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INTRO
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1993-05-25
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** Programmer's Technical Reference for MSDOS and the IBM PC **
───────────────────────────┤ DOSREF (tm) ├────────────────────────────
USA copyright TXG 392-616 * ISBN 1-878830-00-7 (disk-based text)
Copyright (c) 1987, 1993 Dave Williams * ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ Shareware Version, 01/12/92 │
│ Please Register Your Copy │
└─────────────────────────────┘
/* 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.
The information here is valid for DOS 2.x through 5.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. DOSREF 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, 1993
/* 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
(American 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, Borland Pascal, Borland C++, OWL, Turbo Pascal for Windows
(Commodore Business Machines)
Amiga 2000, Bridge Board
(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')
(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, Micro Channel,
3270 PC, RT PC, Token Ring, OS/2
(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, DPMI, Windows NT
(Mouse Systems Corp.)
Mouse Systems, PCMouse
(Novell Development Corp.)
Novell, NetWare
(Phar Lap)
VCPI, Virtual Control Program Interface
(Qalitas)
386-To-The-Max, 386MAX, Move'Em
(Quarterdeck Office Systems)
DESQview, QEMM, QRAM, DESQview/X
(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.