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CHAP9
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CHAPTER 9
Programming Technical Reference - IBM
Copyright 1988, Dave Williams
INSTALLABLE DEVICE DRIVERS
DEVICE DRIVER FORMAT
A device driver is a COM or EXE file that contains all of the code needed to
control an add-in device. It has a special header to identify it as a device,
define the strategy and interrupt entry points, and define its various
attributes.
NOTE: For device drivers the COM file must not use the ORG 100h. Since the
driver does not use the program segment prefix, it is simply loaded
without offset. Therefore the memory image file must have an origin of 0
(ORG 0 or no ORG statement).
TYPES OF DEVICES
There are two types of devices: Character devices and Block devices. Their
attributes are as follows:
Character devices are designed to do character I/O in a serial manner like
CON, AUX, and PRN. These devices have names like CON, AUX, CLOCK$, and you can
open channels (handles or FCBs) to do input and output with them. Because
character devices have only one name, they can only support one device.
Block devices are the fixed disk or diskette drives on a system. They can do
random I/O in peices called blocks, which are usually the physical sector
size of the disk. These devices are not named as character devices are, and
cannot be opened directly. Instead they are mapped by using the drive letters
A,B,C etc. Block devices can have units within them. In this way, a single block
driver can be responsible for one or more disk drives. For example, the first
block device driver can be responsible for drives A,B,C,and D. This means it has
four units defined and therefore takes up four drive letters. The position of
the driver in the chain of all drives determines the way in which the drive
letters correspond. For example, if the device driver is the first block driver
in the device chain, and it defines four units, then these devices are called
A,B,C, and D. If the second device driver defines three units, then those units
are E,F,and G. DOS 1.x allows 16 devices. DOS 2.x allows 63, and DOS 3.x allows
26. It is recommended that drivers limit themselves to 26 devices for
compatibility with DOS 3.x.
DOS doesn't care about the position of installed character devices versus
block devices. The installed character devices get put into the chain ahead of
resident character devices so that you can override the system's default driver
for CON etc.
Although it is sometimes beleived that installed block devices get linked into
the chain BEHIND the resident block devices, if you look at the actual device
chain, this is not true (though it is true in the sense that installed block
devices get assigned drive letters in sequence, starting with the next letter
after the last one assigned to a resident block device).
DEVICE HEADER
A device driver requires a device header at the beginning of the file. This
is the format of the device header:
Field Length
Pointer to next device header field dword
Attribute word
Pointer to device strategy routine word
Pointer to device interrupt routine word
Name/Unit field 8 bytes
POINTER TO NEXT DEVICE HEADER FIELD
The device header field is a pointer to the device header of the next device
driver. It is a doubleword field that is set by DOS at the time the device
driver is loaded. The first word is an offset and the second word is the
segment.
If you are loading only one device driver, set the device header field to -1
before loading the device. If you are loading more than one device driver, set
the first word of the device driver header to the offset of the next device
driver's header. Set the device driver header field of the last device driver
to -1.
ATTRIBUTE FIELD
The attribute field is a word field that describes the attributes of the
device driver to the system. The attributes are:
word bits (decimal)
15 1 character device
0 block device
14 1 supports IOCTL
0 doesn't support IOCTL
13 1 non-IBM format (block only)
0 IBM format
12 not documented - unknown
11 1 supports removeable media
0 doesn't support removeable media
10 reserved for DOS
through
4 reserved for DOS
3 1 current block device
0 not current block device
2 1 current NUL device
0 not current NUL device
1 1 current standard output device
0 not current standard output device
BIT 15 is the device type bit. Use it to tell the system the that driver is a
block or character device.
BIT 14 is the IOCTL bit. It is used for both character and block devices. Use
it to tell DOS whether the device driver can handle control strings
through the IOCTL function call 44h.
If a device driver cannot process control strings, it should set bit
14 to 0. This way DOS can return an error is an attempt is made through
the IOCTL function call to send or receive control strings to the
device. If a device can process control strings, it should set bit 14
to 1. This way, DOS makes calls to the IOCTL input and output device
function to send and receive IOCTL strings.
The IOCTL functions allow data to be sent to and from the device
without actually doing a normal read or write. In this way, the device
driver can use the data for its own use, (for example, setting a baud
rate or stop bits, changing form lengths, etc.) It is up to the device
to interpret the information that is passed to it, but the information
must not be treated as a normal I/O request.
BIT 13 is the non-IBM format bit. It is used for block devices only. It affects
the operation of the Get BPB (BIOS parameter block) device call.
BIT 11 is the open/close removeable media bit. Use it to tell DOS if the
device driver can handle removeable media. (DOS 3.x only)
BIT 3 is the clock device bit. It is used for character devices only. Use it
to tell DOS if your character device driver is the new CLOCK$ device.
BIT 2 is the NUL attribute bit. It is used for character devices only. Use it
to tell DOS if your character device driver is a NUL device. Although
there is a NUL device attribute bit, you cannot reassign the NUL device.
This is an attribute that exists for DOS so that DOS can tell if the NUL
device is being used.
BIT 0 are the standard input and output bits. They are used for character
& devices only. Use these bits to tell DOS if your character device
BIT 1 driver is the new standard input device or standard output device.
POINTER TO STRATEGY AND INTERRUPT ROUTINES
These two fields are pointers to the entry points of the strategy and input
routines. They are word values, so they must be in the same segment as the
device header.
NAME/UNIT FIELD
This is an 8-byte field that contains the name of a character device or the
unit of a block device. For the character names, the name is left-justified and
the space is filled to 8 bytes. For block devices, the number of units can be
placed in the first byte. This is optional because DOS fills in this location
with the value returned by the driver's INIT code.
CREATING A DEVICE DRIVER
To create a device driver that DOS can install, perform the following:
1) Create a memory image file or an EXE file with a device header at the start
of the file.
2) Originate the code (including the device header) at 0, not 100h.
3) Set the next device header field. Refer to "Pointer to Next Device Header
Attribute Field" for more information.
4) Set the attribute field of the device header. Refer to "Attribute Field" for
more information.
5) Set the entry points for the interrupt and strategy routines.
6) Fill in the name/unit field with the name of the character device or the unit
number of the block device.
DOS always processes installable character device drivers before handling the
default devices. So to install a new CON device, simply name the device CON.
Be sure to set the standard input device and standard output device bits in
the attribute field of a new CON device. The scan of the device list stops on
the first match so the installable device driver takes precedence.
NOTE: Because DOS can install the device driver anywhere in memory, care
must be taken in any FAR memory references. You should not expect that
your driver will be loaded in the same place every time.
INSTALLING DEVICE DRIVERS
DOS installs new device drivers dynamically at boot time by reading and
processing the DEVICE command in the config.sys file. For example, if you have
written a device driver called DRIVER1, to install it put this command in the
CONFIG.SYS file:
DEVICE=DRIVER1
DOS calls a device driver at its strategy entry point first, passing in a
request header the information describing what DOS wants the device driver
to do.
This strategy routine does not perform the request but rather queues the
request or saves a pointer to the request header. The second entry point is
the interrupt routine and is called by DOS immediately after the strategy
routine returns. The interrupt routine is called with no parameters. Its
function is to perform the operation based on the queued request and set up
any return infromation.
DOS passes the pointer to the request header in ES:BX. This structure consists
of a fixed length header (Request Header) followed by data pertinent to the
operation to be performed.
NOTE: It is the responsibility of the device driver to preserve the machine
state. For example, save all registers on entry and restore them on exit.
The stack used by DOS has enough room on it to save all the registers. If more
stack space is needed, it is the device driver's responsibility to allocate and
maintain another stack.
All calls to execute device drivers are FAR calls. FAR returns should be
executed to return to DOS.
INSTALLING CHARACTER DEVICES
One of the functions defined for each device is INIT. This routine is called
only once when the device is installed and never again. The INIT routine returns
the following:
A) A location to the first free byte of memory after the device driver, like a
TSR that is stored in the terminating address field. This way, the
initialization code can be used once and then thrown away to save space.
B) After setting the address field, a character device driver can set the status
word and return.
INSTALLING BLOCK DEVICES
Block devices are installed in the same way as character devices. The
difference is that block devices return additional information. Block devices
must also return:
A) The number of units in the block device. This number determines the logical
names the devices will have. For example, if the current logical device
letter is F at the time of the install call, and the block device driver INIT
routine returns three logical units, the letters G, H, and I are assigned to
the units. The mapping is determined by the position of the driver in the
device list and the number of units in the device. The number of units
returned by INIT overrides the value in the name/unit field of the device
header.
B) A pointer to a BPB (BIOS parameter block) pointer array. This is a pointer
to an array of *n* word pointers there *n* is the number of units defined.
These word pointers point to BPBs. This way, if all of the units are the
same, the entire array can point to the same BPB to save space.
The BPB contains information pertinent to the devices such as the sector
size, number of sectors per allocation unit, and so forth. The sector size of
the BPB cannot be greater than the maximum allotted size set at DOS
initialization time.
NOTE: This array must be protected below the free pointer set by the return.
C) The media descriptor byte. This byte is passed to devices so that they know
what parameters DOS is currently using for a particular drive unit.
Block devices can take several approaches. They can be *dumb* or *smart*. A
dumb device would define a unit (and therefore a BPB) for each possible media
drive combination. Unit 0=drive 0;single side, unit 1=drive 0;double side, etc.
For this approach, the media descriptor bytes would mean nothing. A smart
device would allow multiple media per unit. In this case, the BPB table
returned at INIT must define space large enough to acommodate the largest
possible medias supported (sector size in BPB must be as large as maximum
sector size DOS is currently using). Smart drivers will use the media byte to
pass information about what media is currently in a unit.
REQUEST HEADER
The request header passes the information describing what DOS wants the
device driver to do.
┌──────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Length │ F i e l d │
├──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ BYTE │ Length in bytes of the request header plus any data at end │
├──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ BYTE │ Unit code. The subunit the operation is for (minor device) │
│ │ Has no meaning for character devices. │
├──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WORD │ Command code │
├──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 8 BYTES │ Deserved for DOS │
├──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│(variable)│ Data appropriate for the operation │
└──────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
UNIT CODE FIELD
The unit code field identifies which unit in a block device driver the request
is for. For example, if a block device driver has three units defined, then the
possible values of the unit code field would be 0,1,and 2.
COMMAND CODE FIELD
The command code field in the request header can have the following values:
CODE FUNCTION
0 INIT
1 MEDIA CHECK (block only,NOP for character)
2 BUILD BPB (block only, NOP for character)
3 IOCTL input (called only if IOCTL bit is 1)
4 INPUT (read)
5 NONDESTRUCTIVE INPUT NO WAIT (character devices only)
6 INPUT STATUS (character devices only)
7 INPUT FLUSH (character devices only)
8 OUTPUT (write)
9 OUTPUT (write with verify)
10 OUTPUT STATUS (character devices only)
11 OUTPUT FLUSH (character devices only)
12 IOCTL OUTPUT (called only if IOCTL bit is 1)
13 DEVICE OPEN (called only if OPEN/CLOSE/RM bit is set)
14 DEVICE CLOSE (called only if OPEN/CLOSE/RM bit is set)
15 REMOVEABLE MEDIA (called only if OPEN/CLOSE/RM bit is set and
device is block)
NOTE: Command codes 13,14,and 15 are for use with DOS versions 3.x.
STATUS FIELD
The status field in the request header contains:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ D E V I C E D R I V E R S T A T U S F I E L D │
├───────┬───┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ B │ 0 │ │
│ │ 1 │ │
│ Y │ 2 │ │
│ │ 3 │ Error message return code │
│ T │ 4 │ (with bit 15=1) │
│ │ 5 │ │
│ E │ 6 │ │
│ │ 7 │ │
├───────┼───┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ bit │ 8 │ DONE │
├───────┼───┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ bit │ 9 │ BUSY │
├───────┼───┴─────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ bits │ 10 - 14 │ Reserved │
├───────┼────┬────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ bit │ 15 │ Error │
└───────┴────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The status word field is zero on entry and is set by the driver interrupt
routine on return.
BIT 15 is the error bit. If this bit is set, the low 8 bits of the status word
(7-0) indicate the error code.
BITS 14-10 are reserved.
BIT 9 is the busy bit. It is only set by status calls and the removable media
call. See "STATUS" and "REMOVABLE MEDIA" in this chapter for more
information about the calls.
BIT 8 is the done bit. If it is set, it means the operation is complete. The
driver sets the bit to 1 when it exits.
The low 8 bits of the status word define an error message if bit 15 is set.
These errors are:
00h Write protect violation 01h Unknown unit
02h Device not ready 03h Unknown command
04h CRC error 05h Bad drive request structure length
06h seek error 07h unknown media
08h sector not found 09h printer out of paper
0Ah write fault 0Bh read fault
0Ch general failure 0Dh reserved
0Eh reserved 0Fh invalid disk change
DEVICE DRIVER FUNCTIONS
All strategy routines are called with ES:BX pointing to the request header.
The interrupt routines get the pointers to the request header from the queue
the strategy routines store them in. The command code in the request header
tells the driver which function to perform.
NOTE: all DWORD pointers are stored offset first, then segment.
The following function call parameters are described:
INIT
MEDIA CHECK
BUILD BPB (BIOS PARAMETER BLOCK)
MEDIA DESCRIPTOR BYTE
INPUT OR OUTPUT
NONDESTRUCTIVE INPUT NO WAIT
STATUS
FLUSH
OPEN OR CLOSE
REMOVABLE MEDIA
INIT
Command code=0
ES:BX pointer to request header. Format of header:
length field
13 bytes request header
dword number of units (not set by character devices)
dword Ending address of resident program code
dword Pointer to BPB array (not set by character devices)
/pointer to remainder of arguments
byte Drive number (3x only)
The driver must do the following:
A) set the number of units (block devices only)
B) set up the pointer to the BPB array (block devices only)
C) perform any initialization code (to modems, printers, etc)
D) Set the ending address of the resident program code
E) set the status word in the request header.
To obtain information obtained from CONFIG.SYS to a device driver at INIT
time, the BPB pointer field points to a buffer containing the information
passed from CONFIG.SYS following the =. The buffer that DOS passes to the
driver at INIT after the file specification contains an ASCII string for the
file OPEN. The ASCII string (ending in 0h) is terminated by a carriage return
(0Dh) and linefeed (0Ah). If there is no parameter information after the file
specification, the file specification is immediately followed by a linefeed
(0Ah). This information is read-only and only system calls 01h-0Ch and 30h can
be issued by the INIT code of the driver.
The last byte parameter contains the drive letter for the first unit of a
block driver. For example, 0=A, 1=B etc.
If an INIT routine determines that it cannot set up the device and wants to
abort without using any memory, follow this procedure:
A) set the number of units to 0
B) set the ending offset address at 0
C) set the ending offsret segment address to the code segment (CS)
NOTE: If there are multiple device drivers in a single memory image file, the
ending address returned by the last INIT called is the one DOS uses. It is
recommended that all device drivers in a single memory image file return
the same ending address.
MEDIA CHECK
command code=1
ES:BX pointer to request header. Format of header:
length field
13 bytes request header
byte media descriptor from DOS
byte return
dword returns a pointer to the previous volume ID (if bit
11=1 and disk change is returned) (DOS 3.x)
When the command code field is 1, DOS calls MEDIA CHECK for a drive unit and
passes its current media descriptor byte. See "Media Descriptor Byte" later in
this chapter for more information about the byte. MEDIA CHECK returns one of
the following:
A) media not changed C) not sure
B) media changed D) error code
The driver must perform the following:
A) set the status word in the request header
B) set the return byte
-1 media has been changed
0 don't know if media has been changed
1 media has not been changed
DOS 3.x: If the driver has set the removable media bit 11 of the device header
attribute word to 1 and the driver returns -1 (media changed), the driver must
set the DWORD pointer to the previous volume identification field. If DOS
determines that the media changed is an error, DOS generates an error 0Fh
(invalid disk change) on behalf of the device. If the driver does not implement
volume identification support, but has bit 11 set to 1, the driver should set a
pointer to the string "NO NAME",0.
MEDIA DESCRIPTOR
Currently the media descriptor byte has been defined for a few media types.
This byte should be idetnical to the media byte if the device has the non-IBM
format bit off. These predetermined values are:
media descriptor byte => 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
(numerical order) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
BIT MEANING
0 1=2 sided 0=not 2 sided
1 1=8 sector 0=not 8 sector
2 1=removeable 0=nonremoveable
3-7 must be set to 1
Examples of current DOS media descriptor bytes:
media sides sectors ID byte
hard disk * * 0F8h
5-1/4 floppy 2 15 0F9h
5-1/4 floppy 1 9 0FCh
5-1/4 floppy 2 9 0FDh
5-1/4 floppy 2 8 0FFh
5-1/4 floppy 1 8 0FEh
8" floppy 1 26 0FEh *
8" floppy 2 26 0FDh
8" floppy 2 8 0FEh *
*NOTE: The two Media Descriptor Bytes that are the same for 8" diskettes (0FEh)
are not a misprint. To determine whether you are using a single sided or double
sided diskette, attempt to read the second side, and if an error occurs you can
assume the diskette is single sided.
BUILD BPB (BIOS Parameter Block)
command code =2
ES:BX pointer to request header. Format:
length field
13 bytes request header
byte media descriptor from DOS
dword transfer address (buffer address)
dword pointer to BPB table
DOS calls BUILD BPB under the following two conditions:
A) If "media changed" is returned
B) If "not sure" is returned, there are no used buffers. Used buffers are
buffers with changed data that has not yet been written to the disk.
The driver must do the following:
A) set the pointer to the BPB
B) set the status word in the request header.
The driver must determine the correct media type currently in the unit to
return the pointer to the BPB table. The way the buffer is used (pointer
passed by DOS) is determined by the non-IBM format bit in the attribute field
of the device header. If bit 13=0 (device is IBM compatible), the buffer
contains the first sector of the FAT (most importantly the FAT ID byte). The
driver must not alter this buffer in this case. If bit 13=1 the buffer is a
one sector scratch area which can be used for anything.
For drivers that support volume identification and disk change, the call
should cause a new volume identification to be read off the disk. This call
indicates that the disk has been legally changed.
If the device is IBM compatible, it must be true that the first sector of the
first FAT is located at the same sector for all possible media. This is
because the FAT sector is read before the media is actually determined.
The information relating to the BPB for a particular media is kept in the boot
sector for the media. In particular, the format of the boot sector is:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ For DOS 2.x, 3 byte near jump (0E9h) For DOS 3.x, 2 byte near jump (0EBh) │
│ followed by a NOP (90h) │
├──────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 8 bytes │ OEM name and version │
├──────────┼─────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ BYTE │ │ sectors per allocation unit (must be a power of 2) │
├──────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WORD │ B │ reserved sectors (strarting at logical sector 0) │
├──────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ BYTE │ │ number of FATs │
├──────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WORD │ P │ max number of root directory entries │
├──────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WORD │ │ number of sectors in logical image (total number of │
│ │ │ sectors in media, including boot sector directories, etc.) │
├──────────┤ B ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ BYTE │ │ media descriptor │
├──────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WORD │ │ number of sectors occupied by a single FAT │
├──────────┼─────┴─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WORD │ sectors per track │
├──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WORD │ number of heads │
├──────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ WORD │ number of hidden sectors │
└──────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The three words at the end return information about the media. The number of
heads is useful for supporting different multihead drives that have the same
storage capacity but a different number of surfaces. The number of hidden
sectors is useful for drive partitioning schemes.
INPUT / OUTPUT
command codes=3,4,8,9,and 12
ES:BX pointer to request header. Format:
length field
13 bytes request header
byte media descriptor byte
dword transfer address (buffer address)
word byte/sector count
dword (DOS 3.x) pointer to the volume ID if error code 0Fh
is returned
The driver must perform the following:
A) set the status word in the request header
B) perform the requested function
C) set the actual number of sectors or bytes tranferred
NOTE: No error checking is performed on an IOCTL I/O call. However the driver
must set the return sector or byte count to the actual number of bytes
transferred.
The following applies to block device drivers:
Under certain circumstances the device driver may be asked to do a write
operation of 64k bytes that seems to be a *wrap around* of the transfer address
in the device driver request packet. This arises due to an optimization added to
write code in DOS. It will only happen in writes that are within a sector size
of 64k on files that are being exetended past the current end of file. It is
allowable for the device driver to ignore the balance of the write that wraps
around, if it so chooses. For example, a write of 10000h bytes worth of sectors
with a transfer address of XXXX:1 ignores the last two bytes.
Remember: A program that uses DOS function calls can never request an input or
output function of more than 0FFFFh bytes, therefore, a wrap around
in the transfer (buffer) segment can never occur. It is for this
reason you can ignore bytes that would have wrapped around in the
tranfer segment.
If the driver returns an error code of 0Fh (invalid disk change) it must put
a DWORD pointer to an ASCIIZ string which is the correct volume ID to ask the
user to reinsert the disk.
DOS 3.x:
The reference count of open files on the field (maintained by the OPEN and
CLOSE calls) allows the driver to determine when to return error 0Fh. If there
are no open files (reference count=0) and the disk has been changed, the I/O
is all right, and error 0Fh is not returned. If there are open files
(reference count > 0) and the disk has been changed, an error 0Fh condition
may exist.
NONDESTRUCTIVE INPUT NO WAIT
command code=5
ES:BX pointer to request header. Format:
length field
13 bytes request header
byte read from device
The driver must do the following:
A) return a byte from the device
B) set the status word in the request header.
If the character device returns busy bit=0 (characters in the buffer), then
the next character that would be read is returned. This character is not removed
form the buffer (hence the term nondestructive input). This call allows DOS to
look ahead one character.
STATUS
command codes=8 and 10
ES:BX pointer to a request header. Format:
length field
13 bytes request header
This driver must perform the following:
A) perform the requested function
B) set the busy bit
C) set the status word in the request header.
The busy bit is set as follows:
For input on character devices: if the busy bit is 1 on return, a write
request would wait for completion of a current request. If the busy bit is 0,
there is no current request. Therefore, a write request would start immediately.
For input on character devices with a buffer: if the busy bit is 1 on return,
a read request does to the physical device. If the busy bit is 0, there are
characters in the device buffer and a read returns quickly. It also indicates
that a user has typed something. DOS assumes all character devices have a type-
ahead input buffer. Devices that do not have this buffer should always return
busy=0 so that DOS does not hang waiting for information to be put in a buffer
that does not exist.
FLUSH
command codes=7 and 11
ES:BX pointer
length field
13 bytes request header
This call tells the driver to flush (terminate) all pending requests that it
has knowledge of. Its primary use is to flush the input queue on character
devices.
The driver must set the status word in the request header upon return.
OPEN or CLOSE (3.x)
command codes=13 and 14
ES:BX pointer
length field
13 bytes static request header
These calls are designed to give the device information about the current file
activity on the device if bit 11 of the attribute word is set. On block
devices, these calls can be used to manage local buffering. The device can keep
a reference count. Every OPEN causes the device to increment the reference
count. Every CLOSE causes the device to decrement the reference count. When the
reference count is 0, if means there are no open files in the device. Therefore,
the device should flush buffers inside the device it has written to because now
the user can change the media on a removeable media drive. If the media had been
changed, it is advisable to reset the reference count to 0 without flushing the
buffers. This can be thought of as "last close causes flush". These calls are
more useful on character devices. The OPEN call can be used to send a device
initialization string. On a printer, this could cause a string to be sent to set
the font, page size, etc. so that the printer would always be in a known state
in the I/O stream. Similarly, a CLOSE call can be used to send a post string
(like a form feed) at the end of an I/O stream. Using IOCTL to set these pre and
post strings provides a flexible mechanism of serial I/O device stream control.
NOTE: Since all processes have access to STDIN,STDOUT,STDERR,STDAUX, and STDPRN
(handles 0,1,2,3,and 4) the CON, AUX, and PRN devices are always open.
REMOVABLE MEDIA (DOS 3.x)
command code=15
ES:BX pointer
length field
13 bytes status request header
To use this call, set bit 11 of the attribute field to 1. Block devices can
only use this call through a subfunction of the IOCTL function call (44h).
This call is useful because it allows a utility to know whether it is dealing
with a nonremovable media drive or with a removable media drive. For example,
the FORMAT utility needs to know whether a drive is removable or nonremovable
because it prints different versions of some prompts.
The information is returned in the BUSY bit of the status word. If the busy
bit is 1, the media is nonremovable.
NOTE: No error checking is performed. It is assumed that this call always
succeeds.
THE CLOCK$ DEVICE
To allow a clock board to be integrated into the system for TIME and DATE,
the CLOCK$ device is used. This device defines and performs functions like any
other character device (most functions will be reset done bit, reset error bit,
and return). When a read or write to this device occurs, 6 bytes are
transferred. The first 2 bytes are a word, which is the count of days since
01-01-80. The third byte is minutes, the fourth is hours, the fifth is
hundredths of a second, and the sixth is seconds.
Reading the CLOCK$ device gets the date and time, writing to it sets the date
and time.