Updated PC programming documentation
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Jeff Parsons
Jeff Parsons
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Programming Technical Reference - IBM
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Copyright 1988, Dave Williams
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
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This manual is intended to replace the various (expensive) references needed to
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program for the DOS environment, that stack of magazines threatening to take
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over your work area, and those odd tables and charts you can never find when you
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need them.
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The various Microsoft and IBM publications and references don't always have the
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same information. This has caused some consternation about the "undocumented"
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features to be found in DOS. In general use, if a call doesn't appear in the IBM
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DOS Technical Reference it is considered "undocumented" although it may be in
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common use.
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Microsoft's offical policy toward DOS has been to put the burden of documenting
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and supporting their product to their vendors. Microsoft will not answer any
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questions concerning DOS directly since they don't officially support it. This
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leaves what information IBM and other OEMs (DEC, Zenith, et al) have chosen to
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publish, and the information obtained from programmers who've poked around
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inside it.
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Now that Microsoft is selling MSDOS 3.2 and 3.3 as Microsoft products they seem
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to be dragging their feet over whether they will have to support the generic
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version since it doesn't have an OEM name on it anymore. In view of their push
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to OS/2 (OS/2! Just Say No!) further support of DOS seems unlikely.
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The information here is valid for DOS 2.x and 3.x. Where there are differences
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between the two versions there are notes in the text. No effort was expended
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on DOS 1.x or networking features.
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As I write this there is still considerable furor over incompatibilities with
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DOS 4.0. Since a Technical Reference for 4.0 isn't availible yet, I don't have
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a whole lot of info on it.
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When I started writing this book, it was originally for my own personal use.
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Then I began expanding it with the idea of getting it published, since at that
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time there was *nothing* in print like it. If I had managed to send it off to
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the publishers early enough, I would have had it made. As it was I lost six
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months having a nice steel rod put in my leg, and half a dozen similar books
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were published by then, and nobody was interested in mine. Six months is a
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long time in the PC world.
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That's why I'm uploading this file as "user-supported." It gives me a chance
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to recoup a few bucks for the year or so I've been working on this thing, and
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it gives some advantages that a printed book can't - first, you can load it on
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your hard disk and use Vern Buerg's LIST or SideKick to scan through text. You
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can grab a peice of something and paste it into a document, etc. If you help
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support the PC Programmer's Reference you will always have the latest version
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availible; you can't "upgrade" printed books.
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A project this size takes a LOT of time and effort. I've tried to verify all
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the information I've received, but there's just too much for absolute certainty.
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If you find any typos, incorrect information, or want to see something else,
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let me know. If you have any more detailed information on something, PLEASE let
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me know!
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Dave Williams
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D I S C L A I M E R
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The information presented here was gathered from megabytes of files found on
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BBS systems, conversations on a dozen different BBS systems, correspondence,
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and every reference book I could get my hands on. On occaision, a number of
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prestigious references didn't agree with each other. Where this has happened, I
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have used the latest references. There is too much information here for me to
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verify every fact personally. I have used my own judgement as to the
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reliability of the sources.
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This entire project was originally begun as a reference for myself, where I
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put all the little bits of information I culled from various sources into a
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whole and (hopefully) organized format so I could find them again when
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nescessary. If you find anything that is incorrect, I would greatly appreciate
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a card or letter telling me.
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As is common these days, I have to make a "Notice of Disclaimer". I take no
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responsibility for anything, and if anything you do with this book ruins you
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for life or makes your dog bite you, or anything else, that's just tough.
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I hope you find much use for this reference. It was a trip to write, too.
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Dave Williams
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(C) Copyright 1988
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References used in preparing this book:
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IBM Technical Reference
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Personal Computer
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p/n 6322507 IBM Publications
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IBM Technical Reference
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Personal Computer - PCjr
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p/n 1502293 IBM Publications
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IBM Technical Reference
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Options and Adapters - Enhanced Graphics Adapter
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p/n 6280131 IBM Publications Aug 1984
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IBM DOS Operations Manual Version 2.00
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MS-DOS Programmer's Reference
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by Microsoft
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p/n 135555-001 Intel Corp. 1984
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Lotus-Intel-Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification 4.0
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Intel Corp. 1987
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Microsoft Extended Memory Specification v2.00
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Microsoft Corporation, 1988
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X3.4-1977: American National Standard Code for Information Interchange
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by American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
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New York, NY 1977
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Microcomputer Products - 1987 Data Book
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NEC Electronics, Inc.
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p/n 500105 Aug 1987
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FastCard IV User Manual
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Peripheral Marketing Inc
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p/n 0527 Jan 1987
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Hercules Graphics Card User's Manual
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Programmer's Guide to the IBM PC
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Peter Norton
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Microsoft Press 1985
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Inside the IBM PC
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Peter Norton
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Exploring the IBM PCjr
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Peter Norton
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Microsoft Press 1984
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Advanced MSDOS
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Ray Duncan
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Microsoft Press 1986
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The IBM Personal Computer from the Inside Out
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Murray Sargent III and Richard L. Shoemaker
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Addison-Wesley 1984
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DOS:The Complete Reference
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Kris Jamsa
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Osborne/McGraw-Hill 1987
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Mapping the IBM PC
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Russ Davies/Compute! Magazine
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Compute! Books 1986
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Tricks of the MS-DOS Masters
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Waite Group
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Supercharging MS-DOS
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Van Volverton
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Microsoft Press 1986
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DOS Power Tools
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Paul Somerson
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Bantam Books 1988
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Running MS-DOS
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Van Wolverton
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Microsoft Press
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Microcomputer Interfacing
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Bruce A. Artwick
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Prentice Hall 1980
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The 8080a Bugbook
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Tony-Larsen-Titus
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Howard W. Sams 1977
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S-286 User Manual, version 2
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Link Computer, 1988
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MPC Operations Guide, Manual #1023
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Columbia Data Products, Inc.
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CDP 1983
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Assembly Language Subroutines for MSDOS Computers
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Leo J. Scanlon
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TAB Books 1986
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The Serious Assembler
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Charles A. Crayne and Dian Gerard
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Baen Books 1985
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Assembly Language Programming for the IBM Personal Computer
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David J. Bradley
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Prentice-Hall 1984
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The 8086 Book
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Russell Rector and George Alexy
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Osborne/McGraw-Hill 1980
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Compute!'s Guide to Assembly Language Programming on the IBM PC
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Dr. Dobb's Journal
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PC Magazine
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PC Resource
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PC Tech Journal
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Computer Language
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Programmer's Journal
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Byte Magazine
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various computer bulletin board systems, including
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Byte Information Exchange (BIX)
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Compuserve IBM SIG
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GEnie IBM RT
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GT Net international network
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FIDO Net international network
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PCanada BBS system (Toronto, Canada)
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Pecan Pi RBBS, (404) 454-8756 (Atlanta, Georgia)
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Night Modulator, (408) 728-5598 (San Jose, California)
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various text files downloaded from BBS systems - INTERRUP.ARC, BIOSDOS.ZOO,
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DOSINFO.ARC, DOSERROR.DOC, DOSTIPS.TXT, etc.
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and all the people who have been good enough to furnish information
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