intercept the BIOS boot process. Then it can replace the BIOS boot process with one of its own, or it can merely modify

8588-416: The extension ROM code takes over, typically testing and initializing the hardware it controls and registering interrupt vectors for use by post-boot applications. It may use BIOS services (including those provided by previously initialized option ROMs) to provide a user configuration interface, to display diagnostic information, or to do anything else that it requires. An option ROM should normally return to

8701-465: The first floppy disk drive or the first hard disk drive, even if there were two drives installed. On the original IBM PC and XT, if no bootable disk was found, the BIOS would try to start ROM BASIC with the interrupt call to interrupt 18h . Since few programs used BASIC in ROM, clone PC makers left it out; then a computer that failed to boot from a disk would display "No ROM BASIC" and halt (in response to interrupt 18h). Later computers would display

8814-407: The first of several poorly supported Sega systems, which damaged the value of the brand and ultimately led to Sega's exit from the hardware market. Thorpe wrote that, while it was possible for Sega to have brushed off the Sega CD's failure, the failure of the Sega CD and the 32X together damaged faith in Sega's support for its platforms. Former Sega of America senior producer Scot Bayless attributes

8927-549: The first to use CD technology in a video game console with their PC Engine CD-ROM² System add-on in October 1988 in Japan (launched in North America as the TurboGrafx-CD the following year), which sold 80,000 units in six months. That year, Nintendo announced a partnership with Sony to develop a CD-ROM peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Commodore International released their CD-based CDTV multimedia system in early 1991, while

9040-495: The increased sales, Sega recalled Night Trap and rereleased it with revisions in 1994. Following the congressional hearings, video game manufacturers came together in 1994 to establish a unified rating system, the Entertainment Software Rating Board . By the end of 1993, sales of the Sega CD had stalled in Japan and were slowing in North America. In Europe, sales of Mega-CD games were outpaced by games for

9153-509: The initial competition between Sega and Nintendo to develop a CD-based add-on, Nintendo canceled development of a CD add-on for the SNES after having partnered with Sony and then Philips to develop one. The Mega-CD was launched in Europe in April 1993, starting with the United Kingdom on April 2, 1993, at a price of £269.99. The European version was packaged with Sol-Feace and Cobra Command in

9266-403: The keyboard and video display. The modern Wintel machine may store the BIOS configuration settings in flash ROM, perhaps the same flash ROM that holds the BIOS itself. Peripheral cards such as hard disk drive host bus adapters and video cards have their own firmware, and BIOS extension option ROM code may be a part of the expansion card firmware; that code provides additional capabilities in

9379-654: The keyboard, rudimentary text and graphics display functions and so forth). When using MS-DOS, BIOS services could be accessed by an application program (or by MS-DOS) by executing an interrupt 13h interrupt instruction to access disk functions, or by executing one of a number of other documented BIOS interrupt calls to access video display , keyboard , cassette, and other device functions. Operating systems and executive software that are designed to supersede this basic firmware functionality provide replacement software interfaces to application software. Applications can also provide these services to themselves. This began even in

9492-401: The next three years. Third-party game development suffered because Sega took a long time to release software development kits . Other factors affecting sales included the high launch price of the Mega-CD in Japan and only two games available at launch, with only five published by Sega within the first year. On October 15, 1992, the Mega-CD was released in North America as the Sega CD, with

9605-527: The operating system's first graphical screen is displayed, input and output are typically handled through BIOS. A boot menu such as the textual menu of Windows, which allows users to choose an operating system to boot, to boot into the safe mode , or to use the last known good configuration, is displayed through BIOS and receives keyboard input through BIOS. Many modern PCs can still boot and run legacy operating systems such as MS-DOS or DR-DOS that rely heavily on BIOS for their console and disk I/O, providing that

9718-425: The option ROM scan is completed and all detected ROM modules with valid checksums have been called, the BIOS calls interrupt 19h to start boot processing. Post-boot, programs loaded can also call interrupt 19h to reboot the system, but they must be careful to disable interrupts and other asynchronous hardware processes that may interfere with the BIOS rebooting process, or else the system may hang or crash while it

9831-539: The point of successfully initializing a video display adapter. Options on the IBM PC and XT were set by switches and jumpers on the main board and on expansion cards . Starting around the mid-1990s, it became typical for the BIOS ROM to include a "BIOS configuration utility" (BCU ) or "BIOS setup utility", accessed at system power-up by a particular key sequence. This program allowed the user to set system configuration options, of

9944-470: The problems were caused by certain games excessively seeking to different tracks on the disc (as opposed to continuously playing / streaming), leading to overheating of the motors which repositioned the laser head assembly. As early as 1990, magazines were covering a CD-ROM expansion for the Genesis. Sega announced the release of the Mega-CD in Japan for late 1991, and North America (as the Sega CD) in 1992. It

10057-610: The reverse of this, and BIOS ROM code is usually copied ("shadowed") into RAM so it will run faster.) Option ROMs normally reside on adapter cards. However, the original PC, and perhaps also the PC XT, have a spare ROM socket on the motherboard (the "system board" in IBM's terms) into which an option ROM can be inserted, and the four ROMs that contain the BASIC interpreter can also be removed and replaced with custom ROMs which can be option ROMs. The IBM PCjr

10170-672: The stack set up by BIOS is unknown and its location is likewise variable; although the boot program can investigate the default stack by examining SS:SP, it is easier and shorter to just unconditionally set up a new stack. At boot time, all BIOS services are available, and the memory below address 0x00400 contains the interrupt vector table . BIOS POST has initialized the system timers, interrupt controller(s), DMA controller(s), and other motherboard/chipset hardware as necessary to bring all BIOS services to ready status. DRAM refresh for all system DRAM in conventional memory and extended memory, but not necessarily expanded memory, has been set up and

10283-531: The system has a BIOS, or a CSM-capable UEFI firmware. Intel processors have reprogrammable microcode since the P6 microarchitecture. AMD processors have reprogrammable microcode since the K7 microarchitecture. The BIOS contain patches to the processor microcode that fix errors in the initial processor microcode; microcode is loaded into processor's SRAM so reprogramming is not persistent, thus loading of microcode updates

10396-479: The system is initialized, the first instruction of the BIOS appears at that address. If the system has just been powered up or the reset button was pressed (" cold boot "), the full power-on self-test (POST) is run. If Ctrl+Alt+Delete was pressed (" warm boot "), a special flag value stored in nonvolatile BIOS memory (" CMOS ") tested by the BIOS allows bypass of the lengthy POST and memory detection. The POST identifies, tests and initializes system devices such as

10509-405: The system timer-tick interrupt, which BIOS always uses at least to maintain the time-of-day count and which it initializes during POST, to be active and for the keyboard to work. The keyboard works even if the BIOS keyboard service is not called; keystrokes are received and placed in the 15-character type-ahead buffer maintained by BIOS.) The boot program must set up its own stack, because the size of

10622-535: The time was greater storage ; CDs offered approximately 160 times more space than Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges . This benefit manifested as full-motion video (FMV) games such as the controversial Night Trap . The Sega CD game library features acclaimed games such as Sonic CD , Lunar: The Silver Star , Lunar: Eternal Blue , Popful Mail , and Snatcher , but also many Genesis ports and poorly received FMV games . Only 2.24 million Sega CD units were sold, after which Sega discontinued it to focus on

10735-457: The type formerly set using DIP switches , through an interactive menu system controlled through the keyboard. In the interim period, IBM-compatible PCs‍—‌including the IBM AT ‍—‌held configuration settings in battery-backed RAM and used a bootable configuration program on floppy disk, not in the ROM, to set the configuration options contained in this memory. The floppy disk was supplied with

10848-406: The unsuccessful market to a lack of direction from Sega with the add-on. According to Bayless, "It was a fundamental paradigm shift with almost no thought given to consequences. I honestly don't think anyone at Sega asked the most important question: 'Why?' There's a rule I developed during my time as an engineer in the military aviation business: never fall in love with your tech. I think that's where

10961-777: The user performs a restore using a pre-customised image provided by the OEM. Power users can copy the necessary certificate files from the OEM image, decode the SLP product key, then perform SLP activation manually. Some BIOS implementations allow overclocking , an action in which the CPU is adjusted to a higher clock rate than its manufacturer rating for guaranteed capability. Overclocking may, however, seriously compromise system reliability in insufficiently cooled computers and generally shorten component lifespan. Overclocking, when incorrectly performed, may also cause components to overheat so quickly that they mechanically destroy themselves. Some older operating systems , for example MS-DOS , rely on

11074-443: The working CD units until the last minute because they were concerned about what we would do with it and if it would leak out. It was very frustrating." Latham and Sega of America vice president of licensing Shinobu Toyoda assembled a functioning Sega CD by acquiring a ROM for the system and installing it in a dummy unit. The American staff were frustrated by the Sega CD's construction. Former senior producer Scot Bayless said: "[It]

11187-541: The year 2000, most BIOSes provide ACPI , SMBIOS , VBE and e820 interfaces for modern operating systems. After operating systems load, the System Management Mode code is still running in SMRAM. Since 2010, BIOS technology is in a transitional process toward UEFI . Sega CD The Sega CD , known as Mega-CD in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory and format for

11300-410: Was ambitious about what CD-ROM technology would do for video games, with its potential for "movie graphics", "rock and roll concert sound" and 3D animation. However, two major changes were made towards the end of development that dramatically raised the price of the add-on. Because the Genesis' Motorola 68000 CPU was too slow to handle the Sega CD's new graphical capabilities, an additional 68000 CPU

11413-404: Was designed with a cheap, consumer-grade audio CD drive, not a CD-ROM. Quite late in the run-up to launch, the quality assurance teams started running into severe problems with many of the units—and when I say severe, I mean units literally bursting into flames. We worked around the clock, trying to catch the failure in-progress, and after about a week we finally realized what was happening." He said

11526-579: Was established to market NEC consoles in North America after NEC Home Electronics USA failed to effectively market the platform. Since TTI understood that the price was too high for many people in their target market , they included a booklet of coupons for TurboDuo games and accessories, plus several pack-in games on two CD-ROMs: Ys Book I & II (1990) and a Super CD compilation of four of Hudson Soft's more popular TurboGrafx-16 titles: Bonk's Adventure (1989), Bonk's Revenge (1991), Gate of Thunder (1992), and Bomberman (1983). ( Bomberman

11639-429: Was hidden in an Easter egg .) The package also included one TurboChip game: Dungeon Explorer (Hudson Soft 1989). Later, TTI replaced Dungeon Explorer with one of a variety of TurboChip titles, such as Ninja Spirit ( Irem 1988) and Final Lap Twin ( Namco 1989). With the release of the TurboDuo, TTI reduced the retail price of the TurboGrafx-CD peripheral for the TurboGrafx-16 to $ 150.00, and began marketing

11752-465: Was incorporated. This second CPU has a clock speed of 12.5 MHz, faster than the 7.67 MHz CPU in the Genesis. Responding to rumors that NEC planned a memory upgrade to bring the TurboGrafx-CD RAM from 0.5  Mbit to between 2 and 4 Mbit, Sega increased the Sega CD's available RAM from 1 to 6 Mbit. This proved to be a technical challenge, since the Sega CD's RAM access speed

11865-471: Was initially too slow to run programs effectively, and the developers had to focus on increasing the speed. The estimated cost of the device rose to US$ 370, but market research convinced Sega executives that consumers would be willing to pay more for a state-of-the-art machine. Sega partnered with JVC , which had been working with Warner New Media to develop a CD player under the CD+G standard. Sega of America

11978-433: Was named "CBIOS" (for "Compatibility BIOS"), whereas the "ABIOS" (for "Advanced BIOS") provided new interfaces specifically suited for multitasking operating systems such as OS/2 . The BIOS of the original IBM PC and XT had no interactive user interface. Error codes or messages were displayed on the screen, or coded series of sounds were generated to signal errors when the power-on self-test (POST) had not proceeded to

12091-460: Was not informed of the project details until mid-1991. Despite being provided with preliminary technical documents earlier in the year, the American division was not given a functioning unit to test. According to former executive producer Michael Latham: "When you work at a multinational company, there are things that go well and there are things that don't. They didn't want to send us working Sega CD units. They wanted to send us dummies and not send us

12204-458: Was not the only company of the period to "muddy its waters" with a CD add-on, and highlighted some "gems" for the system, but that "the benefits offered by the Sega CD had to be balanced against the fact that the add-on more than doubled the price (and complexity) of the [Genesis]." In a separate article for 1Up.com , Parish praised the Sega CD's expansion of value to the Genesis. Writing for Retro Gamer , Damien McFerran cited various reasons for

12317-432: Was originally proprietary to the IBM PC ; it was reverse engineered by some companies (such as Phoenix Technologies ) looking to create compatible systems. The interface of that original system serves as a de facto standard . The BIOS in older PCs initializes and tests the system hardware components ( power-on self-test or POST for short), and loads a boot loader from a mass storage device which then initializes

12430-514: Was positioned to compete with the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, but the combined system and Mega-LD pack retailed at too expensive a price for most consumers. Aiwa released the CSD-GM1, a combination Mega Drive and Mega CD unit built into a boombox . The CSD-GM1 was released in Japan in 1994. The Sega CD supports a library of more than 200 games created by Sega and third-party publishers. Six Sega CD games were also released in versions that used both

12543-406: Was stored in a ROM chip on the PC motherboard. In later computer systems, the BIOS contents are stored on flash memory so it can be rewritten without removing the chip from the motherboard. This allows easy, end-user updates to the BIOS firmware so new features can be added or bugs can be fixed, but it also creates a possibility for the computer to become infected with BIOS rootkits . Furthermore,

12656-581: Was unveiled to the public at the 1991 Tokyo Toy Show, to positive reception from critics, and at the Consumer Electronic Show in Chicago in mid-1991. It was released in Japan on December 12, 1991, initially retailing at JP¥ 49,800. Though the Mega-CD sold quickly, the small install base of the Mega Drive in Japan meant that sales declined rapidly. Within its first three months, the Mega-CD sold 200,000 units, but only sold an additional 200,000 over

12769-491: Was useful for releasing collections of games, "just doing cartridge games on a CD-ROM was not a step forward". According to Thorpe, the Sega CD's games did not display enough advancement to justify the console price for most consumers. He felt that FMV games, targeted toward more casual players, were not enough to satisfy hardcore players. Near the time of its release, the Sega CD was awarded Best New Peripheral of 1992 by Electronic Gaming Monthly . Four separate reviews scored

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