From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 9 22:09:25 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AF31E16A4CF for ; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 22:09:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail53.messagelabs.com (mail53.messagelabs.com [216.82.255.35]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 7D19043D2F for ; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 22:09:25 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jason.dictos@yosemitetech.com) X-VirusChecked: Checked X-Env-Sender: jason.dictos@yosemitetech.com X-Msg-Ref: server-4.tower-53.messagelabs.com!1078898964!1248937 X-StarScan-Version: 5.1.15; banners=yosemitetech.com,-,- Received: (qmail 7809 invoked from network); 10 Mar 2004 06:09:24 -0000 Received: from mail.tapeware.com (HELO yt-internet.tapeware.com) (4.21.59.10) by server-4.tower-53.messagelabs.com with SMTP; 10 Mar 2004 06:09:24 -0000 Received: by mail.tapeware.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2657.72) id ; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 22:12:33 -0800 Message-ID: From: Jason Dictos To: 'Sergey 'DoubleF' Zaharchenko ' , Jason Dictos Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 22:12:31 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2657.72) X-VirusChecked: Checked X-Env-Sender: Checked X-Msg-Ref: Checked X-StarScan-Version: Checked X-SpamReason: Checked X-Mailer: Checked Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" cc: "''freebsd-questions@freebsd.org' '" Subject: RE: Using int 13 while BSD is running X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 06:09:25 -0000 Aren't the nodes "/dev/ad[0-9] (ide) or /dev/da[0-9] (scsi/usb)" created by their device drivers, i.e. protected mode device drives? That would mean that I would have to make sure that the hardware is supported by a device driver, whereas if I had raw int 13 access I would be garanteed access to the drive the system booted from, and any other bios addressable device, without having to load any driver for the hardware. -Jason -----Original Message----- From: Sergey 'DoubleF' Zaharchenko To: Jason Dictos Cc: 'freebsd-questions@freebsd.org' Sent: 3/9/2004 9:12 PM Subject: Re: Using int 13 while BSD is running On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 14:03:34 -0800 Jason Dictos probably wrote: > The situation is > this, currently we licenses Caldera DOS for a program we wrote which > uses the int13 extensions to manipulate the systems hard drive (i.e. > to recover partition tables and what not). This forces our application > to be written in 16 bit mode, but it does allows us to not have to > worry about loading any driver which would be hardware specific to > access the hard drive. Through the /dev/ad[0-9] (ide) or /dev/da[0-9] (scsi/usb) you can get access to any byte in you harddrive. They `look like' ordinary files to most programs. Just seek the appropriate number of bytes and read what you want (0-512 is the mbr, for example). You don't even need to write a line in assembly for that, just plain C (or even shell-script, if you prefer that). > Is there > any way to write a driver for BSD which would put the processor into > real mode, therefore allowing us to use the int 13 api of the bios to > read and write hard drives? Putting the cpu back into real mode is kind of perversion. And I don't think FreeBSD provides any real mode interface. Whatever you would see in real mode, you can bet it isn't a FreeBSD driver for your harddrive. -- DoubleF Romeo wasn't bilked in a day. -- Walt Kelly, "Ten Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Years With Pogo" ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________