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Did MS DOS itself ever use blinking text?



Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
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4















I know that it was possible to create blinking text, but did the operating system itself (I mean, in output from functions of command.com and similar executables) ever make use of blink formatting?



You'd think it would be useful for confirmations of really dangerous things like format C: and such, but perhaps also seen as "over the top" and or just not necessary.










share|improve this question



























    4















    I know that it was possible to create blinking text, but did the operating system itself (I mean, in output from functions of command.com and similar executables) ever make use of blink formatting?



    You'd think it would be useful for confirmations of really dangerous things like format C: and such, but perhaps also seen as "over the top" and or just not necessary.










    share|improve this question

























      4












      4








      4








      I know that it was possible to create blinking text, but did the operating system itself (I mean, in output from functions of command.com and similar executables) ever make use of blink formatting?



      You'd think it would be useful for confirmations of really dangerous things like format C: and such, but perhaps also seen as "over the top" and or just not necessary.










      share|improve this question














      I know that it was possible to create blinking text, but did the operating system itself (I mean, in output from functions of command.com and similar executables) ever make use of blink formatting?



      You'd think it would be useful for confirmations of really dangerous things like format C: and such, but perhaps also seen as "over the top" and or just not necessary.







      ms-dos






      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question











      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question










      asked 3 hours ago









      KlaymenDKKlaymenDK

      22817




      22817






















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          4















          [...] did the operating system itself [...] ever make use of blink formatting?




          No.



          MS-DOS was, at the core, machine agnostic. It only used the most basic features provided by the BIOS. While function 09h would have provided the ability to set attributes (via BL), its meaning already varies across video cards offered by IBM and even more so with third party cards or non IBM machines. Not to mention that MS-DOS was intended to work with terminals as well, where attributes are even more diverse.



          MS-DOS only used the most basic characters for output control:




          • CR

          • LF

          • FF (clear screen)

          • BEL






          share|improve this answer



















          • 2





            MS-DOS 2.0 to 5.x included a driver called ANSI.SYS which provided support for escape codes to control character attributes; I'm pretty certain escape-leftbracket-5m was supported as a means of enabling blinking, along with ...[1m for bright text, ...[30m to ...[37m for foreground color, etc.

            – supercat
            1 hour ago











          • @supercat Jup, another optional add-on, nothing a cor OS can rely on.

            – Raffzahn
            1 hour ago












          Your Answer








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          active

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          4















          [...] did the operating system itself [...] ever make use of blink formatting?




          No.



          MS-DOS was, at the core, machine agnostic. It only used the most basic features provided by the BIOS. While function 09h would have provided the ability to set attributes (via BL), its meaning already varies across video cards offered by IBM and even more so with third party cards or non IBM machines. Not to mention that MS-DOS was intended to work with terminals as well, where attributes are even more diverse.



          MS-DOS only used the most basic characters for output control:




          • CR

          • LF

          • FF (clear screen)

          • BEL






          share|improve this answer



















          • 2





            MS-DOS 2.0 to 5.x included a driver called ANSI.SYS which provided support for escape codes to control character attributes; I'm pretty certain escape-leftbracket-5m was supported as a means of enabling blinking, along with ...[1m for bright text, ...[30m to ...[37m for foreground color, etc.

            – supercat
            1 hour ago











          • @supercat Jup, another optional add-on, nothing a cor OS can rely on.

            – Raffzahn
            1 hour ago
















          4















          [...] did the operating system itself [...] ever make use of blink formatting?




          No.



          MS-DOS was, at the core, machine agnostic. It only used the most basic features provided by the BIOS. While function 09h would have provided the ability to set attributes (via BL), its meaning already varies across video cards offered by IBM and even more so with third party cards or non IBM machines. Not to mention that MS-DOS was intended to work with terminals as well, where attributes are even more diverse.



          MS-DOS only used the most basic characters for output control:




          • CR

          • LF

          • FF (clear screen)

          • BEL






          share|improve this answer



















          • 2





            MS-DOS 2.0 to 5.x included a driver called ANSI.SYS which provided support for escape codes to control character attributes; I'm pretty certain escape-leftbracket-5m was supported as a means of enabling blinking, along with ...[1m for bright text, ...[30m to ...[37m for foreground color, etc.

            – supercat
            1 hour ago











          • @supercat Jup, another optional add-on, nothing a cor OS can rely on.

            – Raffzahn
            1 hour ago














          4












          4








          4








          [...] did the operating system itself [...] ever make use of blink formatting?




          No.



          MS-DOS was, at the core, machine agnostic. It only used the most basic features provided by the BIOS. While function 09h would have provided the ability to set attributes (via BL), its meaning already varies across video cards offered by IBM and even more so with third party cards or non IBM machines. Not to mention that MS-DOS was intended to work with terminals as well, where attributes are even more diverse.



          MS-DOS only used the most basic characters for output control:




          • CR

          • LF

          • FF (clear screen)

          • BEL






          share|improve this answer














          [...] did the operating system itself [...] ever make use of blink formatting?




          No.



          MS-DOS was, at the core, machine agnostic. It only used the most basic features provided by the BIOS. While function 09h would have provided the ability to set attributes (via BL), its meaning already varies across video cards offered by IBM and even more so with third party cards or non IBM machines. Not to mention that MS-DOS was intended to work with terminals as well, where attributes are even more diverse.



          MS-DOS only used the most basic characters for output control:




          • CR

          • LF

          • FF (clear screen)

          • BEL







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 1 hour ago









          RaffzahnRaffzahn

          56.7k6137228




          56.7k6137228








          • 2





            MS-DOS 2.0 to 5.x included a driver called ANSI.SYS which provided support for escape codes to control character attributes; I'm pretty certain escape-leftbracket-5m was supported as a means of enabling blinking, along with ...[1m for bright text, ...[30m to ...[37m for foreground color, etc.

            – supercat
            1 hour ago











          • @supercat Jup, another optional add-on, nothing a cor OS can rely on.

            – Raffzahn
            1 hour ago














          • 2





            MS-DOS 2.0 to 5.x included a driver called ANSI.SYS which provided support for escape codes to control character attributes; I'm pretty certain escape-leftbracket-5m was supported as a means of enabling blinking, along with ...[1m for bright text, ...[30m to ...[37m for foreground color, etc.

            – supercat
            1 hour ago











          • @supercat Jup, another optional add-on, nothing a cor OS can rely on.

            – Raffzahn
            1 hour ago








          2




          2





          MS-DOS 2.0 to 5.x included a driver called ANSI.SYS which provided support for escape codes to control character attributes; I'm pretty certain escape-leftbracket-5m was supported as a means of enabling blinking, along with ...[1m for bright text, ...[30m to ...[37m for foreground color, etc.

          – supercat
          1 hour ago





          MS-DOS 2.0 to 5.x included a driver called ANSI.SYS which provided support for escape codes to control character attributes; I'm pretty certain escape-leftbracket-5m was supported as a means of enabling blinking, along with ...[1m for bright text, ...[30m to ...[37m for foreground color, etc.

          – supercat
          1 hour ago













          @supercat Jup, another optional add-on, nothing a cor OS can rely on.

          – Raffzahn
          1 hour ago





          @supercat Jup, another optional add-on, nothing a cor OS can rely on.

          – Raffzahn
          1 hour ago


















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