On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 01:12:04PM +0000, Bryan K. wrote: > I'm trying to understand the bbootsect.s THe problem is that i want to > know exactly the functionallity of each bios call. Is there any link which > describes the bios calls(not just the ones used in bbootsect.s)? Short answer: Google for 'ralph brown interrupt list'. Long answer: Back in the times when Linus Torvalds still had to buy his first 386, people used something called "DOS", which (like Linux) came in various flavours, like "PC-DOS", "MS-DOS", and "DR-DOS". Those DOS thingies on its turn had different versions like "3.3", "4.0", and "5.0", though later incarnations were called "DOS 95", "DOS 98", and "DOS ME". The different DOS versions had an interterface called "the interrupts", which was quite, but not completely the same in all flavours and versions of DOS. Those differences were not documented, because that would mean that vendors actually would need to hire a tech writer, and (more important) it would tell their competitors how their DOS incarnation worked. Sounds like programming hell? Well, it was. Luckily, a guy named "Ralph Brown" started to document the interface and uploaded it to SimTel. This document was called "Interrupt List", but soon got known as "Ralph Brown's interrupt list". The list not only documents DOS interrupts, but also BIOS interrupts. Get yourself a copy, but be warned: it's huge. Erik -- J.A.K. (Erik) Mouw Email: J.A.K.Mouw@its.tudelft.nl mouw@nl.linux.org WWW: http://www-ict.its.tudelft.nl/~erik/
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