What does FOSSIL stand for in DOS serial communication?
FOSSIL stands for Fido Opus SEAdog Standard Interface Layer. Fido refers to FidoNet, Opus refers to the Opus-CBCS BBS, and SEAdog refers to a FidoNet compatible mailer.
Questions about FOSSIL
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is the FOSSIL protocol used for?
FOSSIL is a standard protocol that allows serial communication for telecommunications programs under MS-DOS compatible operating systems. It lets software communicate using the same interrupt functions regardless of the underlying hardware.
When was the FOSSIL specification created?
The FOSSIL specification was born in 1986. It was created to provide a uniform method of communicating with serial interface hardware so software could run across diverse machines.
Why was the FOSSIL standard needed for FidoNet?
In the early days of FidoNet, computer hardware was very diverse with no standards for communicating with serial interface hardware, and FidoBBS initially worked only on one specific type of machine. FOSSIL provided a uniform method so the software could spread to other machines.
What are some popular FOSSIL drivers?
Two popular DOS based FOSSIL drivers are X00 and BNU. NetFoss is a popular Windows based FOSSIL driver and is freeware, while SIO is a popular OS/2 based FOSSIL driver.
Can FOSSIL drivers work with hardware other than serial interfaces?
Yes, FOSSIL drivers have been implemented to support other communications hardware by making it look like a modem to the application. Internal ISDN cards that did not use serial ports at all often came with FOSSIL drivers to work with modem-only software.