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Software Vault: The Gold Collection
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Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO
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INTERUPT.DOC
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1993-05-01
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┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ INTERRUPT DISPATCHER 2.1 │
│ (C) Copyright 1991 by Kevin Dahlhausen │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
Interrupt Dispatcher is a utility that allows you to
call DOS and BIOS interrupts and view the results in binary, hex,
and decimal. There is also a pop-up window that may be used as a
data buffer.
All you need to do is set up the the required registers and press
F1. The program will generate the interrupt and display the resulting
values of the registers in hexadecimal, decimal and binary notation.
Pressing F2 exits the program. Certain interrupts require pairs of
registers to point to data structures in memory. This is accomplished
by pressing F3 to bring up the data buffer window. Enter the desired
data, following the on-screen help, and press ESC to return to the
register screen. Move to the desired register and press F4. The segment
or offset of the data buffer will be entered into the register depending
on the appropriate usage of that register.
WHAT ARE DOS AND BIOS INTERRUPTS?
The word 'interrupts' refers to the DOS and BIOS software
interrupts in the following discussion. The interrupts are a set of
built in routines that talk to the the computer hardware on a basic
level. Their purpose is to shield the programmer from the minor
hardware variations among different machines. The interrupt
structure is one reason we can run software for the IBM PC on so
many compatibles. The interrupts perform services such as getting or
setting the system date/time, creation of files, retrieving
information about the equipment installed on the computer, etc.
For example, function 30h of interrupt 21h returns the version of
DOS running running on the machine. To find out what version your
computer is using, run Interrupt Dispatcher and set the following
parameters:
INT = 21
AX = 3000
Now press F1. The display will change. The major version number
will be returned in the L part of AX (look at the decimal version). The
minor version will be returned in Ah. So if the value 0A03 (this is hex
number) is returned in the AX field, you would be running DOS version 3.10
WARNING: Be carefull when using this program. There are
interrupts that write to the disk drives. You
should be safe if you work from a reference
manual, but don't just pick values at random.
HISTORY
A friend bought "The Programmer's PC Sourcebook" (Thom
Hogan, Microsoft Press). Among other things, this book contains
a listing of the software interrupts and their functions. Initially
we wrote short DEBUG programs to learn about them. This method was
crude and took time to set up each interrupt. A program designed for
the sole purpose of experimenting (playing?) with the interrupts
would be much more convenient. Thus was the birth of Interrupt
Dispatcher.
This program is distributed as Freeware. No fee, other than a
nominal disk and handling fee may be charged for it. Persons
intrerested in distributing this program with a commercial
package may contact me as listed below.
I welcome any comments regarding Interrupt Dispatcher, and can
be reached at:
AP096@CWNS16.INS.CWRU.EDU Kevin Dahlhausen
8627 Scarlet Oak Lane
Parma, Ohio 44130