Under Windows Google hardware driver development (DDK) for an insight into exactly what you're up against.
I know what i'm up against ;)
@Col;
If i was going to cock up like that then i deserve what happens ;) (dont play with what you dont understand).
Direct Memory Access does not mean the memory windows alocates (if thats what you mean by dynamic :/) i mean the actual, physical address...
Say i wanted to directly access a parralel port; I could do this in QBasic in win95/98. Qbasic is old and wont run since 2000 very well.
Of course, its not recomended, but id find it useful. I assume the majority of you disagree and therefore Mark is right not to do it.
I have been thinking though, and its only real use would be for my want to play with home made devices, so wrapping a DLL to blitz commands may be the best way.
[edit]
I mainly want to access main system hardware, not windows hardware (as they tend to have drivers to access them correctly) A small idea would be to directly access the SPeaker (&H60 i think, cant remember off the top of my head the exact address). Hopefully blitzmax would be quick enough for me to be able to make it actually say something (which would be funny as a prank when i make my puter talk to its user... this puter has no speakers). I also have a lighting system ive built that i used to put into the BBC and made a "Binary-Logo" language to run it in. I would access it via the Printer port as i did on the bbc.
basically, its for fun. It looks like i will be needing to get some dll working in blitz :/
Unless theres a way to use the printer ports in max now? not just for printing? ;)
--
[edit2]
@Angel
Unfortunately, and this is where my problem is, Windows HAL hides hardware from you. Even if you manage to access that area of memory, its not the "true" address
Thanks for your views...