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Archive-name: msdos-programmer-faq/part1
Last-modified: 15 November 1922


This is the monthly FAQ list (Frequently Asked Questions list) for the
newsgroup comp.os.msdos.programmer.  Parts 2 through 4 of this article
are posted as followups in the same thread.  If the posting date shown
above is more than six weeks in the past, see instructions in part 4 of
this list for how to get an updated copy.  (A separate article holds the
changes from last month's edition.  Look for the subject line
"comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ diffs".)

FAQ lists are intended to reduce the noise level in their newsgroups
that results from the repetition of the same questions, correct answers,
wrong answers, corrections to the wrong answers, corrections to the
corrections, debate, etc.

This list should serve as a repository of the canonical "best" answers
to the questions in it.  The names of folks who have helped to improve
this FAQ list follow the table of contents.  If you know a better answer
or even a slight change that improves an answer, please tell me!  (Use
email, please.  Traffic in this group is high, and I may miss a relevant
posted article.)
                      Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
                                                        brown@ncoast.org

Search tips
===========
    To search for specific topics:  See the list of questions in the
Contents section (immediately below) to find which article (part 2, 3,
or 4) you need.  Then, in that part, search for that question number.
For example, while you're reading part 2 of this list, the trn
newsreader command "gQ203" goes to Q203.
    To skip one topic and go to the next:  Search for "Q" starting in
column 1.  In trn and similar newsreaders, the command "g^Q" does that.
    If your newsreader doesn't support searches, you can extract these
articles to a file and use your favorite editor's search commands.


Contents--part 2 of 4
=====================
section 1. General questions
    101. Why won't my code work?
    102. What is this newsgroup about?
    103. What's the difference from comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer?
    104. What other newsgroups should I know about?
section 2. Compile and link
    201. What the heck is "DGROUP > 64K"?
    202. How do I fix "automatic data segment exceeds 64K" or "stack
         plus data exceed 64K"?
    203. Will Borland C code and Microsoft C code link together?
    204. Why did my program bomb at run time with "floating point
         formats not linked"?
    205. Why did my program bomb with "floating point not loaded"?
    206. How can I change the stack size in Borland's C compilers?
    207. What's the difference between .COM and .EXE formats?
section 3. Keyboard
    301. How can I read a character without echoing it to the screen,
         and without waiting for the user to press the Enter key?
    302. How can I find out whether a character has been typed, without
         waiting for one?
    303. How can I disable Ctrl-C/Ctrl-Break and/or Ctrl-Alt-Del?
    304. How can I disable the print screen function?
    305. How can my program turn NumLock (CapsLock, ScrollLock) on/off?
    306. How can I speed up the keyboard's auto-repeat?
    307. What is the SysRq key for?
    308. How can my program tell what kind of keyboard is on the system?
    309. How can I tell if input, output, or stderr has been redirected?


Contents--part 3 of 4
=====================
section 4. Disks and files
    401. What drive was the PC booted from?
    402. How can I boot from drive b:?
    403. Which real and virtual disk drives are valid?
    404. How can I make my single floppy drive both a: and b:?
    405. Why won't my C program open a file with a path?
    406. How can I redirect printer output to a file?
    407. What's the format of an .EXE header?
    408. What's the format of an .OBJ file?
    409. How can my program open more files than DOS's limit of 20?
    410. How can I read, create, change, or delete the volume label?
    411. How can I get the disk serial number?
section 5. Serial ports (COM ports)
    501. How do I set my machine up to use COM3 and COM4?
    502. How do I find the I/O address of a COM port?
    503. But aren't the COM ports always at I/O addresses 3F8, 2F8, 3E8,
         and 2E8?
    504. How do I configure a COM port and use it to transmit data?
section 6. Other hardware questions and problems
    601. Which 80x86 CPU is running my program?
    602. How can a C program send control codes to my printer?
    603. How can I redirect printer output to a file?
    604. Which video adapter is installed?
    605. How do I switch to 43- or 50-line mode?
    606. How can I find the Microsoft mouse position and button status?
    607. How can I access a specific address in the PC's memory?
    608. How can I read or write my PC's CMOS memory?
    609. How can I access memory beyond 640K?
section 7. Other software questions and problems
    701. How can a program reboot my PC?
    702. How can I time events with finer resolution than the system
         clock's 55 ms (about 18 ticks a second)?
    703. How can I find the error level of the previous program?
    704. How can a program set DOS environment variables?
    705. How can I change the switch character to - from /?
    706. Why does my interrupt function behave strangely?
    707. How can I write a TSR (terminate-stay-resident) utility?
    708. How can I write a device driver?
    709. What can I use to manage versions of software?
    710. What's this "null pointer assignment" after my C program
         executes?


Contents--part 4 of 4
=====================
section A. Downloading
    A01. What is garbo?  What is wustl?
    A02. What are Simtel and "mirror sites"?  What good are they?
    A03. Where do I find program <mumble>?
    A04. How can I check Simtel or garbo before I post a request for a
         program?
    A05. How do I download and decode a program I found?
    A06. Where is UUDECODE?
    A07. Why do I get errors when extracting from a ZIP file I
         downloaded?
section B. Vendors and products
    B01. How can I contact Borland?
    B02. How can I contact Microsoft?
    B03. What's the current version of PKZIP?
    B04. What's in Borland Pascal/Turbo Pascal 7.0?
    B05. What's in Microsoft C/C++ 7.0?
section C. More information
    C01. Are there any good on-line references for PC hardware
         components?
    C02. Are there any good on-line references for PC interrupts?
    C03. What and where is "Ralf Brown's interrupt list"?
    C04. Where can I find lex, yacc, and language grammars?
    C05. What's the best book to learn programming?
    C06. Where are FAQ lists archived?
    C07. Where can I get the latest copy of this FAQ list?


Acknowledgements
================
Many articles posted in comp.os.msdos.programmer sparked ideas or
provided information for the first version of this list.  Though I am
responsible for any errors, thanks are due to the following for posted
articles or private email that I used in subsequent editions:  Jamshid
Afshar, Mark Aitchison, Sanjay Aiyagari, George Almasi, Aaron Auseth,
Preston Bannister, Denis Beauregard, Mike Black, Glynn Brooks, Paul
Brooks, Ralf Brown, Shaun Burnett, Raymond Chen, Alan Drew, Gary Dueck,
Roland Eriksson, Markus Fischer, George Forsman, B.Haible, Klaus
Hartnegg, Kris Heidenstrom, Joel Hoffman, Joe Huffman, Michael Holin,
Ajay Kamdar, Everett Kaser, Reinhard Kirchner, Dave Kirsch, Sidney
Markowitz, Jim Marks, Dimitri Matzarakis, Ken McKee, Tom Milner, Steve
Murphy, Mert Nickerson, David Nugent, Keith Petersen, Karl Riedling,
Arthur Rubin, Gerald Ruderman, Timo Salmi, Tapio Sand, John Schmid, Ajay
Shah, Tom Swingle, Ya-Gui Wei, Joe Wells, Gregory Youngblood,
jenk@microsoft.com, khill@vax1.umkc.edu


Legalistic stuff
================
This article is not in the public domain, but it may be redistributed so
long as this notice, and the information on obtaining the latest copy of
this list, are retained.  The code fragments may be used freely; credit
would be appreciated but is not required.

Copyright (C) 1992  Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems.  All rights reserved.

THERE IS NO WARRANTY ON THE CODE.  I have tested all the code included
below, but your machine may not work the same as mine, and my testing
may not be perfect.  (Except where otherwise noted, I tested the code
with both BC++ 2.0 and MSC 5.0.)

The mention of particular books or programs must not be construed to
reflect unfavorably on any that are not mentioned.


(continued in part 2)
-- 
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems                      brown@Ncoast.ORG
Cleveland, Ohio, USA