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INTRO
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1991-06-07
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** Programmer's Technical Reference for MSDOS and the IBM PC **
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ Shareware Version, 04/16/91 │
│ Please Register Your Copy │
└─────────────────────────────┘
Copyright (c) 1987, 1991 Dave Williams
USA copyright TXG 392-616
ISBN 1-878830-02-3 (disk-based text)
(* This work is registered directly with the copyright offices of the *)
(* United States and of the United Kingdom, and indirectly in many other *)
(* nations via the conventions the above are signatory to. *)
(* Generous licensing terms are available on inquiry. *)
I N T R O D U C T I O N
This book is a technical reference. It is NOT a tutorial. Hopefully, this
book is what you'll reach for when you want find out what Peter Norton or the
"official" references glossed over.
This manual is intended to replace the various (expensive) references needed
to program for the DOS environment, that stack of magazines threatening to take
over your work area, and those odd tables and charts you can never find when
you need them.
The various Microsoft and IBM publications and references don't always have
the same information. This has caused some consternation about the
"undocumented" features to be found in DOS. In general, if a call doesn't
appear in the IBM DOS Technical Reference it is considered "undocumented"
although it may be documented by other OEMs or by later Microsoft tech
bulletins.
Microsoft's offical policy toward DOS has been to put the burden of
documenting and supporting their product to their vendors. Microsoft will not
answer any questions concerning DOS directly since they don't officially
support it. This leaves what information IBM and other OEMs (DEC, Zenith, et
al) have chosen to publish, and the information obtained from programmers
who've poked around inside it.
Now that Microsoft is selling MSDOS 3.3 and 4.0 over the counter they seem to
be dragging their feet over whether they will have to support the generic
version since it doesn't have an OEM name on it anymore. In view of their push
to OS/2 (OS/2! Just Say No!) further support of DOS seems unlikely.
The information here is valid for DOS 2.x through 4.x. Where there are
differences between the two versions there are notes in the text. No great
effort was expended on DOS 1.x.
When I started writing this book, it was originally for my own personal use.
Then I began expanding it with the idea of getting it published, since at that
time there was *nothing* in print like it. (late 1987) If I had managed to
send it off to the publishers early enough, I would have had it made. As it
was I lost six months having a nice steel rod put in my leg after being run
over by a drug addict in an uninsured car, and half a dozen similar books were
published by then, and nobody was interested in mine. Six months is a long
time in the PC world.
That's why I'm uploading this file as "user-supported." It gives me a chance
to recoup a few bucks for the time I've been working on this thing, and it
gives some advantages that a printed book can't - first, you can load it on
your hard disk and use Vern Buerg's LIST or SideKick to scan through text. You
can grab a piece of something and paste it into a document, etc. If you help
support the Reference you will always have the latest version available; you
can't "upgrade" books.
A project this size takes a LOT of time and effort. I've tried to verify as
much of the information I've received as I could, but there's just too much for
absolute certainty. The TechRef has been in the hands of some heavy-duty code
jockeys for a couple of years now with very few bug reports, though.
If you find any typos, incorrect information, or want to see something else,
let me know. If you have any more detailed information on something, PLEASE let
me know!
Dave Williams
D I S C L A I M E R
<sigh>
As is common these days, I have to make a "Notice of Disclaimer". I take no
responsibility for anything, and if anything you do with this book ruins you
for life or makes your dog bite you, or anything else, that's just tough.
I hope you find much use for this reference. It was a trip to write, too.
Dave Williams
(C) Copyright 1987, 1990
(* note: the above disclaimer is being used as an example in the University *)
(* of Texas' School of Law. Whether good or bad, my respondent didn't *)
(* say... *)
______________________________________________________________________________
Copyrights and trademarks:
(3COM Corporation)
3COM, Etherlink
(Allied Telephone and Telegraph)
UNIX, AT&T
(Artisoft)
LANtastic
(AST Corporation)
AST, RAMpage!
(Atari Computer)
Atari, ST, TOS
(Borland)
Borland, Turbo C, Turbo Pascal, Turbo Lightning, Turbo Assembler, SideKick
(Commodore Business Machines)
Amiga 2000
(Compaq Computer Corp.)
Compaq, Deskpro
(Cordata Computer)
Corona, Cordata
(Cove Software)
CED, PCED
(Digital Equipment Company)
DEC, Rainbow, DECMate, DOS (uh... yeah. DEC owns the trademark to 'DOS')
(Xerox Corporation)
Ethernet
(Fox Research, Inc.)
10-Net
(Graphic Software Systems)
GSS, DGIS
(Hayes)
Smartmodem
(Hercules Computer Technology)
Hercules, HGC, Hercules Graphics Card Plus, InColor Card
(IBM Corp.)
IBM, PC, PCjr, PC/XT, PC/AT, XT/286, PS/2, TopView, DOS, PC-DOS, Micro Channel
3270 PC, RT PC, Token Ring
(Intel Corp.)
Intel, iAPX286, iAPX386, LIM EMS, Communicating Applications Standard (CAS)
(Logitech, Inc)
Logitech, Logimouse
(Microsoft Corp.)
Microsoft, MS, MS DOS, OS/2, Xenix, Windows, Windows/286, Windows/386,
Microsoft Networks, LIM EMS, XMA
(Mouse Systems Corp.)
Mouse Systems
(Novell Development Corp.)
Novell, NetWare
(Phar Lap)
VCPI, Virtual Control Program Interface
(Qalitas)
386-To-The-Max, 386MAX
(Quarterdeck Office Systems)
DesQview, QEMM
(SEAware, Inc)
ARC
(Softlogic)
DoubleDOS
(Sunny Hill Software)
TaskView, OmniView
(Tandy Corp.)
Tandy, Radio Shack, DeskMate
(Texas Instruments)
TI, TI Professional, Business Professional, TIGA (TI Graphics Interface)
(Zenith Radio Corporation)
Zenith, Z-100, Z-248
(ZSoft Corporation)
ShowPartner, Paintbrush
"LIM 4.0" and "Expanded Memory Specification" are copyright Lotus Development
Corp, Intel Corp, and Microsoft Corp.
"EEMS", "AQA 3.1" and "Enhanced Expanded Memory Specification" are copyright
by Ashton-Tate, Quadram, and AST
"DPMI" and "DOS Protected Mode Interface" are copyright Lotus Development
Corp, Intel Corp, Microsoft Corp, and AST
Various other names are trademarks of their respective companies.