🚀 go-pugleaf

"Beanpole" <beanpoleDEL@sprynet.com> wrote in message
news:8gr5nk$pd7$1@bob.news.rcn.net...
> I know we can't call DOS functions directly from pmode.  Mouse services
(int
> 33h) and VESA (BIOS int 10h) calls work but the VESA spec says you can do
> this and the mouse functions are called from a loaded driver.
>
> Is it safe to call other BIOS functions directly from protected mode under
a
> DPMI server?
> The keyboard services, such as int 16h, function 0 and int 16h, function 1
> seem to work fine.
> Beanpole

It depends on your DPMI server. Most servers work with arbitrary
register-based DOS and BIOS APIs (those accepting no pointers). Consult your
DOS extender's documentation for support for pointer-based APIs.

If you need to use an unsupported pointer-based API, you can use it as
follows:

Allocate a DOS memory block (DPMI function 0100)
Fill the memory block with data using the returned selector
Call the real-mode API (DPMI function 0300h), passing the segment address of
the memory block
Read any data from the memory block using the selector address
Release the DOS memory block (DPMI function 0101)


Daniel Pfeffer