Bookmarks

FILESYSTEMS

A Class Hierarchy for Building Stream-Oriented File Systems - A Class Hierarchy for Building Stream-Oriented File Systems - by Madany, Campbell, Russo and Leyens This paper describes the object-oriented design and implementation of a family of stream-oriented file systems under UNIX and under an object-oriented operating system called Choices. A class hierarchy provides an object-oriented taxonomy of the algorithms and data structures used in the design of this family. The family includes the System V file system, the 4.2 BSD file system, and the MS-DOS file system.
Adaption of the System V/386 Filesystem for Linux - Adaption of the System V/386 Filesystem for Linux - by Paul Monday Compatibility between operating systems and filesystems is an essential item when creating a robust operating system. The Linux operating system is taking the filesystem compatibility issue to a new level with its modular integration of filesystems into the Linux kernel. The project which accompanies this paper exploits the robust Linux filesystem to integrate System V/386 filesystem compatibility into Linux kernel. This paper will discuss issues relative to the integration of the System V/386 filesystem support.
Analysis of the Ext2fs structure - Analysis of the Ext2fs structure - by Louis-Dominique Dubeau This document describes the ext2 filesystem (which is the defacto linux standard fs), and contains an analysis of the structure of the Second Extended File System and is based on a study of the Linux kernel source files. Some insight is provided into the design and origin of the FS.
David Robins ext2fs page - David Robins ext2fs page - by David Robins his page is quite interesting, because it provides some nice source code to take apart the ext2 file system. His page focuses on the efforts that he went through to repair a partition of his...
Design and Implementation of the EXT/2 Filesystem - Design and Implementation of the EXT/2 Filesystem - by Remy Card In this paper, we describe the history of Linux filesystems. We briefly introduce the fundamental concepts implemented in Unix filesystems. We present the implementation of the Virtual File System layer in Linux and we detail the Second Extended File System kernel code and user mode tools. Last, we present performance measurements made on Linux and BSD filesystems and we conclude with the current status of Ext2fs and the future directions.
Design goals and implementation of the new High Performance File System - Design goals and implementation of the new High Performance File System - by Roy Duncan An article originally published in Microsoft Systems Journal by Roy Duncan. This is one of the few published documents about the HPFS. This was written before the IBM/Microsoft unrest.
Designing File Systems for Digital Video & Audio - Designing File Systems for Digital Video and Audio - by Rangan and Vin We address the unique requirements of a multimedia filesystem such as continuous storage and retrieval of media, maintenance of synchronization between multiple media streams, and efficient manipulation of huge media objects. We present a model that relates disk and device characteristics to the recording rate, and derive storage granularity and scattering parameters that guarantee continuous access. In order for the filesystem to support multiple concurrent requests, we develop admission control algorithms for determining whether a new request can be accepted without violating the realtime constraints of any of the requests.
EXT2 Futures - http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/FileSystems/ext2future.ag.pdf - EXT2 Futures - by Theodore Ts'o These slides focus specifically on the EXT/2 filesystem, talking about its evolution, philosophy, planned new features, and relation to other linux filesystems.
FAT Filesystem Info - FAT Filesystem Info - by Inbar Raz A short document that describes the FAT filesystem.
FAT: General Overview of On-Disk Structure - FAT: General Overview of On-Disk Structure - by Microsoft It seems that Microsoft was fed up with all the bits and pieces of documentation laying around on its FAT filesystem. This document seems to clear up the major problems. It does a thorough job describing the FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32 filesystems.
File System Usage in Windows NT 4.0 - File System Usage in Windows NT 4.0 - by Wemer Vogels This paper discusses real world traces of filesystem usage. It shows how certain real world behaviors are important to optimize for and shows how NT succeeds (partially) at providing good filesystem performance.
How does Windows 95 stores Long Filenames? - How does Windows 95 stores Long Filenames? - by Jozsef Hidasi A short document that describes a little about how Microsoft implemented Long Filenames with the FAT filesystem.
Information Specification for Bootable CD-ROMs - Information Specification for Bootable CD-ROMs - by SFF Committee This document defines how CD-ROM manufacturers can package several floppy and hard disk images on a single piece of media with the ability to catalog these images and selectively boot from any single image.
Inside the High Performance File System - Inside the High Performance File System A series of six articles on the HPFS... covers the structures in very nice detail.
Introduction to ISO 9660 - Introduction to ISO 9660 - by Disc Manufacturing Inc This is an excellent document that describes just about everything you'd want to know about ISO 9660. It describes the file system layout, different implementations of the file system (DOS, Mac, unix), and extensions to the file format (Apple extensions and the Rock Ridge extensions). Overall, a must have, especially if you don't have the official (non free) spec.
ISO-9660 CD-ROM filesystem specification (ECMA-119) - ISO-9660 CD-ROM filesystem specification (ECMA-119) - by ECMA This is the official specification for the ISO-9660 CD-ROM filesystem.
ISO-9660 Information - ISO-9660 Information - by Philip J. Erdelsky This file documents the ISO 9660 filesystem, which is the basis of almost all filesystems stored on CD-ROMs. It is suprisingly difficult to find information on this fundemental standard. If you know of any that I'm missing, please let me know.
Joliet CD-ROM Specification - Joliet CD-ROM Specification - by ISO While the CD-ROM media provides for cost-effective software distribution, the existing ISO 9660 file system contains a number of restrictions which interfere with simple and efficient distribution of files on a CD-ROM.
Logical Volume Manager for Linux - Logical Volume Manager for Linux - by Heinz Mauelshagen This powerpoint presentation describes the Logical Volume Manager for linux. This software attempts to agregate out the disc geometry to the logical level to allow on-line disk storage management. It is attempting to provide functionality similar to IBM, HP, and Digital's LVM. They have a homepage available as well.
Long File Name Specification - Long File Name Specification - by Microsoft Again it seems that enough was not enough. Microsoft has finally provided a decent spec for their long file name mess.
Long Filename Structure in Windows 95 - Long Filename Structure in Windows 95 - by Jeff Prosise, PC Magazine PC Magazine article (June 25, 1996). Fairly comprehensive description of what is happening behind the scenes, and how long filenames are made out of 8.3 names...
More Long Filenames... - More Long Filenames... - by Kyle Anthony York This doc is a post to comp.os.msdos.programmer that explains a little more about long filenames...
NFS v2 - http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1094.html - The NFS Filesystem - by Sun Microsystems The NFS filesystem is the standard for fileshares in the Unix world. This filesystem is documented by a number of RFC's: NFS v2, NFS v3, NFS v4(in progress), and Web NFS.
NFS v3 - http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1813.html - The NFS Filesystem - by Sun Microsystems The NFS filesystem is the standard for fileshares in the Unix world. This filesystem is documented by a number of RFC's: NFS v2, NFS v3, NFS v4(in progress), and Web NFS.
NFS v4 - http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2624.html - The NFS Filesystem - by Sun Microsystems The NFS filesystem is the standard for fileshares in the Unix world. This filesystem is documented by a number of RFC's: NFS v2, NFS v3, NFS v4(in progress), and Web NFS.
Notes on the structure of the VFAT Filesystem - Notes on the structure of the VFAT Filesystem - by Galen C. Hunt This is a useful snippet of information regarding the VFAT system used by Microsoft in Win '95 and NT. It details how long filenames work and all of the other stuff that make it useful. This info came from the Linux kernel distribution v2.0.27.
Partition Tables - http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/Partitions/Partitions.html - Partition Tables - by Chris Lattner Explains the basics of Partition Tables, also includes a short listing of Partition Type codes. For more information, see Interrupt 19 in Ralf Brown's Interrupt Listing.
Partition Type Values - Partition Type Values - by Ralf Brown This is a list of most of the recognized values for the partition types. This list was extracted from Interrupt 19 of Ralf Brown's Interrupt Listing.
Reiserfs Balanced Tree Filesystem - Reiserfs Balanced Tree Filesystem - by Hans Reiser This is an exciting new filesystem that is using some new ideas to provide linux with a faster file system than the Ext2fs. Using balanced trees to hold the files themselves, instead of just the filenames, rieserfs claims big performance improvements over conventional FS's. It is released under the GPL, with commercial exceptions.
Second Extended File System - Second Extended File System - by Dave Poirier This book is intended as an introduction and guide to the Second Extended File System, also known as Ext2. Trying to implement ext2 drivers isn't always an easy task, the most difficult issue is unfortunately the documentation available. It seems like most of the documentation on the net about the internal layout of Ext2 was written to complement the Linux sources rather than be a complete document by themselves.
StegFS: A Steganographic File System for Linux - StegFS: A Steganographic File System for Linux - by Andrew D. McDonald and Markus G. Kuhn Cryptographic file systems provide little protection against legal or illegal instruments that force the owner of data to release decryption keys for stored data once the presence of encrypted data on an inspected computer has been established. We are interested in how cryptographic file systems can be extended to provide additional protection for such a scenario and we have extended the standard Linux file system (Ext2fs) with a plausible-deniability encryption function. Even though it is obvious that our computer has harddisk encryption software installed and might contain some encrypted data, an inspector will not be able to determine whether we have revealed the access keys to all security levels or only those to a few selected ones. We describe the design of our freely available implementation of this steganographic file system and discuss its security and performance characteristics.
The Amiga floppy disks format - The Amiga floppy disks format - by Laurent Clevy This document purpose is to describe the Amiga floppy disk format. I don't found any document which explains this format in details. Because I wish this machine to be supported a long time, including via emulators, I decided to write this file, and supply C routines as examples.
The BFS Filesystem Structure - The BFS Filesystem Structure - by Martin Hinner The UnixWare Boot FileSystem (BFS) is a filesystem used in SCO UnixWare. It contains all files necessary for UnixWare boot procedures (such as unix). Because the object of the bfs filesystem type is to allow quick and simple booting, BFS was designed as a contiguous flat filesystem. It is not intended to support general users. The only directory bfs supports is the root directory. Users can create only regular files; no directories or special files can be created in the bfs filesystem.
The Extended-2 Filesystem Overview - The Extended-2 Filesystem Overview - by Gadi Oxman This explains how the EXT/2 filesystem is implemented under Linux. It also explains a little about the linux installable filesystem system.
The SGI XFS Filesystem - The SGI XFS Filesystem - by SGI Inc. With SGI's recent news of embracing open source projects, it seems that they are releasing their journalling, 64 bit filesystem into the public domain, and porting it to linux. Although it is still in beta form, it looks like it progressing quite well.
Web NFS - http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2054.html - The NFS Filesystem - by Sun Microsystems The NFS filesystem is the standard for fileshares in the Unix world. This filesystem is documented by a number of RFC's: NFS v2, NFS v3, NFS v4(in progress), and Web NFS.

HOME

Alexei A. Frounze Homepage - Alexei A. Frounze's Homepage
Alexei A. Frounze's Homepage - Alexei A. Frounze's Homepage
alt.os.assembly and alt.os.development - Being updated, Back soon!
Chris Fallin's site - Welcome to the home of me, Chris Fallin, on the web. I am a programmer, mathematician, a drummer, and many other things. I like computers.
Debs home pages - My intention when starting to develop this web site was to provide a central repository for various type of computer related data. That has now changed, and the site will contain only information related to programming for 32-bit 386 (and later) compatible processors based computer systems.
John Fine's home page - John Fine's home page Topics: Protected mode programming examples, System utilities, Building embedded systems
Martina kernel contents - This is the homepage of an amateur OS project under the working title of WildMagnolia.
The OperatingSystem Developers Homepage - Welcome to the operatingsystem developers homepage. This webpage will try to make it a bit easier for the developers of alternative operating systems. It (the page) contains information that could be usefull for developers, and links to other operating systems.
WebRing Navigation - Web Ring for Operating Systems
www-osdev-org - Hello, my name is Chase and I'd like to welocome you to osdev. This site has become one of the major starting places for those brave few that want to venture into the realm of Operating System programming.

Linking

.COM File Format - .COM File Format - by Max Maischein A very short document on the very simple .COM file format.
.EXE File Format - .EXE File Format File header and relocation information.
.LIB dictionary hashing function - An interesting article on the dictionary hashing function used for the Microsoft .LIB Format.
.LIB File Format - .LIB File Format This article describes the components of the Microsoft .LIB Format. The .LIB Format is consistent between compatible Microsoft languages.
.OBJ File Format - .OBJ File Format This document is intended to serve a purpose that up until now has been performed by the LINK source code: to be the official definition for the object module format (the information inside .OBJ files) supported by Microsoft's language products. The goal is to include all currently used or obsolete OMF record types, all currently used or obsolete field values, and all extensions made by Microsoft, IBM, and others.
.OBJ File Format v1.1 - .OBJ File Format This document is intended to serve a purpose that up until now has been performed by the LINK source code: to be the official definition for the object module format (the information inside .OBJ files) supported by Microsoft's language products. The goal is to include all currently used or obsolete OMF record types, all currently used or obsolete field values, and all extensions made by Microsoft, IBM, and others.
.SYS File Format - .SYS File Format - by Brian Fraser File format used by DOS system drivers... typically in the config.sys file.
Advanced Linking Techniques - Advanced Linking Techniques - by Ervin In the good old days most of the programs had many files. That was a simple and convenient way for storing the necessary data. But the time quickly ran forth and a new tendency appeared: the single EXE method. This is more difficult to deal with (from the coders' point of view), but it's also more elegant. So this article discusses some system coding, which is important in a demo, but quite invisible.
ALINK home page -
alink.sourceforge.net -
Appending files to EXE files - Appending files to EXE files - by Charles Jones After seeing several questions on appending files to EXEs, I decided to write this text. I did NOT originate this idea. While this text describes "a" way of implementing the technique it may not be the best way for your needs. I have simply attempted to supply you with a basic understanding of the process. - This file came in a package that included a bunch of source and examples. http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/Executables/AppendingFilesToEXEs.zip
COFF(5) FILE FORMATS - Available only on Sun 386i systems running a SunOS 4.0.x release or earlier. Not a SunOS 4.1 release feature.
Digital Unix V5 Object File Spec - Digital Unix V5 Object File Spec This is the official definition of the object file and symbol table formats used for DIGITAL UNIX object files. It also describes the legal uses of the formats and their interpretation.
DJGPP COFF Spec - This document should be considered to be the ultimate reference to the DJGPP COFF format. That doesn't mean it's complete, but since this format isn't really documented elsewhere, this is as good as it gets.
DWARF Debugging Format v1.1.0 - DWARF Debugging Format v1.1.0 This document describes v1.1 of the DWARF spec, which is actually must simpler and more widely used than the 2.0 spec...
DWARF Debugging Format v2.0 - DWARF Debugging Format v2.0 This document defines the format for the information generated by compilers, assemblers and linkage editors that is necessary for symbolic, source-level debugging. The debugging information format does not favor the design of any compiler or debugger. Instead, the goal is to create a method of communicating an accurate picture of the source program to any debugger in a form that is economically extensible to different languages while retaining backward compatibility...
Dynamic Linking and Loading - Dynamic linking defers much of the linking process until a program starts running. It provides a variety of benefits that are hard to get otherwise.
Executable and Linking Format - Executable and Linking Format ELF is the standard executable format on most if not all x86 Unices... read all about it!
HP Series 300/400 Implementation - a.out Format - by Hewlett-Packard Company The a.out format was created to be simple to map directly into a process virtual address space, to load it on demand (as pages of the code were accessed). If you are extremely sensitive about speed, you might find ELF a bit slower, since reading the ELF header is more complicated than reading the a.out header.
IBM OS/2 32 bit Object Module Format (OMF) and Linear eXecutable Module Format (LX) - IBM OS/2 32 bit Object Module Format (OMF) and Linear eXecutable Module Format (LX) - by IBM Corp This file describes the IBM OMF file format and LX records. It's in a wierd .script format, but it is easy to ignore the extra markup...
LIB BFD, the Binary File Descriptor Library - Table of Contents - BFD is a package which allows applications to use the same routines to operate on object files whatever the object file format. A new object file format can be supported simply by creating a new BFD back end and adding it to the library.
Linkers and Loaders - The text in these files is the unedited original manuscript. M-K has fine copy editors, who have fixed all the minor typos, spelling, and grammar errors in the printed book, but if you come across factual errors I'd still appreciate help getting all the details of linking and loading as complete and correct as possible. I will collect errata and fix them in subsequent printings.
LX - Linear eXecutable Module Format Description - LX - Linear eXecutable Module Format Description - by Edd Doutre The LX format was developed by myself [that is, Edd] (at IBM) as the new and improved flavor that was hoped to be common between OS/2 and Windows NT. However, the guys at Redmond were still changing the format around in quite significant ways and IBM shipped OS/2 using the LX format.
Microsoft Symbol and Type Information - Microsoft Symbol and Type Information This document describes the format and meaning of Microsoft symbol and type debugging information. The information is contained within two tables emitted by the language processor into the object file. Each table is treated as a stream of variable length records.... basically the format Microsoft uses to store source level debugging info in .OBJ files.
NE Executable-File Header Format (3.1) - NE Executable-File Header Format (3.1) An executable (.EXE) file for the Windows 3.1 operating system contains a combination of code and data or a combination of code, data, and resources. The executable file also contains two headers: an MS-DOS header and a Windows header." This file describe these headers as well as the code and data contained in a Windows executable file.
OpenBSD a.out Format - a.out Format - contrib by Anders Gavare The a.out format was created to be simple to map directly into a process virtual address space, to load it on demand (as pages of the code were accessed). If you are extremely sensitive about speed, you might find ELF a bit slower, since reading the ELF header is more complicated than reading the a.out header.
PE - Portable Executable Format - PE - Portable Executable Format The current binary executable file format used by Microsoft Windows. This is the primary format used in Windows NT and Windows 9x...

Links Pages

Beyond Logic - Beyond Logic is a service from the interfacing discussion group. This site has many good links on how several interfaces to a PC work.
Bona Fide OS Development - Bona Fide OS Development's goal is to provide OS developers with all the docs, tutorials, and source codes needed for them to code their own operating system.
Bookmarks for Black Phantom - Black Phantom's Linkz
Bryan Ford's Publications -
Code Your Own OS LinksThe OS developers index - List of all known (to me) operating systems:
Dobiash Realms - I could have some comical or witty statement at the start of my page, but I'm just not that creative. :) So, here are the sections you can visit. Have fun!
John S. Fine's Direct Device Programming Links - John S. Fine's Direct Device Programming Links
Malloc/Free Implementations - Malloc/Free and GC Implementations This list is not intended to be comprehensive, however I am happy to add missing entries when I am made aware of them.
Mindshare - Mindshare's collection of BUS links.
NEC ResearchIndex ...Research Institute - CiteSeer Scientific Literature Digital Libray
Operating System programming - This area of my web site will be dedicated to releasing any code that I produce for the operating system which I am endeavouring to create. At the time of writing this, I only have a working boot sector, but as I have not found many complete boot sectors out on the web I considered it worth posting.
Operating System Tutorials - Operating System Tutorials from The Mobius.
Operating Systems: - Operating Systems:
OS-List v.1.000.1 - Just like Tunes.org Review, I would like to make a list with some operating systems. I wish to create far more updated list, with a lot more Operaring Systems.
osdev.quadlinq.com - Thanks for visiting osdev. In case you don't know what you're doing here, this is a virtual library of material suitable for dissemination by individuals with an interest in operating systems development.
Pascal's programming site - Pascal Lacroix's LittleOS links page
Paul Hsieh's OS page - With the many of links listed below, you have to wonder: Why is it that so many people are interested it writing Operating Systems? You wouldn't think it was because they are somehow dissatisfied with Windows would you?
ProgramaciÃ³n de dispositivos - ProgramaciÃ³n de dispositivos
Real-Time Research Repository - Welcome to the Home Page of the IEEE Computer Society, Technical Committee on Real-Time Systems (IEEE-CS TC-RTS). The current executives of the IEEE TC-RTS are:
Review of Operating Systems - The Tunes OS projects list and review of all known OSs.
The Express project - The Express project's goals are to: Explore the interaction between advanced programming languages, operating systems, and compilers.
The Linux Memory Management System Homepage - The Linux Memory Management System Homepage - by The Linux-MM team This site is supposed to provide full documentation on the Linux MM subsystem and to give a good overview of what's happening in the Linux MM community. If you have requests, ideas or contributions to make, please let us know. This site provides an excellent selection of MM/VM links and articles... check out their links section... very complete!
The Operating Systems Collection - The Operating System resource center
The Programmer's File Format Collection - Welcome to Wotsit's Format, the complete programmer's resource on the net. This site contains file format information on hundreds of different file types and all sorts of other useful programming information; algorithms, source code, specifications, etc.
Visopsys - OS Development - OS DEVELOPMENT This little page is the beginning of a collection of source code, information, and links related to general Operating Systems' Development on the Web.
WildMagnolia's Links - OS Development links collected by WildMagnolia.

Memory Management

600.318-600.418 - Info for OS classes at Johns Hopkins University
A Survey of Malloc Implementations - A Survey of Malloc Implementations - by Wilson, Johnstone, Neely & Boles Dynamic memory allocation has been a fundamental part of most computer systems since roughly 1960, and memory allocation is widely considered to be either a solved problem or an insoluble one. In this survey, we describe a variety of memory allocator designs and point out issues relevant to their design and evaluation. We then chronologically survey most of the literature on allocators between 1961 and 1995. (Scores of papers are discussed, in varying detail, and over 150 references are given.)
ABSTRACTS USENIX Summer 1994 Technical Conference - The Slab Allocator: An Object-Caching Kernel Memory Allocator
BSD 4.3 VMM - A New Virtual Memory Implementation for Berkeley UNIX
Design Elements of the FreeBSD VM System - Daemon News - The title is really just a fancy way of saying that I am going to attempt to describe the whole VM enchilada, hopefully in a way that everyone can follow.
Doug Lea's Malloc - Doug Lea's Malloc - by Doug Lea Memory allocators form interesting case studies in the engineering of infrastructure software. I started writing one in 1987, and have maintained and evolved it ever since. This allocator provides implementations of the the standard C routines malloc(), free(), and realloc(), as well as a few auxiliary utility routines.
Expanded Memory Specification - Expanded Memory Specification - by Lotus, Intel & Microsoft Expanded memory is memory beyond DOS's 640K-byte limit. The LIM specification supports up to 32M bytes of expanded memory. Because the 8086, 8088, and 80286 (in real mode) microprocessors can physically address only 1M bytes of memory, they access expanded memory through a window in their physical address range.
Extended Memory Specification v2.0 - Extended Memory Specification v2.0 - by Lotus, Intel, Microsoft, & AST Research Older standard version of above standard.
Extended Memory Specification v3.0 - Extended Memory Specification v3.0 - by Lotus, Intel, Microsoft, & AST Research XMS allows DOS programs to utilize additional memory found in Intel's 80286 and 80386 based machines in a consistent, machine independent manner. With some restrictions, XMS adds almost 64K to the 640K which DOS programs can access directly. Depending on available hardware, XMS may provide even more memory to DOS programs. XMS also provides DOS programs with a standard method of storing data in extended memory.
FreeBSD MACH-based VM system internals - Here is a very rough description of the FreeBSD MACH-based VM system internals... This document is not definitive, but meant as a quick reference or overview.
FREEBSD VM SYSTEM OVERVIEW - FREEBSD VM SYSTEM OVERVIEW
Linux MM - Memory Resources - Links to info on Memory Resources.
Linux MM Index - This site is supposed to provide full documentation on the Linux MM subsystem and to give a good overview of what's happening in the Linux MM community
Magazines and Vmem: - Magazines and Vmem: Extending the Slab Allocator to Many CPUs and Arbitrary Resources.
Outline of the Linux Memory Management System - These pages contain my notes on the Linux memory-management system. It is basically an educational experience on my part; while I am familiar with virtual memory management in theory, this is my first practical foray into the field.
Page Placement Algorithms for Large Real-Indexed Caches - Kessler, Hill (ResearchIndex) - Abstract: When a computer system supports both paged virtual memory and large real-indexed caches, cache performance depends in part on the main memory page placement. To date, most operating systems place pages by selecting an arbitrary page frame from a pool of page frames that have been made available by the page replacement algorithm.
The Kernel Slab Allocator - The Kernel Slab Allocator - by Jeff Bonwich This paper presents a comprehensive design overview of the SunOS 5.4 kernel memory allocator. This allocator is based on a set of object-caching primitives that reduce the cost of allocating complex objects by retaining their state between uses. These same primitives prove equally effective for managing stateless memory (e.g. data pages and temporary buffers) because they are space-efficient and fast. The allocatorâ€™s object caches respond dynamically to global memory pressure, and employ an object-coloring scheme that improves the systemâ€™s overall cache utilization and bus balance. The allocator also has several statistical and debugging features that can detect a wide range of problems throughout the system.
The Memory Management Reference - Welcome to The Memory Management Reference! This is a resource for programmers and computer scientists interested in memory management and garbage collection. For an introduction, see the Beginner's Guide.
The Slab Allocator An Object-Caching Kernel Memory Allocator - Bonwick (ResearchIndex) - Abstract: This paper presents a comprehensive design overview of the SunOS 5.4 kernel memory allocator. This allocator is based on a set of object-caching primitives that reduce the cost of allocating complex objects by retaining their state between uses.
The UVM Virtual Memory System Web Page - Introducing UVM, a new virtual memory system specifically designed to provide the I/O and IPC systems with a range of flexible data movement mechanisms. Implemented in the NetBSD operating system, UVM completely replaces the Mach based 4.4BSD VM system.
USENIX 2001 Technical Program - Abstract - Magazines and Vmem: Extending the Slab Allocator to Many CPUs and Arbitrary Resources
Virtual Memory Architecture in SunOS - Gingell, Moran, Shannon (ResearchIndex) - Abstract: A new virtual memory architecture for the Sun implementation of the UNIX+ operating system is described. Our goals included unifying and simplifying the concepts the system used to manage memory, as well as providing an implementation that fit well with the rest of the system.
Virtual Memory System - FreeBSD Developers' Handbook Chapter 15 Virtual Memory System

OSD

OS For Dummies (OSD) - Write your own operating system A project of the alt.os.development Usenet discussion group.

PMODE

386 Power v2.00 - 386 Power v2.00 - by Lorenzo Micheletto I wanted to build a GAME ENGINE capable to run under 32bit protected mode. A game engine is the game equivalent of a data base engine, a set of software modules you can use as a base to build lots of different games with the same underlying animation and sound model. It is based on the PMODE dos-extender by Tran... good stuff... Available here are v2.00 (306k .zip) and v1.01 (115k .zip)... http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/ProtectedMode/386P__200.ZIP http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/ProtectedMode/386P__101.ZIP
DPMI 0.9 Specification - DPMI 0.9 Specification The DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) was defined to allow DOS programs to access the extended memory of PC architecture computers while maintaining system protection. - DPMI is the interface you have to use if running under windows. It's the interface you should provide if writing a protected mode OS...
DPMI 1.0 Interrupt Reference - DPMI 1.0 Interrupt Reference This is a reference on the DPMI functions exposed as interrupts. If anyone has an electronic copy of the real DPMI 1.0 specs, please send them to me, I only have the dead tree edition...
DPMI 1.0 Specification - DPMI 1.0 Specification This is the official reference for DPMI v1.0. Very complete cross referenced document that defines the new 1.0 interfaces as well as providing information about the 0.9 interfaces... good stuff.
DPMI 1.0 Specification (html) - DPMI 1.0 Specification (html) Cross referenced HTML version of the 1.0 spec.
eGroups pmode - A forum for discussions about what's to be included and what's not to be included in the Protected Mode documentation for DJGPP
FLAT Mode - FLAT Mode - by Herman Dullink Yet another implementation of Unreal mode. This text file came in the FLAT Distribution which is a working implementation of this stuff... http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/ProtectedMode/FLAT.ZIP
How to Kick out a Memory Manager - How to Kick out a Memory Manager - by Michel Lespinasse Describes the "Windows Global EMM Import Specification" aka GEMMIS. This file shows how to kick out the memory managers that likes to disable the use of the flat real mode, or more generally to disable the acces to code privilege ring #0 (CPL0). This is how Microsoft Windows operates in the presence of a memory manager such as EMM386 or QEMM. An interrupt reference for this is also available. http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/ProtectedMode/GEM__SPEC.txt
pmode - X2 Support Group Game Development Archives Directory: /pub/msdos/programming/pmode
PMODE 9-94 - PMODE 9-94 - by Tran aka Thomas Pytel This bunch of files comprises two versions of my protected mode DOS extender PMODE. PMODE is Tran's very excellent DOS extender. It has been widely used and is well tested by many applications. Full source code included. http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/ProtectedMode/PM-9-94.ZIP
PMODE/W v1.21 - DOS Extender for Watcom C++ - PMODE/W v1.21 - DOS Extender for Watcom C++ - by Charles Scheffold and Tran This file will give you all the information you will need to plug PMODE/W right into your Watcom C/C++ protected mode programs. All of the other things you need to be aware of about using PMODE/W commercially and non-commercially are also in this section. Specific information on INT 31h and INT 21h DOS extended services supported by PMODE/W is in the following sections. Please note that we have only tested this extender with Watcom C/C++ versions 9.5 and 10.0. Source and examples available here. http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/ProtectedMode/PMW121.ZIP
RealMem Memory Mode - RealMem Memory Mode - by Mark Feldman This is another implementation of the Unreal mode... with a C++ class that implements it, as well as an example of usage...
Switching to PM and Back - Switching to PM and Back - by Jerzy Tarasiuk Very simple example code to switch from real mode to protected mode... to read and write high memory. Seems a little bit of overkill, but a good example.
The LOADALL Instruction - The LOADALL Instruction - by Tasmaniac This little doc describes how the undocumented loadall instruction can be used to switch between real and protected mode quite fast... and interesting trick to gain a smidge of performance...
The Triple Fault Club - Most of the things on this page will eventually be moved into the OSD project. If you don't find what you're looking for on this page, try the OSD page.
Unreal Mode - Unreal Mode (aka VOODOO Mode) is a way of setting up protected mode segments so the segment limits are greater than 64k. When switching back to real mode, these segments are left as they were, and large segments may accessed. This article gives one implementation of the technique.
VCPI Reference - VCPI Reference This is the authoritative reference on VCPI (Virtual Control Program Interface). It is a common way to can protected mode powers when operating under a memory manager.
Virtual DMA Services - Virtual DMA Services To achieve DMA transfers to a hardware device (for example a sound card), one must determine the physical address of a piece of memory that has been allocated. In some situations, such as when running under a memory manager, this is not possible. The Virtual DMA Services (VDS) has been formalized to work around this limitiation...
VOODOO Mode - VOODOO Mode Another implementation of Voodoo or Unreal mode. Note that this mode was used in Origin's widely popular Ultima 7.

PROJECTS

LittleOS - ?French? hobby OS project.
Cefarix Operating System - The Cefarix Operating System was started in mid-April 2000. It is aimed to be a fast, secure, reliable, and easy to use operating system for x86 and later PowerPC processors.
Maverick - The Operating System - Specifications Standard Disk Format The most widespread disk format
Maverick - The Operating System - On this site, you'll be able to find all the information you want about the Maverick OS project you'll ever need. The site will function as a database holding every bit of information regarding the OS project, such as file system formats, file formats, interface standards and etc..
My Experiences with the Boot Sector - My Experiences with the Boot Sector - by Chris Lattner Here is some code from a real OS that I was working on. This includes utilities to write a boot sector to a floppy, and more!
O3ONE - The Object Oriented OS - The Object Oriented OS O3ONE: EXPECT it to FAIL when someone's HeALTh or PROpeRTy is at RISktm Ok, so you can tell this site is for l33t hax0rs like me. OZONE is an os I wrote myself!
oiu - oiu isn't unix
Paramecium - Paramecium is a simple and flexible (i.e. adaptable and extendable) operating system used to explore the tradeoffs between user processes and kernel boundaries.
Paul OS - PaulOS was developed in six man months at OpenFuel (Pty) Ltd to run on OpenFuel's Atmel development kits. It will soon see use a a variety of products developed by OpenFuel.
pizzi.cjb.net - ed pizzi's projects - PizziOS is a small 386+ OS designed principally for speed. It is written in 100% assembly, although software and possibly some drivers may be written in C, if that proves feasible. PizziOS runs off a segmented memory model. It will not be a UNIX as UNIX has proven to be as much of a bandwagon as Windows. At present I do not plan to support multiple users.
RDOS operating system and the Neanderthal theory - RDOS source code is distributed as GPL, except for commercial usage in embedded systems. Conmmercial embedded system users of the OS must pay a fee per system, or buy it for unlimited use.
rdos-general mailing list - Discussion of RDOS operating system
React OS - ReactOS is an Open Source effort to develop a quality operating system that is compatible with Windows NT applications and drivers.
Scott Billingsley's Homepage - Well...I have finally done it..I've lost what little mind I had left... I was told having kids would do that to ya...In my crazed state and not having anything better to do, I've decided to write an operating system...And being in a demented state of course I've decided to use assembler and Sphnix C-- to do the coding.
SourceForge Project Info - Modular Operating System - ModulOS - The aim of this project is to develop a modular operating system for the i386 architecture, where each device driver, file system, etc, will be a module that can be loaded and unloaded at run-time from the system.
Synthesis An Efficient Implementation of Fundamental Operating System Services - Massalin (Rese - Abstract: This dissertation shows that operating systems can provide fundamental services an order of magnitude more efficiently than traditional implementations. It describes the implementation of a new operating system kernel, Synthesis, that achieves this level of performance.
The Cottontail Project Home - Cottontail is a 32-bit, multitasking, multithreaded operating system for the x86 architecture; IBM-compatible PCs in common parlance. It requires at least 4MB of RAM and a 486 processor or better.
The Mobius Operating System Home - The Mobius is an open-source operating system for the IA-32 platform (Intel i386 and compatibles).
The Objex Project - The purpose of objex project resembles GNU project that is to develop a complete operating system which is Free and Open Source Software. In contrast to the GNU project we are going to build modern system to put together all recent attainments in computers science rather than Unix-like system.
The speck OS - The speck (small, portable, efficiently-coded kernel) operating system is written by Chris Fallin, and aims to be a modern yet POSIX-compatible operating system with a clean design.
Titix - (French) Notre but est de crÃ©er un systÃ¨me d'exploitation performant, convivial, capable de concurrencer les systÃ¨mes courants. Ce n'est pas une tÃ¢che aisÃ©e, et toute aide volontaire est la bienvenue.
Trinary Operating System - The Trinary Operating System is a new operating system designed using the most modern and advanced technologies. The keywords here are stability, simplicity and flexibility. That this goal is achieved at the cost of speed and compatibility is acceptable.
Tripple DOS - Product Overview. - In short, Triple-DOS is a pre-emptive multitasker for DOS on session level a-la Windows in Enhanced mode or OS/2.
Visopsys - Visual Operating System - You've reached Visopsys' home on the Web. Visopsys is a new operating system for IBM-PC compatible computers. Development is ongoing. This kernel is small, fast, and open source. It operates exclusively in 32-bit mode and features real preemptive multitasking and virtual memory.

PAPERS

256-Color VGA Programming in C - Home - 256-color VGA Programming in C
8237 Port Reference - 8237 Port Reference This is a simple reference for the IO ports on a DMA chip. Includes breakouts of all of the useful bits in the packed registers.
8253 Programmable Interval Timer - 8253 Programmable Interval Timer - by Mark Feldman This file describes how to program the PC's PIT chip. This chip is used to generate clock interrupts that can be used by the OS for context switching and other fun stuff.
A Caching Model of Operating System Kernel Functionality - A Caching Model of Operating System Kernel Functionality by: David R. Cheriton and Kenneth J. Duda Computer Science Department Stanford University
A New Virtual Memory Implementation for Berkeley UNIX - With the cost per byte of memory approaching that of the cost per byte for disks, and with file systems increasingly distant from the host machines, a new approach to the implementation of virtual memory is necessary. Rather than preallocating swap space which limits the maximum virtual memory that can be supported to the size of the swap area, the system should support virtual memory up to the sum of the sizes of physical memory plus swap space.
Address Translation and Storage Management for Persistent Object Stores - Address Translation and Storage Management for Persistent Object Stores - by Sheetal Vinod Kakkad This Ph.D. dissertation describes a technique named pointer swizzling at page fault time to manage large persistant object stores. The techniques described are an interesting application of common VM hardware available today...
Advanced Configuration & Power Interface Spec - Advanced Configuration & Power Interface Spec ACPI evolves the existing collection of power management BIOS code, APM APIs, PNPBIOS APIs, and so on into a well-specified power management and configuration mechanism. It provides support for an orderly transition from existing (legacy) hardware to ACPI hardware, and it allows for both mechanisms to exist in a single machine and be used as needed.
An OS Vade Mecum - An OS Vade Mecum - by Raphael A. Finkel Operating systems are complex mixtures of policy and mechanism, of algorithm and heuristic, and of theoretical goals and practical experience. This vade mecum tries to unify these diverse points of view and guide the novice step by step through the complexities of the subject. As a text, this book is intended for a first course in operating systems at the undergraduate level.
asmfaq.zip - [info txt] By Raymond Moon at www2.dgsys.com/~raymoon/x86faqs.htmlThis is the FAQ for the x86 Assembly Language programmers for the alt.lang.asm and comp.lang.asm.x86 newsgroups. MASM, TASM, A86, and ingeneral.
ATA-2 FAQ - ATA-2 FAQ - by Peter Herweijer
Atari Joystick Interface for IBM PCs - Atari Joystick Interface for IBM PCs This file contains a short description of and schematics for an atari joystick interface. This shows exactly how the joystick hardware interface works.
BIOS_SEG.txt - [info txt] By at magic.hurrah.com/~sabre/os/S1Booting/BIOS_SEG.txtFormat of BIOS Data Segments
Boot Sector Overview - Boot Sector Overview - by Chris Lattner Short tutorial I wrote that explains how a bootsector works and how it is supposed to interface to the startup code.
Brief Overview of Proposed General MIDI Level 1 Spec - Brief Overview of Proposed General MIDI Level 1 Spec - by Electronic Musician, 8/91 issue Primarily describes the Instrument Patch Map and Roland's GS Standard.
Bringing SMP to your UP Operating System - Bringing SMP to your UP Operating System - by Sidney Cammeresi This article is a great into to adding SMP to your OS!
BSTJ version of C_ACM Unix paper.htm - [info html] By D. M. Ritchie and K. Thompson at cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/cacm.htmlThe UNIX Time-Sharing System
C Audio Library - C Audio Library - by Peter Sprenger Very complete library, supporting Adlib, SB, & SB-Pro cards. Supports DSP, FM, Mixer, VOC, MIDI, Timer, and Joystick.
C++ Classes for Digital SoundBlaster Audio - C++ Classes for Digital SoundBlaster Audio - by Christopher M. Box
Calculating Serial Numbers for Floppy's - Calculating Serial Numbers for Floppy's - by Ray This is a short document that describes how DOS assigns volume serial numbers when formatting disks...
CD-ROM File Systems - The Yellow Book does not specify how data files are to be stored and retrieved. To access any file the computer operating system needs to know where that file is. For convenience, all files are given a unique name and are assigned to one of a number of hierarchically organised directories.
CD-ROM programming FAQ Version 1.0 - CD-ROM programming FAQ Version 1.0 - by Marcus W. Johnson This document describes how to control a CD-ROM drive under DOS with the MSCDEX driver.
CD-ROM Technical Summary - CD-ROM Technical Summary - by Andy Poggio This summary describes how information is encoded on Compact Disc (CD) beginning with the physical pits and going up through higher levels of data encoding to the structured multimedia information that is possible with programs like HyperCard. This discussion is much broader than any single standards document, e.g. the CD-Audio Red Book, while omitting much of the detail needed only by drive manufacturers.
CDROM.txt - [info txt] By Andy Poggio at pauillac.inria.fr/~lang/hotlist/cdrom/Documents/tech-summary.htmlThis summary describes how information is encoded on Compact Disc (CD)beginning with the physical pits and going up through higher levels ofdata encoding to the structured multimedia information that ispossible with programs like HyperCard.
Climbing the Kernel Mountain - OSNews.com - So, you want to write an operating system. We discussed earlier a generic set of considerations that are important, from my experience, for this type of adventure. We proceed to look at solutions to the problem of actually getting started with writing your system: how to do it when you know you don't know what you're doing, making it work before making it work fast, and what to do when things go wrong.
CMOS_SEG.txt - [info txt] By James Vahn at Layout of standard CMOS data
CP_interupt.pdf - [pdf info] By Craig Peacock at Using interupts pdf. pic, isr info
Creating your own Operating System - Dark Fiber - Write Your Own Operating System [FAQ] By Dark Fiber
Daniels NASM bootstrap tutorial - Daniels NASM bootstrap tutorial - by Daniel MarjamÃ¤ki This tutorial builds off of the basics and gives concrete examples of how to use the NASM assembler to build a simple boot sector... more importantly however, it goes through the entire processes of compilation, copy, and reboot which is very helpful.
Debate.txt - [txt transcript] By Andy Tanenbaum, Linus at This is the Linux Vr Minix debate from usenet.
DMA Controller Chip Datasheet - DMA Controller Chip Datasheet - by Intel Corp 8237 250K .PDF
DMA Example Code - DMA Example Code Assembly language library that provides C callable functions for programming the DMA.
DMA_RTI.txt - [txt info] By Night Stalker at How to program the DMA - by Night Stalker
DMA_VLA.txt - [txt info] By Draeden of VLA at INTRO TO DMA by Draeden of VLA
DMAPORTS.txt - [info txt] By at DMA port info
DP8390 NIC Documentation - DP8390 NIC Documentation - by National Semiconductor This document describes NE2000 compatible DP8390 in all of its glory, including register level details.
El Torito Bootable CD-ROM Format - El Torito Bootable CD-ROM Format Ever wonder how to make a bootable CD-ROM? Here's the specs that define how to make it happen. OS install programs on bootable CD-ROM's are cool. We should have more of them.
elf.pdf - [pdf info intel] By intel at www.intel.comIntel paper in pdf on elf, dwarf and other exec formats.
ELF.txt - [txt info] By Brian Raiter at Text copy of the intel paper on elf, dwarf and other exec formats
Enabling the A20 Address Line - Enabling the A20 Address Line - by J. Andrew McLaughlin This snippet of NASM assembly code is used to enable the A20 addressing line so that more than 1M of memory can be addresed... very useful nowadays... :)
Exhaustive Serial Port Doc - Exhaustive Serial Port Doc - by Christian Blum This is a very complete document on the serial port. It contains lots of info about the hardware level implementation, connectors, interrupts, chipset interfacing (with the 16550/82450/16450/8250), chip detection, pinouts of serial driver chis, Mice, Modems, and even programming (C and x86 assembly).
Exokernel-thesis.ps.gz - [ps gz paper] By Dawson R. Engler at A thesis paper on Exokernel Operating System Achitecture (in PostScript)
Fairly low level Assembly Library for the SB DSP Interface - Fairly low level Assembly Library for the SB DSP Interface
fatgen103.pdf - [info pdf] By Microsoft at www.microsoft.com/hwdev/hardware/fatgen.aspMicrosoft info on FAT (12/16/32) filesystems. PDF
Fil's FAQ-Link-In Corner Ports PC Keyboard FAQ - Mark Schultz's AT keyboard FAQ
Fil's FAQ-Link-In Corner Ports PC Keyboard FAQ - Mark Schultz's AT keyboard FAQ
FreeBSDVM.txt - [txt info ] By Matthew Dillon at Info on FreeBSD\\\'s VM (virtual memory)
FreeBSDVM.txt - [txt info transcript] By John S. Dyson at Transcript with info on FreeBSD\'s VM (virtual memory)
Guide to x86 Bootstrapping (and Partitioning) - Guide to x86 Bootstrapping (and Partitioning) - by VaX#n8 "This guide will attempt to describe partitioning, boot sequences, and the programs which manage them on the Intel 80x86 platform. Perhaps the simplest way to explain partitions and the bootup sequence is to start with simple cases, and add complexity as needed. We will start with a single-OS setup, and proceed to more complicated examples."
GUS Frequently Asked Questions - GUS Frequently Asked Questions - by Matthew Bernold Certain questions concerning the Gravis UltraSound ("GUS") sound card are asked over and over on the UltraSound Daily Digest (a mailing list for GUS users) and on comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard. In an attempt to alleviate some redundancy from the lives of USENET/Internet folk, this FAQ list has been created.
GUS Lib v1.1 - GUS Lib v1.1 - by Paul Kimbrel GusLib is a public domain/royalty free programming library for the Gravis UltraSound sound card. It's purpose is to allow programmers easy access to the basic functions of the GUS. The library was mainly written for assembly language use but can be easily used with C,C++,Pascal, and other languages.
High-res high-speed VESA tutorial - Welcome to the first MonsterSoft tutorial page. This is an intermediate to advanced tutorial. If you are a beginner, don't worry. There should be enough of an explanation of what is going on for you to pick it up.
How It Works -- CHS Translation - How It Works -- CHS Translation - by Hale Landis Why is an understanding of how a BIOS works so important? The basic reason is that the information returned by INT 13H AH=08H is used by FDISK, it is used in the partition table entries within a partition record (like the Master Boot Record) that are created by FDISK, and it is used by the small boot program that FDISK places into the Master Boot Record. The information returned by INT 13H AH=08H is in cylinder/head/sector (CHS) format -- it is not in LBA format. The boot processing done by your computer's BIOS (INT 19H and INT 13H) is all CHS based.
How it Works: Partition Tables - How it Works: Partition Tables - by Hale Landis Part of the "How it Works" series, explains how partitions work in general, as well as extended partitions.
How to program the DMA - How to program the DMA - by Night Stalker This is a pretty good introduction to DMA transfers, and it touches on many of the issues that are likely to trip a newcomer up. Has a nice description of the flags, as well as C/Asm code for programming the chip. Unfortunately, it seems my copy is formatted strangely. If anyone runs across a better version, please send it my way!
How to program the DMA - How to program the DMA - by Breakpoint This is an excellent article that covers the basics of DMA, what it's used for, and applications for it. It addresses DMA in protected mode as well as memory to memory transfers...
Second Extended File System EXT2 - When I was working at my first ext2 driver implementation, I found myself short of documentation on the subject. It wasn't so much the information not being available as of it not being available all in one place.
IDE Interrogator - IDE Interrogator - by Doug Merrett This program will interrogate an IDE hard drive and display the resulting details in a 'quick and dirty' fashion. This was knocked together one night after managing to get my hands on an IDE Hard Drive Technical Manual. Includes source code and a binary.
Implementing Light Weight Threads - Implementing Light Weight Threads - by D. Stein, D. Shah, Sunsoft Inc. We describe an implementation of a threads library that provides extremely lightweight threads within a single UNIX process while allowing fully concurrent access to system resources. The threads are lightweight enough so that they can be created quickly, there can be thousands present, and synchronization can be accomplished rapidly. These goals are achieved by providing user threads which multiplex on a pool of kernel-supported threads of control. This paper focuses on scheduling and synchronizing user threads, and their interaction with UNIX signals in a multiplexing threads library.
Interfacing to the Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) - Interfacing to the Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) - by Craig Peacock Interfacing the Enhanced Parallel Port is the first page, out of the Parallel Port Series which has been revised. This page,devoted entirely to the EPP port, now includes waveforms plus a more detailed description of this Port.
Interfacing to the Extended Capabilities Parallel Port (ECP) - Interfacing to the Extended Capabilities Parallel Port (ECP) - by Craig Peacock Interfacing the Extended Capabilities Parallel Port has just been revised. This page focuses on the Extended Capabilities Parallel Port (ECP), and now includes waveforms plus a more detailed description of this Port.
Interfacing to the Serial Port - Interfacing to the Serial Port - by Craig Peacock Explains the pin diagrams of the RS-232 Port and the 8250 & Compatible UARTs. Includes information on handshaking, Null Modems, DTE/DCE Speeds, flow control, types of UART's etc. The second part of this series gives details of the Serial Ports Registers for the PC (8250 to 16750 UARTs) and the Serial Port's Addresses in the PC.
Interfacing to the Standard Parallel Port - Interfacing to the Standard Parallel Port - by Craig Peacock Describes interfacing the Standard Parallel Port (SPP). Includes a general introduction to Parallel Ports (SPP, EPP & ECP)and their standards. Looks at reading 8 bits of data using the bi-directional port, and using other methods such as reading a nibble at a time etc. Also details the Parallel Ports interrupts. Programming examples using C are included along with a detailed description of the Parallel Port's Registers.
Intro to DMA - Intro to DMA - by Draeden of VLA Not much of an intro, this doc gives a short overview of how to do DMA transfers as well as example source code for working with it.
Joystick Physical Interface - Joystick Physical Interface - by Saastamoinen Vesa Description and pinout of the joystick hardware interface. Includes extensions for CH VirtualPilot Pro and F-16 stick buttons.
Making plain binary files using a C compiler - Making plain binary files using a C compiler - by Cornelis Frank This document is an excellent description of how to write OS code in C, and subsequently directly load it... very useful for a bootloader. It discusses C calling conventions and even variable argument lists!
Master Boot Record Tut - Master Boot Record Tut - by Hale Landis Part of the "How it works" series, which includes a disassembly of the MBR produced by the FDISK program.
MC 146818 Real Time Clock - MC 146818 Real Time Clock - by Chris This file documents the IO ports and DOS interrupt interface the the AT Real Time Clock chip. This is useful as a reference for the chip.
Media Status Notification Support Spec for SCSI and ATAPI Devices v0.1 - Media Status Notification Support Spec for SCSI and ATAPI Devices v0.1 - by Microsoft Corp. A major shortcoming of removable media devices on PC platforms is their inability to report to the host when the user attempts to eject the medium. Currently most removable media devices just eject the medium when the user presses the Eject button, and potentially any data the operating system has not saved to the device is lost. Various volume tracking and locking schemes reduce this risk, but do not eliminate it. Ideally, devices will have a means of communicating to the host that the user wants to eject the medium or has inserted a new medium.
Micro Digital, Inc. - Articles - Micro Digital, Inc. Article collection
Microsoft MS-DOS CD-ROM Extensions 2.1 - Microsoft MS-DOS CD-ROM Extensions 2.1 - by Microsoft Corp. The Microsoft MS-DOS CD-ROM Extensions are an extension to the MS-DOS operating system which permit reading CD-ROM disks which conform to both the High Sierra May 28th format and the ISO-9660 version of the High Sierra format. The CD-ROM disc appears just like a magnetic disk to the user and to applications software, ensuring compatibility with current software.
MIDI Sample Dump Standard - MIDI Sample Dump Standard Describes how custom samples are transferred in MIDI. (SDS)
MIDI Stream Specification - MIDI Stream Specification
Mounting an FCS handle on CH Flightstick base - Mounting an FCS handle on CH Flightstick base Here's a quick file to explain the procedure for taking a Thrustmaster Flight Control Stick and mounting it on a CH Flightstick base, while keeping all FCS button and hat functions (and only losing the throttle wheel on the CH base.)
Mouse Hardware Interface - Mouse Hardware Interface - by Tomi Engdahl This file describes the voltage levels and interface protocols used by serial mice and the MS systems mouse.
OSNews.com - Exploring the Future of Computing - Let's face it, the most important, truly alternative, hobby operating systems that are somewhat usable today are three: MenuetOS, SkyOS and AtheOS. All three are hobby, open source OSes, written from people who enjoy coding low level programming. Read more about the differences between these OSes and which one you might want to try out.
Overview - Overview of NE2000 - by National Semiconductor This document describes NE2000 compatible DP8390.
Pascal Unit for DMA and Direct Mode - Pascal Unit for DMA and Direct Mode - by Romesh Prakashpalan Sound Blaster: Digital Audio: There are many examples of driving the sound blaster in DMA mode to produce digital sound. Here is one of them:
Pascal Unit for playing digital audio - Pascal Unit for playing digital audio - by Ethan Brodsky Sound Blaster: Digital Audio: There are many examples of driving the sound blaster in DMA mode to produce digital sound. Here is one of them:
PC Parallel Port Mini-FAQ - PC Parallel Port Mini-FAQ - by Kris Heidenstrom This is a six printed page mini-FAQ with basic information on the PC parallel port. Many subjects are not covered in detail. This article describes direct hardware access, interrupt driven communication, bidirectional communications, File transfer, EPP, ECP, and even has sample code...
PDOS Publications - Parrel and Distributed Operating Systems Group: Publications
POSIX threads explained, Part 1 - A simple and nimble tool for memory sharing Part 1 of 3
POSIX threads explained, Part 2 - A simple and nimble tool for memory sharing Part 2 of 3
POSIX threads explained, Part 3 - A simple and nimble tool for memory sharing Part 3 of 3
PPC - OSNews.com - Here is an overview of assembly language from a PowerPC perspective that contrasts examples for three architectures: ia32, ppc, and ppc64. This article assumes a basic understanding of computer design and of operating systems (system calls, exceptions, process stacks). It contains information that will be useful to PowerPC programmers unfamiliar with assembly as well as programmers who already know IA32 assembly and want to broaden their knowledge.
Pro AudioSpectrum SDK v3.0 - Pro AudioSpectrum SDK v3.0 - by Media Vision, Inc. This release of source code for the Pro AudioSpectrum has been developed with Microsoft MASM, 5.1, and Microsoft C, 6.0, as well as, Borland C and TASM. - The original SDK for the PAS... example code galore!
Programmer's Reference For the Genius Mouse Driver - Programmer's Reference For the Genius Mouse Driver As the title suggests, this is everything that you need to know to interface with the Genius mouse... Including graphic and text mode cursors, basic mouse functions, and a complete reference to the mouse services.
Programming Long File Names in DOS (and TRUE DOS) - Long Filenames in DOS (and TRUE DOS) *Description These files are distributed to show how to use Long Filenames In DOS and True DOS
Programming the Gravis GamePad and Analog Pro - Programming the Gravis GamePad and Analog Pro This short article discusses how to access the extended buttons on the Gravis Gamepad and the Analog Pro. Support the gamepad! It's cool and cheap!
Programming the Keyboard - Programming the Keyboard his short article explains what it takes to install an interrupt handler and catch activity. It explains how to decode multibyte keys and gives some source in Turbo Pascal...
Programming the Microsoft Mouse - Programming the Microsoft Mouse Describes how to write custom mouse handlers for Microsoft mice. It goes into depth and even describes the protocol used and the interrupts to hook.
Programming the Microsoft Mouse - take 2 - Programming the Microsoft Mouse - take 2 - by bri, Mark Feldman This is a relatively simple reference text, describing all of the int 33h services, but it also touches on programming the mouse in supervga mode, or otherwise when you cannot use the dos mouse driver...
Programming the NEC ÂµPD765 and Intel 82072-7 Floppy Disk Controller - The purpose of this document is to provide information related to programming the NEC ÂµPD765 and the Intel 82072/7 Floppy Disk Controllers (FDCs), by use of the registers. The document is split into several sections:
Programming the PC Joystick - Programming the PC Joystick Describes the method used to interface to standard analog joysticks. Does anyone have programming information for the new digital joysticks?
Programming the SoundBlaster 16 DSP - Programming the SoundBlaster 16 DSP - by Ethan Brodsky This FAQ documents programming the SB16 DSP CT1341 chip for recording and playback of digitized audio. Prior knowledge on programming earlier Sound Blaster sound cards is necessary.
Protected Mode - A Detailed Approach - Protected Mode - A Detailed Approach - by Yann Stephen This file also came with the DOS32 distribution and details the GDTR, IDTR, and LDTR.
Protected Mode Crash Course - Protected Mode Crash Course - by Adam Seychell After my release of DOS32 V1.2 a lot of people were asking for basic help in protected mode programming. If you already know what a selector is then there is probably no need for you to read this file. This file came with the DOS32 distribution, which is available here. http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/ProtectedMode/DOS32V3B.ZIP
Protected Mode Programming and OS Development - Protected Mode Programming and OS Development - by Mythrandir The big focus of this article will be getting a system up and running in protected mode with a very minimal kernel.
Protected Mode Tutorial - Protected Mode Tutorial - by Till Gerken This text contains a short and simple step-by-step tutorial for Protected Mode beginners. It shows you everything you need to program your own PM environment and is intended for those who don't have any experiences with it yet. The source file package is available here. http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/ProtectedMode/PMTUT02.zip
Questions For an OS Designer - Here are questions that you should answer before you start to code an OS. It's not a secret that every program must be designed before it is written (implemented). Also it's not a secret that a very few of programs are written this way...
Reading the harddisk using ports - Reading the harddisk using ports - by qark This file describes the IO ports that are available on an IDE disk, as well as some example code to go with it. The sample code demonstrates reading and writing to the disk...
Real and Protected Modes - Real and Protected Modes - by Jerzy Tarasiuk Beginning with the 80286, Intel CPUs have ability to work in Protected Mode. This article presents the main differences between Real Mode and Protected modes for Intel CPUs (as well as Virtual 8086 Mode)
Real Time Clock / CMOS Setup Reference - Real Time Clock / CMOS Setup Reference - by Tom Przeor AT model was the first in IBM PC family to keep track of time while switched off. The designers used Motorola MC146818 Real Time Clock (RTC from now on) chip. This chip provides clock and calendar functions, few registers to program the chip itself and some 50 bytes of general purpose memory. - This is a great article that talks about the CMOS RTC chip. It covers DOS interrupt access AND direct port access!
Segment Registers: Real mode vs. Protected mode - Segment Registers: Real mode vs. Protected mode - by John Fine This article discusses the technical details behind the HOW and WHY of segment selectors. This can be very handy for those gotcha type moments...
So You Wanna Create Your Own x86 Operating System LG #85 - One of the great difficulties a hobbyist programmer faces when trying to start the development of his own OS is finding out where to start. Many books describe in-depth theoretical OS concepts, yet noone seems to take a hobyist programmer by the hand and bring him face to face with these concepts. This is precisely what this article aims at doing.
So, You Want to Write an Operating System - OSNews.com - As I grew up, I became interested in writing software, first as a hobby, then as a professional career. Naturally, unhappy with writing applications on top of a black box designed by someone else, I wanted to work on operating system development, and advance the state of the art.
Sound Blaster AWE32 Programming Guide - Sound Blaster AWE32 Programming Guide - by Vince Vu This guide will attempt to describe in detail how to program the EMU8000 chip on the Sound Blaster AWE32, directly. - Documentation http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/Sound/SoundBlaster/AWE32PRG-v1.0.TXT
Sound Blaster Device Detection: In Assembly - Sound Blaster: Device Detection: Here a snippet of code to detect a sound blaster device.
Sound Blaster Device Detection: In Pascal - Sound Blaster: Device Detection: Here a snippet of code to detect a sound blaster device.
Sound Blaster Hardware Programming Guide - Sound Blaster Hardware Programming Guide - by Creative Labs This is the official programming guide for the original Creative Labs Sound Blaster family of sound cards and covers the SB, SB 2.0, SB Pro, and SB16. The information here will also be applicable to any sound card or software emulation driver which is Sound Blaster compatible.
Standard MIDI File Format - Standard MIDI File Format - by Dustin Caldwell Very nice overview from a very practical standpoint. Includes sample code.
Synthesis An Efficient Implementation of Fundamental Operating System Services - Massalin (Rese - Abstract: This dissertation shows that operating systems can provide fundamental services an order of magnitude more efficiently than traditional implementations. It describes the implementation of a new operating system kernel, Synthesis, that achieves this level of performance.
Technicians' Guide to Hard Disks (ch 1) - Technicians' Guide to Hard Disks (ch 1) - by Nicholas Majors This booklet (now electronic) is published as a service of Data Recovery Labs. Its purpose is to provide the fundamental knowledge of concepts and terminology that is necessary to deal with the complexities of hard disk subsystems. It is not a technical reference guide and should not replace original documentation made available by manufacturers.
Technicians' Guide to Hard Disks (ch 2) - Technicians' Guide to Hard Disks (ch 2) - by Nicholas Majors Before we consider how to install, configure and maintain hard drives, we need a basic understanding of drive construction and design concepts. This chapter examines in some detail the parts and functional components of hard drive subsystems.
The BFS filesystem structure - The UnixWare Boot FileSystem (BFS) is a filesystem used in SCO UnixWare.
The Keyboard Interface Tutorial - The Keyboard Interface Tutorial Very thorough explaination of how the Keyboard works and how to interface with it. Includes descriptions of DOS interrupts, BIOS interrupts, and of course, direct port interfacing.
The Timer!!! - The Timer!!! - by Mitch This article describes the system timer and gives assembly sample code for playing with it. It also describes the settings of the flags register...
The USENET MIDI Primer - The USENET MIDI Primer - by Bob McQueer This is a nice document that describes the Physical Connector, Electrical Specs, and most of the MIDI messages.
The Virtual Memory Tutorial - The Virtual Memory Tutorial - by By several People This tutorial covers a range of topics that provides the user with a comprehensive view of virtual memory. The tutorial begins with the motivation for virtual memory and a brief historical perspective. The user is then given the theoretical basis for virtual memory and its effect on system performance. The module covers hardware implementation of virtual memory, observations of program structure and behavior that affect memory management, page replacement algorithms, performance factors in a multiprogramming environment, and virtual memory as it used in common real systems. This is an interesting tutorial on some virtual memory techniques... the layout of the information is especially interesting... :)
Thread Segment Stacks - Thread Segment Stacks - by Markus Pizka This paper presents enhanced memory management concepts and their implementation providing better support for multithreading. The virtual address space of the multi threaded process is dynamically partitioned by a dynamic set of cooperating managers. Special thoughts are given to detect and solve possible thread stack and heap overflows and collisions. Both stacks and heaps associated with threads are organized non-contiguously with linear segments to fully exploit possibly large virtual address spaces. Crucial for the efficiency of this approach are modifications of the compiler and parts of the runtime system. The proposed so- lutions are implemented an evaluated on the SUN Sparc V9 architecture.
Timer Example Source - Timer Example Source - by Ethan Rohrer Ok, here is some code I wrote a while ago, and touched up a little recently as someone else needed it. As you may have noticed by the line count, it is VERY wordy...hopefully some of it is useful. This code returns a time value in units of 838 nanoseconds, and I have found it quite useful. Even though the examples I provide are for fixed-frame-rate games, I have used this in a crude ray-casting (yuk) demo I wrote a while back which will run as fast as your CPU (or monitor/video) will allow.
Using Interrupts - Using Interrupts - by Craig Peacock A dedicated document exploring the use of interrupts on your PC. Includes information on the IRQ 2 to IRQ 9 Re-direction, the 8259 and compatible Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC), Initialization Command Words (ICW's), Operation, Command Words (OCW's), Interrupt Service Routines (ISR), Interrupt vectors and using interrupts under the C environment.
Using the 1024Hz CMOS Timer Interrupt - Using the 1024Hz CMOS Timer Interrupt - by Mark Feldman This file describes how to program for the Fixed Frequency CMOS timer interrupt. This timer can be very useful, because it operates independantly of the PIT chip and has a dependable frequency.
Virtual DMA Services (VDS) - Virtual DMA Services (VDS) DOS device drivers which perform DMA, program a controller with an address of a buffer region. All software running in protected mode environments, whether running in virtual 8086 mode or in protected mode under a DOS extender, usually can not determine the physical address of their DMA region. The DMA controller also places further restrictions upon acceptable DMA regions: they must be in contiguous physical memory, on XTs they must be in the first 1Mb of memory and on XTs, ATs and compatibles they must not cross 64Kb or 128Kb alignment boundaries. These services provide the necessary support to allow a device driver or application program to obtain the necessary information to program a DMA transfer using either the on board DMA controller or a busmaster DMA controller.
What every Computer Scientist should know about Floating Point - What every Computer Scientist should know about Floating Point - by David Goldberg Just like it says, this document covers just about everything about floating point. Theory, proofs, limits, and discussion are all presented for your consumption... a must have!
Wout Mertens' Guide To Keyboard Programming v1.1 - Wout Mertens' Guide To Keyboard Programming v1.1 - by Wout Merten This is a really comprehensive guide to programming the keyboard. It covers many aspects of decoding the keyboard input, as well as describing the hardware protocol. Great stuff. Does anyone know where I can get the files that came with this?
Writing drivers for the DP8390 NIC - Writing drivers for the DP8390 NE2000 NIC
Writing Your Own Operating System FAQ - Writing Your Own Operating System FAQ - by Stuart 'Dark Fiber' George This is a wonderful FAQ that touches on all kinds of interesting questions you may have when first starting out. A definate must read!
Writing Your Own Toy OS (Part I) LG #77 - This article is a hands-on tutorial for building a small boot sector. The first section provides the theory behind what happens at the time the computer is switched on. It also explains our plan. The second section tells all the things you should have on hand before proceeding further, and the third section deals with the programs. Our little startup program won't actually boot Linux, but it will display something on the screen.
Writing Your Own Toy OS (PART II) LG #79 - The next thing that any one should know after learning to make a boot sector and before switching to protected mode is, how to use the BIOS interrupts. BIOS interrupts are the low level routines provided by the BIOS to make the work of the Operating System creator easy. This part of the article would deal with BIOS interrupts.
Writing Your Own Toy OS (PART III) LG #82 - In Parts I and II of this series, we examined the process of using tools available with Linux to build a simple boot sector and access the system BIOS. Our toy OS will be closely modelled after a `historic' Linux kernel - so we have to switch to protected mode real soon! This part shows you how it can be done.

SITES

A Distributed Fish Enviroment - The FishNet was created as a way for SigOps members to demonstrate the operating systems they have individually written from /scratch. The DFP (Distributed Fish Protocol 2.1) was developed by SigOps for this reason. The point of this project, however, is not to create just a distributed fishtank, but to demonstrate how these original operating systems can work together as well as with established environments.
Aaron Gray - Aaron Gray's home page. Good links to things of interest to alt.os.development, and other hobby OS developers.
About Unchained Graphics Modes - Unchained Modes are graphics modes that deal directly with the graphics card and bit planes instead of having the video card calculate the bit plane. Mode X is the most well known unchained graphics mode with a resolution of 320x240x256. However, most people refer to any unchained mode, no matter what the resolution, as Mode X.
ACM@UIUC Special Interest Group for Operating Systems - About SigOps Our purpose is to learn about and teach computer operating systems and their development through dicussion and projects.
Aelix OS official site - Spanish - Welcome in the Aelix Operating System Official page. AOS is a micro kernel based system. This kernel is higly structured as modular. The system is designed to run on x86 machines ( Intel, Amd, Cyrix ). Kernel will work fine only on 586 or greater processors. This is the development team central site.
alt.os.development (Google) - A Google groups view of alt.os.development. A great usenet news group that cover hobby OS development.
Berlin -- Home - Fresco is a windowing system derived from a powerful structured graphics toolkit originally based on InterViews. (Was Berlin)
BerliOS Developer Welcome - BerliOS Developer is a free service to Open Source developers offering easy access to the best in CVS, mailing lists, bug tracking, message boards/forums, task management, site hosting, permanent file archival, full backups, and total web-based administration
Bona Fide OS Development - The Goal: There is a lot of information vital to OS developers scattered all over the internet. But it's not all in one place. There's a doc here, a tutorial there, and a bunch of kernel source codes on various FTP servers. This makes finding the information hard. Bona Fide OS Development's goal is to provide OS developers with all the docs, tutorials, and source codes needed for them to code their own operating system.
Bona Fide OS Development-for real OS Development info - The Goal: There is a lot of information vital to OS developers scattered all over the internet. But it's not all in one place. There's a doc here, a tutorial there, and a bunch of kernel source codes on various FTP servers. This makes finding the information hard. Bona Fide OS Development's goal is to provide OS developers with all the docs, tutorials, and source codes needed for them to code their own operating system.
Christopher Giese - Geezer's Home page.
Code your own OS - Before you start to code an OS you must ask yourself a lot of questions. There are philosophy questions (for example 'Why to write your own OS - there are soooooo many OSes on the market') and practical questions. The first ones are your own mind questions so let's talk about second ones.
Codetalker Tutorial - Strcpy and You - Secure Programming: strcpy and you. Most of the bugs that are found in software today are both obvious and preventable. Although techniques for avoiding these common mistakes have been around for years, many programmers continue to produce insecure and buggy software.
Color Models - Technical Guides - Color models are used to classify colors and to qualify them according to such attributes as hue, saturation, chroma, lightness, or brightness. They are further used for matching colors and are valuable resources for anyone working with color in any medium: print, video, or Web.
Computer Graphics - Clipping - It is desirable to restrict the effect of graphics primitives to a subregion of the canvas, to protect other portions of the canvas. All primitives are clipped to the boundaries of this clipping rectangle; that is, primitives lying outside the clip rectangle are not drawn.
Cottontail OS Development Library - Welcome to the Cottontail OS Development Library. Here you will be able to download virtually any programming-oriented information that is available for computer hardware devices, processors, and operating system development
Current OS Projects and OS-related research - This page contains pointers to all sorts of neat operating system projects scattered across the world-wide web. I've categorized all of the systems into all sorts of broad, inappropriate categories to make it easier to sort through.
CyberScriptorium -
Etherboot Etherboot home page - Etherboot is a software package for creating ROM images that can download code over an Ethernet network to be executed on an x86 computer. Many network adapters have a socket where a ROM chip can be installed. Etherboot is code that can be put in such a ROM.
Fil's FAQ-Link-In Corner: IDE Ref. - IDE - Hardware Reference & Information Document
FooOS - the Foo Operating System - I am getting interested in Operating Systems concepts. Perhaps it is just a counter-culture thing. For every article I find on an interesting operating system architecture, I find another article on why operating system architectures don't matter any more.
FreeBSD USB Home Page - FreeBSD USB Home Page - by Nick Hibma Lots of information about USB, from the BSD front. This site contains lots of documentation, code, and actual working drivers... get involved, or get direction!
FreeOS - http://www.freeos.com/ - The Recource Center for Free Operating Systems.
FrontPage - OS Wiki - Welcome to Code Your Own OS Wiki Pages. I think WikiWikiWeb it is the best choice for a OpenSource community environment.
GeekOS - GeekOS is a tiny operating system kernel for x86 PCs. Its main purpose is to serve as a simple but realistic example of an OS kernel running on real hardware. (Actually, most of the development is done on the Bochs emulator.)
GNU Hurd - Free So...e Foundation (FSF) -
GNU-Fiwix OS-386 by Jordi Sanfeliu (aka Mikaku) -
Hardware Acceleration -
High Performance G...cs Hardware Design -
Index of -tkos -
Introduction to VGA mode 'X' -
John Fine - http://users.erols.com/johnfine/ -
KESYS Homepage -
Linux Kernel 2.4 Internals - Introduction to the Linux 2.4 kernel
Mega-Tokyo Message Board -
Mike Fuhr - http://www.fuhr.org/~mfuhr/computers/os.html -
Mindshare - PC Archetecture Hardware Books -
MOSIX - http://www.mosix.org/ -
MSWIN4.1 Boot Record Revealed! -
My File Formats - The Programmer's File Format Collection -
Open AFS - http://oss.software.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/afs/ -
Open Software Description Specification -
OpenMP Simple, Portable, Scalable SMP Programming - The OpenMP Application Program Interface (API) supports multi-platform shared-memory parallel programming in C/C++ and Fortran on all architectures, including Unix platforms and Windows NT platforms. Jointly defined by a group of major computer hardware and software vendors, OpenMP is a portable, scalable model that gives shared-memory parallel programmers a simple and flexible interface for developing parallel applications for platforms ranging from the desktop to the supercomputer.
Operating system developers homepage - news, reading, links and other -
Operating System Development Course - To build your OS, you are going to need some development tools. Luckily enough the GNU tools work fine under both Linux and Windows - I'll only cover Linux here. To start with you'll need Make and a C compiler targetted to your specific platform, so you may need to build a cross compiler.
Operating Systems Programming -
Operating Systems Resource Center -
OS Development - http://www.thesky.demon.co.uk/os-development/index.html -
OS Development Message Board -
OS Development Resources -
OS Development XML Documents -
OS Development XML Documents (2) -
OS for Dummies (OSD) -
OS Kernels - http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/trove_list.php?form_cat=144 -
OS-Dev Message Board -
OSNews.com - Exploring the Future of Computing -
Outline of the Lin... Management System -
Papers on TCP mode...and related topics -
Paul Hsieh - http://www.azillionmonkeys.com/qed/tech.shtml -
PC-GPE on the Web - PC Game Programmer's Encyclopedia
PCI and AGP Local Bus Info - PCI and AGP Local Bus Info This page is dedicated to programming & other technical information about the PCI and AGP Buses. This is information that you CANNOT get for free from the PCI SIG; they want to charge you exorbitant amounts of money for the info.
PCI Information - This page is dedicated to programming and other technical information about the PCI & AGP Busses. This is information that you CANNOT get for free from the PCI SIG;
PHG Tech Page - Welcome to PHG Public Page. PHG is Potemkin's Hackers Group which existed sinse 1990. Here are some snapshots of our internal notes, docs, researches. As usually things are uncomplete, because time, memory and money is critical resources
POSIX Threads Links -
Protected mode and operating systems -
Protected Mode Basics - I remember when I was first learning protected mode. I had barely taught myself assembly language, and I got this crazy idea that I wanted to teach myself protected mode. I went out and purchased an 80286 assembly language book that included some protected mode examples, and I was off to learn
QBasic GUIs and OSes -
QNX Online Docs - http://qdn.qnx.com/support/docs/index.html -
Ralf Brown's Files - The interrupt list is a comprehensive listing of interrupt calls, I/O ports, memory locations, far-call interfaces, and more for IBM PCs and compatible machines, both documented and undocumented. Nearly eight megabytes of information in ASCII text files!
Ralf Brown's Interrupt List - HTML Version - HTML version of the famous Ralf Brown Interrupt List with over 9000 linked pages and 350 indexes making the process of searching much easier. This list contains every documented and undocumented interrupt call known.
Raw IP Networking FAQ -
RFC Sourcebook - http://www.networksorcery.com/enp/default0402.htm -
sandpile.org -- The world's leading source for pure technical x86 processor information. - The world's leading source for pure technical x86 processor information.
SigOps Create Your Own Operating System Adventure -
SNMP - Simple Network Managment Protocol -
SNMP Version 3 (SNMPv3) -
So You Wanna Creat...ing System? LG #85 -
SpaceOrb Programming Secrets - SpaceOrb Programming Secrets - by Brett Viren Everything you need to know about the SpaceOrb 3D positioning device. This site details the packet structure used by the orb as well as sample code to access it.
Summer 2002 Laboratory Notes - Computer Engineering II January 2003 Laboratory Notes The ECE 291 Documentation Project Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
System Support for...L Direct Rendering -
TCP/IP Illustrated -
Technical Papers - http://www.slip.net/~scholr/tech/papers.html -
The Art of Assembly Language Programming -
The Common Man's Guide to Operating System Design - Welcome to the Common Man's Guide to Operating System Design. These pages contain a collection of concepts pertaining to the design and development of operating systems. This information comes from contributions by a variety of individuals with experience using a variety of hardware platforms and designing for a variety of goals.
The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6 - Abstract: This standard defines a standard operating system interface and environment, including a command interpreter (or "shell"), and common utility programs to support applications portability at the source code level. This standard is the single common revision to IEEE Std 1003.1-1996, IEEE Std 1003.2-1992, and the Base Specifications of The Open Group Single UNIX Specification, Version 2.
The OS Journal - - This a project by the people at alt.os.development aiming to help all who are interested in OS Development. The OS Journal contains a collection of documents in different subjects written by various OS developers around the world.
The PC Game Programmer's Encyclopedia - The PCGPE contains info on assembly programming, CPU speed and type testing, graphics programming (VGA and SVGA), sound programming for various cards, programming input devices (mouse, keyboard, joystick, gamepad etc), algorithms for various graphics effects (rotation, shading, perspective projection, texture mapping, bsp trees etc), various graphics and sound file formats, using EMS and XMS memory, PIT info and lots more.
The Programmer's File Format Collection - Welcome to Wotsit's Format, the complete programmer's resource on the net. This site contains file format information on hundreds of different file types and all sorts of other useful programming information; algorithms, source code, specifications, etc.
The Programmers Lair -
The Single UNIX Specification, Version 2 - Keyword Search the Single UNIX Specification
The Standard Template Library Tutorial -
TIS - Tools Interface Standards - The goal of the TIS committee is to help streamline the software development process throughout the computer industry, currently concentrating on 32-bit Intel X86 operating environments.
Tools Interface Standards - Tools Interface Standards and Manuals
VGA Programming - This tutorial is huge, it cover's almost every aspect of VGA programming.
Visopsys OS Development -
Working in the Protected Mode Environment -
Write Your Own Operating System [FAQ] - Dark Fiber - Write Your Own Operating System [FAQ] by Dark Fiber
Write Your Own Operating System FAQ -

SPECS

El Torito Bootable CD-ROM Format Specification - [Bootloaders]
21041 PCI Ethernet LAN Controller Data Sheet - [Ethernet]
21041 PCI Ethernet LAN Controller Hardware Reference Manual - [Ethernet]
21140-AF to 21143-xD Upgrade Application Note - [Ethernet]
21140A PCI Fast Ethernet LAN Controller Data Sheet - [Ethernet]
21140A PCI Fast Ethernet LAN Controller Hardware Reference Manual - [Ethernet]
21143 PCI/CardBus 10/100Mb/s Ethernet LAN Controller Hardware Reference Manual - [Ethernet]
21164 Alpha Microprocessor Evaluation Board User's Guide - [Alpha Architecture]
21164 Alpha Microprocessor Motherboard User's Manual - [Alpha Architecture]
21164 Alpha Microprocessor Product Brief - [Alpha Architecture]
21172 Core Logic Chipset Product Brief - [Alpha Architecture]
21172 Core Logic Chipset Technical Reference Manual - [Alpha Architecture]
21X4 Serial ROM Format Version 4.09 - [Ethernet]
220 Library Product Specification - [Tape Drives]
231468.pdf - [pdf intel manual] By Intel at support.intel.com/support/controllers/peripheral/sb/1509094951442453-prd154.htmIntel 8249A 8259A-2 PIC ( Programmable Interrupt Controller ) PDF manual
380AB/PB Dock Set Product Overview - [PCI Chipsets] 82380AB Mobile PCI-To-ISA Bridge (MISA), 82380PB Mobile PCI-To-PCI Bridge (MPCI)
380FB PCIset: 82380AB Mobile PCI-to-ISA Bridge (MISA) - [PCI Chipsets]
380FB PCIset: 82380FB Mobile PCI-to-PCI Bridge (MPCI2) - [PCI Chipsets]
386 Programmers Guide - Full 386 Programmers Guide This is the official documentation on the 386 processor... in plaintext format.
386intel.zip - [cpu zip intel manual] By Intel at www.intel.com/The Intel 386 Manual (all 3 sections) as a zipped ascii text file
3C359 Network Interface Card Technical Reference - [Ethernet]
3c509.c: A 3c509 EtherLink3 ethernet driver for linux - [Ethernet] Source code only
3C515-TX NIC Technical Reference - [Ethernet]
3C90x and 3C90xB NICs Technical Reference - [Ethernet]
3C90xC NICs Technical Reference - [Ethernet]
3D-Now! Technology Manual - 3D-Now! Technology Manual - by AMD Inc. 3DNow!â„¢ Technology is a significant innovation to the x86 architecture that drives today's personal computers. 3DNow! technology is a group of new instructions that opens the traditional processing bottlenecks for floating-point-intensive and multimedia applications.
3DNow! Technology Manual - [IA32 Architecture]
430MX PCIset 82371MX Mobile PCI I/O IDE Xcelerator (MPIIX) - [PCI Chipsets]
430MX PCIset 82437MX (MTSC)/82438MX (MTDP) and 82371MX (MPIIX) Specification Update - [PCI Chipsets]
430MX PCIset 82437MX Mobile System Controller (MTSC) and 82438MX Mobile Data Path (MTDP) - [PCI Chipsets]
430MX PCIset Timing Specification - [PCI Chipsets]
430NX 82378ZB System I/O (SIO) and 82379AB System I/O APIC (SIO.A) - [PCI Chipsets]
430NX 82433LX/82433NX Local Bus Accelerator (LBX) - [PCI Chipsets]
430NX 82434LX/82434NX PCI, Cache and Memory Controller (PCMC) - [PCI Chipsets]
430TX 82371AB PCI-to-ISA/IDE Xcelerator (PIIX4) - [PCI Chipsets]
430TX PCIset System Controller (MTXC) Timing Specification - [PCI Chipsets]
430TX PCIset: 82439TX System Controller (MTXC) - [PCI Chipsets]
430VX PCIset 82436VX (TVX) and 82438VX (TDX) Specification Update - [PCI Chipsets]
430VX PCIset 82437VX System Controller (TVX) and 82438VX Data Path Unit (TDX) - [PCI Chipsets]
440BX AGPset: 82443BX Host Bridge/Controller - [PCI Chipsets]
440BX AGPset: 82443BX Host Bridge/Controller Electrical and Thermal Specification, Timing Specification - [PCI Chipsets]
440EX AGPset: 82443EX PCI AGP Controller (PAC) - [PCI Chipsets]
440FX PCIset 82441FX PCI and Memory Controller (PMC) and 82442FX Data Bus Accelerator (DBX) - [PCI Chipsets]
440LX AGPset: 82443LX PCI A.G.P. Controller (PAC) - [PCI Chipsets]
440MX 82443MX PCIset Specification Update - [PCI Chipsets]
440MX 82443MX100 PCIset - [PCI Chipsets]
440MX Chipset Electrical and Thermal Specification - [PCI Chipsets]
440ZX AGPset: 82443ZX Host Bridge/Controller - [PCI Chipsets]
450KX/GX PCIset - [PCI Chipsets]
450NX PCIset - [PCI Chipsets] Revision 1.3; 82454NX PCI Expander Bridge (PXB), 82453NX Data Path Multiplexor (MUX), 82452NX RAS/CAS Generator (RCG), 82451NX Memory and I/O Controller (MIOC)
53C8XX Software Development Kit Version 1.00.00 - [SCSI]
589D to 589E Technical Changes Addendum - [Ethernet]
65555 HiQVPro High Performance Flat Panel/CRT GUI Controllers Data Sheet Revision 1.1 - [Video]
80C200 Full Duplex CMOS Ethernet 10/100 Mega Bit/Sec Data Link Controller - [Ethernet]
80C300 Full Duplex CMOS Ethernet 10/100 Mega Bit/Sec Data Link Controller - [Ethernet]
820 Chipset: 82805AA Memory Translator Hub (MTH) Datasheet - [PCI Chipsets]
820 Chipset: 82820 Memory Controller Hub (MCH) Datasheet - [PCI Chipsets]
82077AA CHMOS Single-Chip Floppy Disk Controller - [Floppy]
82077AA_FloppyControllerDatasheet.pdf - [intel manual pdf] By intel at www.intel.com/Intels 82077AA CHMOS Single-Chip Floppy Disk Controler PDF
82078 44 Pin CHMOS Single-Chip Floppy Disk Controller - [Floppy]
82093AA I/O Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (IOAPIC) - [SMP (IA32)] Datasheet
82357 Integrated System Peripheral (ISP) - [ISA Chipsets]
82371AB (PIIX4) PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator Timing Specifications - [PCI Chipsets]
82371FB (PIIX) and 82371SB (PIIX3) PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator - [PCI Chipsets]
82371FB PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator (PIIX) Timing Specification - [PCI Chipsets]
82371SB PCI ISA IDE Xcelerator (PIIX3) Timing Specification - [PCI Chipsets]
82374EB/82374SB EISA System Component (ESC) - [EISA Chipsets]
8237A High Performance Programmable DMA Controller - [ISA]
8237A_DMAControllerDatasheet.pdf - [intel manual pdf] By intel at support.intel.com/support/controllers/peripheral/231466.htmintel 8237A High Performance Programmable DMA Controller PDF
8254 Programmable Interval Timer - [ISA]
82558 Fast Ethernet PCI Bus Controller with Integrated PHY - [Ethernet]
82559 Fast Ethernet Multifunction PCI/CardBus Controller - [Ethernet]
8259A Interrupt Controller on the PC - 8259A Interrupt Controller on the PC - by Chris Hall A high level discussion of what the PIC is and what it does. This file won't save you from having to look at the data sheet or a reference (like the one below) as well... it's an explanation of what those guys at Intel are trying to say in the specs, and how the 8259 is used in a PC.
8259A Interrupt Controller on the PC - 8259A Interrupt Controller on the PC - by Cornelis Frank A high level discussion of what the PIC is and what it does. This file won't save you from having to look at the data sheet or a reference (like the one below) as well... it's an explanation of what those guys at Intel are trying to say in the specs, and how the 8259 is used in a PC.
8259A PIC Data Sheet - 8259A PIC Data Sheet - by Intel This is the official datasheet for the PIC, straight from Intel.
8259A Programmable Interrupt Controller - [ISA]
8259pic.txt - [info txt] By Chris Hall at www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Campus/1671/docs/pica.htm8259A Interrupt Controller on the PC
8259pic2.txt - [info txt] By Coridon Henshaw at www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Campus/1671/docs/pic.htmAn allmost-all in one reference for the 8259 PIC found on most PCs.
8272 Single/Double Density Floppy Disk Controller - [Floppy]
8272-fdc.zip - [intel manual zip txt] By intel at www.intel.comINTEL 8272 SINGLE/DOUBLE DENSITY FLOPPY DISK CONTROLER. asci txt manual.
82801AA (ICH) and 82801AB (ICH0) I/O Controller Hub AC '97 Programmer's Reference Manual - [PCI Chipsets]
82801AA (ICH) and Intel 82801AB (ICH0) I/O Controller Hub Datasheet - [PCI Chipsets]
82801BA I/O Controller Hub (ICH2) AC '97 Programmer's Reference Manual - [PCI Chipsets]
82801BA I/O Controller Hub 2 (ICH2) and 82801BAM I/O Controller Hub 2 Mobile (ICH2-M) Datasheet - [PCI Chipsets]
82801CA (ICH3), 82801BA (ICH2), 82801AA (ICH), and 82801AB (ICH0) IDE Controller Programmer's Reference Manual - [ATA] Revision 1.0
82C50A CMOS Asynchronous Communications Element - [Serial Ports]
82C931 Plug and Play Integrated Audio Controller Data Book - [Sound]
840 Chipset: 82804AA Memory Repeater Hub for SDRAM (MRH-S) Datasheet - [PCI Chipsets]
840 Chipset: 82806AA PCI 64 Hub (P64H) Datasheet - [PCI Chipsets]
840 Chipset: 82840 Memory Controller Hub (MCH) Datasheet - [PCI Chipsets]
84302 Quad 100/10 Mbps Ethernet Controller with RMON/SNMP Management Counters - [Ethernet]
8x931AA, 8x931HA Universal Serial Bus Peripheral Controller User's Manual - [USB]
8XXTARG Revision 2.3 - [SCSI] "This software was written by Symbios Logic to develop and test new products." Includes source code.
A Comparison of the INS8250, NS16450 and NS16550AF Series of UARTs - [Serial Ports]
A Minimal PowerPC Boot Sequence for Executing Compiled C Programs - Application Note - [PowerPC Architecture]
a.out Architecture-Dependent File Format - [Executable Formats]
AC'97 SoundMAX Codec AD1881 - [Sound]
AC'97 SoundMAX Codec AD1885 - [Sound]
AC'97 SoundMAX Codec AD1886 - [Sound]
AC'97 SoundPort Codec AD1819A - [Sound]
AC'97 SoundPort Codec AD1819B - [Sound]
AC'97 SoundPort Codec AD1885 - [Sound]
Accelerated Graphics Port Interface Specification - [Video] A better reference on this subject: _AGP System Architecture_.
Adobe Acrobat Reader v4.0 - [Misc. Utilities]
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Specification Revision 1.0b - [ACPI]
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Specification Revision 2.0a - [ACPI]
Advanced PCI Bridge (APB) User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
Advanced Power Management (APM) BIOS Interface Specification - [APM]
AK4524 24-Bit 96kHz Audio CODEC - [Sound]
AK4528 High Performance 24Bit 96kHz Audio CODEC - [Sound]
AK4531 Audio CODEC with 13ch Mixer and 18bit DAC - [Sound]
AK4540 AC'97 Multimedia Audio CODEC - [Sound]
AK4543 AC'97 Rev 2.1 Multimedia Audio CODEC - [Sound]
Alpha 21164 Microprocessor Data Sheet - [Alpha Architecture]
Alpha 21164 Microprocessor Hardware Reference Manual - [Alpha Architecture] Same as the Alpha 21164PC??
Alpha 21164PC Microprocessor Hardware Reference Manual - [Alpha Architecture]
Alpha 21264 Microprocessor Hardware Reference Manual - [Alpha Architecture]
Alpha Architecture Handbook - Alpha Architecture Handbook - by Compaq Alpha is a 64-bit load/store RISC architecture that is designed with particular emphasis on the three elements that most affect performance: clock speed, multiple instruction issue, and multiple processors.
Alpha Architecture Handbook Version 4 - [Alpha Architecture]
Alpha SRM Console for Alpha Microprocessor Motherboards User's Guide - [Alpha Architecture]
AlphaPC 164SX Motherboard DIGITAL UNIX User's Manual - [Alpha Architecture]
AlphaPC 164SX Motherboard Technical Reference Manual - [Alpha Architecture]
AlphaPC 264DP Technical Reference Manual - [Alpha Architecture]
ALS4000 Media Audio Controller SPEC - [Sound]
AltiVec Technology Programming Interface Manual - AltiVec Technology Programming Interface Manual - by Motorola Inc. This document defines a programming model for use with the AltiVec instruction set extension to the PowerPC architecture. There are three types of programming interfaces described in this document: 1. A high-level language interface, intended for use within programming languages such as C or C++. 2. An application binary interface (ABI) dephning low-level coding conventions. 3. An assembly language interface.
Am78C201A InterWave Interactive Audio and Wavetable Solution - [Sound]
Am79C90 CMOS Local Area Network Controller for Ethernet (C-LANCE) - [Ethernet]
Am79C960 PCnet-ISA Single-Chip Ethernet Controller - [Ethernet]
Am79C961 PCnet-ISA Jumperless Single-Chip Ethernet Controller for ISA - [Ethernet]
Am79C961A PCnet-ISA II Jumperless, Full Duplex Single-Chip Ethernet Controller for ISA - [Ethernet]
Am79C965 PCnet-32 Single-Chip 32-Bit Ethernet Controller - [Ethernet]
Am79C970 PCnet-PCI Single-Chip Ethernet Controller for PCI Local Bus - [Ethernet]
Am79C970A PCnet-PCI II Single-Chip Full-Duplex Ethernet Controller for PCI Local Bus - [Ethernet]
Am79C971 PCnet-FAST Single-Chip Full-Duplex 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Controller for PCI Local Bus - [Ethernet]
Am79C972 PCnet-FAST+ Enhanced 10/100 Mbps PCI Ethernet Controller with OnNow Support - [Ethernet]
Am79C974 PCnet-SCSI Combination Ethernet and SCSI Controller for PCI Systems - [Ethernet]
Am79C976 PCnet-PRO 10/100 Mbps PCI Ethernet Controller - [Ethernet]
Am79C978 PCnet-Home Single-Chip 1/10 Mbps PCI Home Networking Controller - [Ethernet]
Am79C978A PCnet - Home Single-Chip 1/10 Mbps PCI Home Networking Controller - [Ethernet]
AMD 100mhz Super-7 Bus Specs - AMD 100mhz Super-7 Bus Specs - by AMD Inc Specification for the Super-7 Series of bus interface processors. Super-7 is an extension of the normal Socket 7 boards to accomadate the 100mhz bus demanded by today's applications
AMD 64bit programmer's overview -
AMD Extensions to MMX and 3DNow! - AMD Extensions to MMX and 3DNow! - by AMD Inc. This document describes extensions to MMX and 3DNow! added by the AMD Athlon processor family. The AMD Athlon processor adds 24 new instructions to the existing 3DNow! and MMXâ„¢ instruction sets and implements additional microarchitecture enhancements that enable more efficient operation of all these instructions. In addition, they simplified the programming model by removing architectural restrictions.
AMD MMX Technology Manual - AMD MMX Technology Manual - by AMD Inc. In response to the growing need to provide improved PC multimedia capabilities, the AMD-K6 tm MMXenhanced processor is the first member in the AMD family of processors to incorporate a robust multimedia technology that is fully software compatible with the MMX technology as defined by Intel. This multimedia technology enables scaleable multimedia capabilities across a broad range of PC system price/performance points.
AMD-640 Chipset BIOS Design Application Note - [PCI Chipsets]
AMD-640 System Controller Data Sheet - [PCI Chipsets]
AMD-645 Peripheral Bus Controller Data Sheet - [PCI Chipsets]
AMDx86CodeOptimization.pdf - [pdf manual cpu] By AMD at www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/21828.pdfAMD x86 Code Optimization PDF.
An Operating Systems Vade Mecum - [OS Theory] "Traditionally, a vade mecum (pronounced "VAHdee MAYkem") is a laboratory manual that guides the student step by step through complex procedures. Operating systems are complex mixtures of policy and mechanism, of algorithm and heuristic, and of theoretical goals and practical experience. This vade mecum tries to unify these diverse points of view and guide the novice step by step through the complexities of the subject."
An Overview of the Intel IA-64 Compiler - [IA64 Architecture]
Analysis of the Ext2fs structure - [File Systems]
Andy McFadden's CD-Recordable FAQ - [CD-R/W]
ARC88 Documents and Source Code ZIP - [Sound]
Assembly Language Programming Tools for the IA-64 Architecture - [IA64 Architecture]
Assigned Numbers (RFC 762) - [Network Protocols]
AT Attachment Interface for Disk Drives (ATA-1) - [ATA]
AT Attachment Interface with Extensions (ATA-2) - [ATA]
AT Attachment Interface with Extensions (ATA-2) - AT Attachment Interface with Extensions (ATA-2) This standard defines an integrated interface between devices and host processors. It provides a common point of attachment for systems manufacturers, system integrators, and suppliers of intelligent devices.... The ATA interface is the commonly used interface for attaching IDE hard disks and ATAPI CD-ROM drives.
AT Attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI) - [ATA] I don't know where I found this; it's so old, but my guess is that it originated from T13. T10 would be my second guess (www.t10.org), since ATAPI is really SCSI commands over ATA wires.
AT Attachment with Packet Interface - 5 (ATA/ATAPI-5) - [ATA]
AT Attachment with Packet Interface - 6 (ATA/ATAPI-6) - [ATA]
AT Attachment with Packet Interface Extension (ATA/ATAPI-4) - [ATA]
AT Attachment-3 Interface (ATA-3) - [ATA]
AT Attachment-3 Interface (ATA-3) Specs - AT Attachment-3 Interface (ATA-3) Specs This standard documents the new version of the ATA Interface, version 3.
ATA Host Adapter Standards Proposal - [ATA]
ATA-ATAPI.COM -- ATA ATAPI IDE EIDE SCSI 1394 -- by Hale Landis - This site is a great resource for anyone seeking up-to-date and correct information about the ATA and ATAPI interfaces and some related items.
ATM622-s User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture] Single Chip ATM SAR
ATX Spec v2.01 - ATX Spec v2.01 ATX was developed as an evolution of the Baby-AT form-factor and was defined to address four major areas of improvement: enhanced ease-of-use, better support for current and future I/O, better support for current and future processor technology, and reduced total system cost.
Audio Codec '97 Component Specs v2.1 - Audio Codec 97 Component Specs v2.1 - by Intel Corporation The AC 97 Controller, primarily targeted for PCI, can be as simple as a stand-alone design which supports high quality sample rate conversions to/from 48kHz, Sound Blaster compatibility, FM and/or wavetable synthesis, with optional DirectSound acceleration, AC-3 decode, etc. - This document describes Intel's recommendation for audio chips that are intended to be packaged on a motherboard. This includes software interface specs...
Audio Codec '97 Revision 2.1 - [Sound]
Audio Codec '97 Revision 2.2 - [Sound]
Audio Codec '97 Revision 2.3 - [Sound]
BIOS Boot Specification v1.01 - BIOS Boot Specification v1.01 - by Compaq, Phoenix and Intel "The purpose of this specification is to describe a methodology by which the BIOS will identify all IPL (Initial Program Load) devices in the system, prioritize them in the order the user selects, and then sequentially go through each device and attempt to boot. The BIOS must become more intelligent about booting because the Plug and Play BIOS Specification places additional requirements on the BIOS during the boot process, and there are now more devices that are bootable such as CD-ROM, network remote boot, PCMCIA, etc."
BIOS Boot Specification Version 1.01 - [Bootloaders]
BIOS Enhanced Disk Drive Specification Version 3.0 Rev 0.8 - [ATA]
BootableCDFormat.doc - [info doc] By at A Doc on the bootable CD format
Bt848/848A/849A Single-Chip Video Capture for PCI - [Video]
Bt878/879 Single-Chip Video and Broadcast Audio Capture for the PCI Bus - [Video]
Clarification on Plug and Play ISA spec -
Clarifications to the Plug and Play ISA Specification, Version 1.0a - [ISA]
CMI8330A/C3D PnP Audio Chip - [Sound]
coff.txt - [info txt] By DJ Delorie at www.delorie.com/djgpp/doc/coff/DJGPP COFF file header info
Communication and Networking Riser Specification Revision 1.1 - [Sound]
Computing the Internet Checksum (RFC 1071) - [Network Protocols]
Cottontail Bootloader v0.02 - [Bootloaders] Contains pre-built binaries, source, README, and example configuration script. Includes both 1st and 2nd stage bootloaders.
CPUID Algorithm Wars - [IA32 Architecture] Written by Robert R. Collins
CPUID and Processor Identification - [IA32 Architecture] Written by Jens Olsson - http://www.jens.n3.net/
Crystal Semiconductor Source Code - [Sound] Source code ZIP with no README.
Crystal Semiconductor Wave Player/Recorder - [Sound] Includes source code and binaries.
CS4201 CrystalClear Audio Codec '97 with Headphone Amplifier - [Sound]
CS4205 CrystalClear Audio Codec '97 for Portable Computing - [Sound]
CS4231A Parallel Interface, Multimedia Audio Codec - [Sound]
CS4232 Games Compatible Plug-and-Play Audio System - [Sound]
CS4235 CrystalClear Low Cost ISA Audio System - [Sound]
CS4236B CrystalClear Single Chip Audio System - [Sound]
CS4237B CrystalClear Advanced Audio System with 3D Sound - [Sound]
CS4238B CrystalClear Advanced Audio System with 3D Sound - [Sound]
CS4239 CrystalClear Portable ISA Audio System - [Sound]
CS4281 Programming Manual Revision 1.17w - [Sound]
CS4294 SoundFusion Audio/Docking Codec '97 (AMC'97) - [Sound]
CS4297 CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Codec '97 - [Sound]
CS4297A CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Codec '97 - [Sound]
CS4298 SoundFusion Audio/Modem Codec '97 (AMC'97) - [Sound]
CS4299 CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Codec '97 - [Sound]
CS4610/11 CrystalClear SoundFusion PCI Audio Accelerator - [Sound]
CS4614 CrystalClear SoundFusion PCI Audio Accelerator - [Sound]
CS4920A Multi-Standard Audio Decoder - DAC - [Sound]
CS8427 96 kHz Digital Audio Interface Transceiver - [Sound]
CS8920A Advanced Product Databook - [Ethernet] Crystal LAN ISA Plug-and-Play Ethernet Controller
CY82C693UB hyperCache / Stand-Alone PCI Peripheral Controller with USB - [PCI Chipsets]
Data Interchange on Read-Only 120mm Optical Data Disks (CD-ROM) - [CD-ROM] Standard ECMA-130, 2nd Edition
DE520 Driver Development Information (Fast EtherWORKS PMC/PCI Adapter) - [Ethernet]
DECchip 21071 and DECchip 21072 Core Logic Chipsets Data Sheet - [Alpha Architecture]
DECchip 21171 Core Logic Chipset Technical Reference Manual - [Alpha Architecture]
Design of the 21174 Memory Controller for DIGITAL Personal Workstations - [Alpha Architecture] Written by Reinhard C. Schumann
Designing Interoperability into IA-64 Systems: DIG64 Guidelines - [IA64 Architecture]
Detecting Intel Processors: Knowing the generation of a system CPU - [IA32 Architecture] Written by Robert R. Collins.
Developer Kit for Sound Blaster Series Hardware Programming Reference - [Sound] Second Edition
DIGI96 Documents ZIP - [Sound]
Digital Audio Compression Standard (AC-3) - [Sound]
Digital Audio Compression Standard (AC-3) Errata Sheet - [Sound]
DIGITAL Personal Workstations: The Design of High-performance, Low-cost Alpha Systems - [Alpha Architecture] Written by Kenneth M. Weiss and Kenneth A. House
Direct disk I/O module for IDE disk controllers - Direct disk I/O module for IDE disk controllers - by Alan Martin This code example demonstrates direct IDE disk control, using the IO ports. This code does not use interrupts to drive the disk, but instead polls for the data. Also included is this test program. http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/files/Disk/HDTEST.asm
Divide, Square Root and Remainder Algorithms for the IA-64 Architecture - [IA64 Architecture]
DJGPP COFF Format - [Executable Formats]
DJGPP for Windows 2000/XP - [Development Tools] My distribution downloaded June 6, 2002.
DM9008 ISA/Plug and Play Super Ethernet Controller - [Ethernet]
DP83815 10/100 Mb/s Integrated PCI Ethernet Media Access Controller and Physical Layer (MacPhyter) - [Ethernet]
DP8390 Network Interface Controller: An Introductory Guide - [Ethernet]
DP83905 AT/LANTIC AT Local Area Network Twisted-Pair Interface Controller - [Ethernet]
DP8390D/NS32490D NIC Network Interface Controller - [Ethernet]
DP8473 Floppy Disk Controller PLUS-2 - [Floppy]
DSC Dual Processor System Controller User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
DSCC4 DMA Supported Serial Communications Controller with 4 Channels - [Serial Ports]
DUG_IDE - [ATA] "Provides IDE disk info on both drives in the system." Includes source code.
EISA System Architecture Second Edition - [EISA] Written by Tom Shanley and Don Anderson. Free e-book version of the out of print edition.
ELANC-PCI (Twisted-Pair Ether-LAN Controller with PCI Interface) - [Ethernet]
Enhanced Super I/O Controller with Fast IR - [ISA Chipsets]
ENSONIQ AudioPCI 97 ES1371 Specification - [Sound]
EPIC/IA64 support for GCC - EPIC/IA64 support for GCC - by The EPIC Mailing List This site will eventually hold development information for the IA64 GCC (and all other epic versions?). Right now though, it is an excellent collection of links to a variety of sites that contain hints and clues about the Merced and other IA64 Processors (including the mysterious Elbrus E2K chip). A great source for information!
Errata for "USB Revision 2.0 April 27, 2000" as of 12/7/2000 - [USB]
ES1869 AudioDrive Solution Data Sheet - [Sound]
ES1878 AudioDrive Data Sheet - [Sound]
ES1879 AudioDrive Solution Data Sheet - [Sound]
ES1946 Solo-1E PCI AudioDrive Notebook Solution Data Sheet - [Sound]
ES1988 Allegro PCI Audio-Modem Accelerator Data Sheet - [Sound]
Etherlink (3C501) Adapter Technical Reference - [Ethernet]
EtherLink 16 and EtherLink 16 TP Adapter Technical Reference Guide (3C507) - [Ethernet]
EtherLink II Adapter Technical Reference Manual (3C503) - [Ethernet]
EtherLink III LAN PC Card ERS (3C589D) - [Ethernet]
EtherLink III Parallel Tasking ISA, EISA, Micro Channel, and PCMCIA Adapter Drivers Technical Reference (3C5x9B) - [Ethernet]
EtherLink/MC 32 Technical Reference Guide (3C527) - [Ethernet]
EtherLinx/MC: Micro Channel Ethernet Adapter Technical Reference Manual (3C523) - [Ethernet]
Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol (RFC 826) - [Network Protocols]
EXB-10i Cartridge Handling Subsystem User's Manual - [Tape Drives]
EXB-8205 and EXB-8505 8mm Tape Drives Product Specification - [Tape Drives]
EXB-8205 and EXB-8505 8mm Tape Drives SCSI Reference - [Tape Drives]
EXB-8500 8mm Cartridge Tape Subsystem User's Manual - [Tape Drives]
EXB-8500 and EXB-8500c 8mm Tape Drive Product Specification - [Tape Drives]
Extended ASCII Key Codes - [Keyboard]
Extended System Configuration Data Specification Version 1.03 - [BIOS]
Extensible Firmware Interface Specification Version 0.92 - [IA64 Architecture] Draft for Review
Extensible Firmware Interface: booting the new generation of Intel Architecture platforms - [IA64 Architecture] Written by Mark Doran.
FAT32 File System Specification - [File Systems]
FDC37C6XX Super I/O Universal Design-In Application Note - [ISA Chipsets]
FDC37C93x Tips: Enabling Gate A20 and Keyboard Reset and General Purpose I/O Options - [Keyboard] Written by Bob Gross and Carl Shooley.
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Specs - Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Specs This Profile specifies Fibre Channel and SCSI-3 options to ensure interoperability between SCSI Initiators and Disk Targets on a private Loop (no Fibre Channel fabric attached).
Fibre Channel Protocol for SCSI - [SCSI]
Fibre Channel Protocol for SCSI, Second Version (FCP-2) - [SCSI]
Floppy Controller Routines - [Floppy] "These are some routines to control a PC-compatible floppy controller." Includes source code.
Floppy Disk Data Separator Design Guide for the DP8473 - [Floppy]
Floppy Drive Controller Data Sheet - Floppy Drive Controller Data Sheet - by Intel Corp This is the official datasheet from Intel for the 82077AA single chip floppy disk controller chip.
Floppy Media Type ID's - Floppy Media Type ID's - by Raster Listing of the BIOS media ID codes for various floppy drive types and sizes.
floppy.txt - [info txt] By at NEC PD765 - Floppy Disk Controller - 8272A
FM801 Sw Application Notes 001: FM801 GPIO Pins Access - [Sound]
FM801 Sw Application Notes 002: FM801 Device Enable/Disable - [Sound]
FM801-AU PCI Audio Controller - [Sound]
Format of BIOS Data Segment at segment 40h - Format of BIOS Data Segment at segment 40h This short file describes the format of the BIOS data segment that immediately follows the intterupt table in memory. This holds all kinds of neat stuff figured out by the BIOS, check it out!
Format of the CMOS Data Area - Format of the CMOS Data Area - by James Vahn This is another short file, this one describes the CMOS data. This includes stuff like the RTC and various status registers.
Generic Packetized Protocol (SCSI-GPP) - [SCSI]
Geode CS5530 I/O Companion Multi-Function South Bridge - [PCI Chipsets]
Gravis UltraSound, PC GamePad and Analog Pro SDK V2.22 - [Sound] Includes source code
Great Microprocessors of the Past and Present (V 11.4.3) - [IA32 Architecture] .
How It Works - [ATA]
How to optimize for the Pentium family of microprocessors - How to optimize for the Pentium family of microprocessors - by Agner Fog This is an AWESOME document that describes everything you could ever want to know about the Pentium/PMMX/PPro/PII/PIII family of chips. Everything from the microarchitecture and timing details to bugs and gotchas... this is an excellent manual.
IA-32 Intel Architecture Software Developer's Manual Volume 2: Instruction Set Reference - [IA32 Architecture]
IA-32 Intel Architecture Software Developer's Manual Volume 3: System Programming Guide - [SMP (IA32)] see chapter 7 for general MP information; chapter 7.6 is a detailed explanation of the local APIC.
IA-64 Architecture - A Detailed Tutorial - IA-64 Architecture - A Detailed Tutorial - by Sverre Jarp This is an excellent tutorial on the IA-64 architecture... providing must more accessable information. It is broken into 4 distinct parts: Introduction and Overview, Multimedia Programming, Floating Point Programming, and Optimization.
IA-64 Assembler User's Guide - [IA64 Architecture]
IA-64 Assembly Language Reference Guide - [IA64 Architecture]
IA-64 Compiler Technology - [IA64 Architecture]
IA-64 Floating-Point Operations and the IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic - [IA64 Architecture]
IA-64 Software Conventions and Runtime Arch Guide - IA-64 Software Conventions and Runtime Arch Guide - by Intel Corp. This document describes common 64-bit software conventions for the Intel IA-64 Architecture. It does not define operating system interfaces or any conventions specific to any single operating system.
IA-64 Software Conventions and Runtime Architecture Guide - [IA64 Architecture]
IA-64 System Abstraction Layer Specification - [IA64 Architecture]
IA64 Application Developer's Guide - IA64 Application Developer's Guide - by Intel Corp. The first part of this document provides a comprehensive description of the IA-64 architecture, which is exposed to application software. This includes information on application level resources, the application environment, detailed application instruction descriptions, formats and encodings.
IBM PC Keyboard Information for Software Developers - [Keyboard]
ICE1712 Envy-24 PCI Multi-Channel I/O Controller - [Sound]
IDE - Hardware Reference & Information Document - IDE - Hardware Reference & Information Document - by Alex T. Ivopol This document gives a lot of details about accessing and manipulating IDE disks directly, as an operating system would have to do. This document is heartily recommended for those who do not want to use the BIOS through VM86 mode. :)
IEEE P1281 System Use Sharing Protocol Draft Standard Version 1.12 - [CD-ROM] Standard for Information Technology - Use of ISO 9660:1988 System Use Fields.
IEEE P1282 Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol Draft Standard Version 1.12 - [CD-ROM] Standard for Information Technology - Interchange of ISO 9945-1:1990 Filesystems via the ISO 9660:1988 File Structure
Information Specification for ATAPI DVD Devices Rev 5.1 - [DVD]
Information Specification for Bootable CD-ROM Rev 1.0 - [CD-ROM]
Information Specification for Bootable CD-ROMs - Information Specification for Bootable CD-ROMs - by SFF Committee This document defines how CD-ROM manufacturers can package several floppy and hard disk images on a single piece of media with the ability to catalog these images and selectively boot from any single image.
Information Zefiro ZA2 - [Sound]
Instruction Opcodes - Instruction Opcodes 386 Programmers Guide This is the official documentation on the 386 processor... in plaintext format.
Intel 80386 Programmer's Reference Manual 1986 - [IA32 Architecture]
Intel Architecture Optimization Manual - Intel Architecture Optimization Manual - by Intel Corp. Applications developed for the 8086/8088, 80286, Intel386 (DX or SX), and Intel486 processors will execute on the Pentium Â® , Pentium Pro and Pentium II processors without any modification or recompilation. However, the following code optimization techniques and architectural information will help you tune your application to its greatest potential.
Intel IA-64 Architecture Software Developer's Manual Volume 1: IA-64 Application Architecture - [IA64 Architecture] Revision 1.1, July 2000
Intel IA-64 Architecture Software Developer's Manual Volume 2: IA-64 System Architecture - [IA64 Architecture] Revision 1.1, July 2000
Intel IA-64 Architecture Software Developer's Manual Volume 3: Instruction Set Reference - [IA64 Architecture] Revision 1.1, July 2000
Intel IA-64 Architecture Software Developer's Manual Volume 4: Itanium Pocessor Programmer's Guide - [IA64 Architecture] Revision 1.1, July 2000
Intel Multi-Processor Specification v1.4 - Intel Multi-Processor Specification v1.4 - by Intel Corp The MultiProcessor Specification defines an enhancement to the standard to which PC manufacturers design DOS-compatible systems. MP-capable operating systems will be able to run without special customization on multiprocessor systems that comply with this specification. End users who purchase a compliant multiprocessor system will be able to run their choice of operating systems.
Intel's IA64 Architecture Site - Intel's IA64 Architecture Site - by Intel Corp. This is a clearing house of developer information about the IA64 architecture. There are many interesting documents on it, all explaining the interesting components of the architecture... this will be the future.
Intel740 Graphics Accelerator Datasheet - [Video]
Intel PentiumÂ® 4 Processor - Manuals -
Interfacing the AT Keyboard - [Keyboard]
Interfacing the IBM PC Parallel Printer Port - [Parallel Ports]
Interfacing The PC : Using Interrupts - Programming the PC's Programmable Interrupt Controller
Interfacing The Serial / RS-232 Port - Interfacing the Serial / RS232 Port
Internet Control Message Protocol (RFC 792) - [Network Protocols]
Internet Protocol (RFC 791) - [Network Protocols]
InterWave Driver Developmer's Kit Rev. 1.0 - [Sound] Includes source code
InterWave GAME API Specification - [Sound] Includes source code
InterWave IC Am78C201/202 Programmer's Guide Rev. 2 - [Sound]
ISO/IEC DIS 9660:1999 Volume and File Structure of CD-ROM for Information Interchange - [CD-ROM]
Itanium Processor Floating-point Software Assistance and Floating-point Exception Handling - [IA64 Architecture]
Itanium Processor Microarchitecture Reference for Software Optimization - [IA64 Architecture] August 2000
Journey to the Protected Land: Fancy Text Output and a Boot Mystery - [Video]
Korg 1212 Documents and Source ZIP - [Sound]
LAN83C171 - EPIC/XF ACPI/PC 97 Compliant Inegrated PCI 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet Controller - [Ethernet]
LAN91C110 FEAST Fast Ethernet Controller for PCMCIA and Generic 16-Bit Applications - [Ethernet]
LAN91C95 ISA/PCMCIA Full Duplex Single-Chip Ethernet and Modem Controller with RAM - [Ethernet]
LSI53C875/875E PCI to Ultra SCSI I/O Processor Technical Manual - [SCSI]
M68000 8-/16-/32-Bit Microprocessors User's Manual Ninth Edition - [68K Architecture]
M68060 User's Manual - [68K Architecture] "Including the MC68060, MC68LC060, and MC68EC060"
Maestro-2 Board Test v1.07 - [Sound] Includes source code and binaries.
Maestro-2 PCI Audio Accelerator Data Sheet - [Sound]
MC68020 MC68EC020 Microprocessors User's Manual First Edition - [68K Architecture]
microSPARC-IIep User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
MiniModule/SVG-II Technical Manual - [Video]
MIPSpro(tm) Assembly Language Programmer's Guide - MIPSpro(tm) Assembly Language Programmer's Guide - by Silicon Graphics, Inc. This book describes the assembly language supported by the RISCompiler system, its syntax rules, and how to write assembly programs. For information on assembling and linking an assembly language program, see the MIPSpro Compiling, Debugging and Performance Tuning Guide.
Multiprocessing Support for Hobby OSes Explained - [SMP (IA32)] Very good beginner's guide to SMP using the Intel Architecture.
MultiProcessor Specification - [SMP (IA32)] Intel MultiProcessor Specification Version 1.4
MultiRead Specification for CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-R/RW and DVD-ROM Devices - [CD-ROM]
NASM Documentation - [Development Tools] Netwide Assembler documentation
NASM for Windows/DOS - [Development Tools] Netwide Assembler EXE
NEC uPD765A/uPD765B Single/Double Density Floppy-Disk Controller - [Floppy]
Noisy Drives or Don't You Growl at Me - [Floppy] Provides the best explanation of floppy 'step rate' I've been able to find. Also includes program 'steprate' plus source.
NTFS Documentation - [File Systems]
OpenHCI Open Host Controller Interface Specification for USB Release 1.0a - [USB]
Order X86-64 Architecture Manuals -
Overview of Digital Audio Interface Data Structures - [Sound] Written by Clif Sanchez and Roger Taylor
PALcode for Alpha Microprocessors System Design Guide - [Alpha Architecture]
Parallel-Port 16-Bit SoundPort Stereo Codec AD1845 - [Sound]
Parallel-Port 16-Bit SoundPort Stereo Codec AD1848K - [Sound]
Part #1 - Applications Programming - Part #1 - Applications Programming 386 Programmers Guide This is the official documentation on the 386 processor... in plaintext format.
Part #2 - Systems Programming - Part #2 - Systems Programming 386 Programmers Guide This is the official documentation on the 386 processor... in plaintext format.
Part #3 - Compatibility - Part #3 - Compatibility 386 Programmers Guide This is the official documentation on the 386 processor... in plaintext format.
Partition Tables - [ATA] Various documents I've gathered on partition tables
PC Keyboard Scan Codes - [Keyboard]
PC16550D Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter with FIFOs - [Serial Ports]
PC87108AVHG/PC87108AVJE Advanced UART and Infrared Controller - [Serial Ports]
PCI 9050-1 Data Book Version 1.01 - [PCI]
PCI and AGP Vendors, Devices and Subsystems identification file - [PCI]
PCI Audio Design Guide for Embedded Systems - [Sound] Specification of Hardware Interfaces Required for PCI Audio in Embedded Applications. Written by Mark Gentry.
PCI BIOS Specification Revision 2.1 - [PCI] A better reference on this subject: _PCI System Architecture_.
PCI BIOS Specs - PCI BIOS Specs - by PCI Special Interest Group This document describes the software interface presented by the PCI BIOS functions. This interface provides a hardware independent method of managing PCI devices in a host computer. This document is intended to provide enough information to software developers to utilize PCI devices in a host computer withut any knowledge of how the actual hardware performs the desired functions.
PCI IDE Controller Specification Revision 1.0 - [ATA] T13 is a guess.
PCI Local Bus Specification - [PCI] A better reference on this subject: _PCI System Architecture_.
PCI Vendor & Device IDs - PCI Vendor IDs are allocated by the PCI Special Interest Group and Device IDs by each vendor. The list contains 1629 Vendor IDs, 2253 Device IDs, 57 Revision codes and 1339 Subsystem IDs
PCI-SCSI I/O Processors - [SCSI]
PCI/EISA Bus-Master Adapter Driver Technical Reference (3C59x) - [Ethernet] "Members of the 3Com EtherLink III and Fast EtherLink families of adapters"
PCIO Peripheral Component Interconnect Input Output Controller - [SPARC Architecture]
Pentium(r)Processor - Manuals - PentiumÂ® Processors - Manuals
PIC Port Reference - PIC Port Reference - by Coridon Henshaw This document serves as a reference for all of the ports available on the PIC chip.
Plug and Play SCSI Specs - Plug and Play SCSI Specs The Plug and Play SCSI effort was undertaken as an extension to Plug and Play ISA. Microsoft encouraged host adapter manufacturers to participate in this effort to develop an easy to use SCSI environment in the personal computer marketplace.
Plug and Play BIOS Specification Version 1.0A - [PNP]
Plug and Play Design Specification for IEEE 1394 - [PNP]
Plug and Play External COM Device Specification v1.00 - Plug and Play External COM Device Specification v1.00 This specification presents a mechanism to provide automatic configuration capability to peripheral devices that connect to a PC using Asynchronous Serial Data Interchange on standard serial ports, commonly known as COM ports. This enables full Plug and Play for the PC system, including external serial peripherals, referred to here as COM Devices.
Plug and Play External COM Device Specification Version 1.00 - [Serial Ports]
Plug and Play Firewire Specification v1.0b - Plug and Play Firewire Specification v1.0b This specification is a design reference to aid consistent implementation and ensure interoperability of devices compliant with IEEE 1394-1995. The intent of this specification is to simplify device development through clarification of the requirements for devices and systems under the MicrosoftÂ® Windows NTÂ®version 5.0 and WindowsÂ® 98 operating systems.
Plug and Play ISA Specification v1.0a - Plug and Play ISA Specification v1.0a This specification presents a mechanism to provide automatic configuration capability to Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) cards thus enabling full Plug and Play in the PC.
Plug and Play ISA Specification Version 1.0a - [ISA]
Plug and Play Parallel Port Devices Version 1.0b - [Parallel Ports]
Plug and Play Parellel Specification v1.0b - Plug and Play Parellel Specification v1.0b This document outlines the minimum hardware and software requirements for parallel port devices to obtain Plug and Play support under Chicago. Plug and Play (in this document) is defined as the ability to attach an I/O device to a host, and enable the host to determine that the device has been added, identify it, and either automatically install the necessary device drivers or prompt the user for a diskette containing them. This document is not intended to provide a complete, detailed description of how an operating system will internally accomplish this, but rather to define the necessary hardware/software requirements.
PowerPC Microprocessor Common Hardware Reference Platform: I/O Device Reference - [PowerPC Architecture]
PRODIF24 Hardware Documentation - [Sound]
Programmer's Guide to PC(R) and PS/2(tm) Video Systems: Maximum Video Performance from the EGA(tm), VGA, HGC, and MCGA - [Video]
Programmer's Technical Reference for MSDOS and the IBM PC - [Real Mode]
Programming guide and sample code for RTL8139 family - [Ethernet] Very useful sample code clears up some uncertainty in the documentation.
Programming Interface for Bus Master IDE Controller - [ATA] T13 is a guess. Also, IIRC, this document is 'obsolete', although it still is relevant for hardware made just a few years ago.
Programming the AdLib/Sound Blaster FM Music Chips Version 2.0 - [Sound]
Programming the NEC uPD765 and Intel 82072/7 Floppy Disk Controller - [Floppy]
Programming the PC Speaker - [Sound]
Protected Mode Demo Code - [Protected Mode]
Protected Mode Tutorial - [Protected Mode]
PS/2 Mouse Interfacing - The PS/2 Mouse Interface This article is Copyright 2001, Adam Chapweske
Ralf Brown's Interrupt List - INTER61A.ZIP - [Real Mode]
Ralf Brown's Interrupt List - INTER61B.ZIP - [Real Mode]
Ralf Brown's Interrupt List - INTER61C.ZIP - [Real Mode]
Ralf Brown's Interrupt List - INTER61D.ZIP - [Real Mode]
Realtek 3.3V Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller with Power Management RTL8139C(L) - [Ethernet]
Realtek 3.3V Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller with Power Management RTL8139C(L)+ - [Ethernet]
Realtek Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller and MC'97 Controller with Power Management RTL8101L - [Ethernet]
Realtek Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller with MII and AUI Interface RTL8130 - [Ethernet]
Realtek Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller with Power Management and Multi-Function RTL8139D(L) - [Ethernet]
Realtek Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller with Power Management RTL8100 Programming Guide - [Ethernet] IIRC, this programming guide applies to all Realtek 81XX 100 Base TX cards.
Realtek Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller with Power Management RTL8100(L) - [Ethernet]
Realtek Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller with Power Management RTL8100B(L) - [Ethernet]
Realtek Single Chip Fast Ethernet Controller with Power Management RTL8139B(L) - [Ethernet]
Realtek Single-Chip USB to Fast Ethernet Controller with MII Interface RTL8150L(M) - [Ethernet]
Realtime Operating Systems: Concepts and Implementation of Microkernels for Embedded Systems - [OS Theory] Written by Dr. J'rgen Sauermann and Melanie Thelen
Reduced Block Commands - [SCSI]
Reduced Multimedia Commands - [SCSI]
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RFC 903) - [Network Protocols]
RFC 1918 - http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/rfc/rfc1918.html -
RFC 2581: TCP Congestion Control -
RIC User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
Roll Your Own Intranet - [Network Protocols] All the Roll Your Own Intranet webpages downloaded into one ZIP for easy offline viewing. Written by Mr. Vijay Mukhi, Mr. Arsalan Zaidi and Ms. Sonal Kotecha.
RTL8019AS Realtek Full-Duplex Ethernet Controller with Plug and Play Function (RealPNP) - [Ethernet]
RTL8029AS Realtek PCI Full-Duplex Ethernet Controller with built-in SRAM - [Ethernet]
S3 Video Card Register Reference - [Video]
SAA7785 ThunderBird Avenger PCI Audio Accelerator - [Sound]
SAM9407 Programmer's Reference ZIP - [Sound]
SCSI Architecture Model - 2 (SAM-2) - [SCSI]
SCSI Block Commands - 2 (SBC-2) - [SCSI]
SCSI Controller Commands-2 (SCC-2) - [SCSI] RAID controllers??
SCSI Enhanced Parallel Interface - EPI - [SCSI]
SCSI Multimedia Commands - 2 (MMC-2) - [SCSI]
SCSI Multimedia Commands - 3 (MMC-3) - [SCSI]
SCSI Object Based Storage Device Commands (OSD) - [SCSI]
SCSI on Scheduled Transfer Protocol (SST) - [SCSI]
SCSI Parallel Interface-2 (SPI-2) - [SCSI]
SCSI Parallel Interface-3 (SPI-3) - [SCSI]
SCSI Parallel Interface-4 (SPI-4) - [SCSI]
SCSI Passive Interconnect Performance (PIP) - [SCSI]
SCSI Primary Commands - 2 (SPC-2) - [SCSI]
SCSI Primary Commands - 3 (SPC-3) - [SCSI]
SCSI RDMA Protocol - [SCSI]
SCSI Stream Commands - 2 (SSC-2) - [SCSI]
SCSI-2 Common Access Method Transport and SCSI Interface Module - [SCSI]
SCSI-2 Spec - CD-ROM devices - [SCSI] Very good explanation of CD-ROMs without having to look through all the SCSI specifications. I think I'll use this document to write my ATAPI driver.
SCSI-3 Block Commands (SBC) - [SCSI]
SCSI-3 Enclosure Services Command Set (SES) - [SCSI]
SCSI-3 Media Changer Commands - 2 (SMC-2) - [SCSI]
SCSI-3 Medium Changer Commands (SMC) - [SCSI]
SCSI-3 Stream Commands (SSC) - [SCSI]
Sequential Access Partition Management - [SCSI]
Serial ATA: High Speed Serialized AT Attachment Spec 1.0 - Serial ATA: High Speed Serialized AT Attachment Spec 1.0 - by Serial ATA Workgroup The purpose of this document is to provide a technical specification of a high-speed serialized ATA data link interface. Serial ATA is defined with the following goals and requirements listed in no particular order: Primary inside-the-box storage connection, completely compatible with ATA, low pin count for both host and devices, low voltage, supports lower cost device architectures, higher performance than equivalent ATA.
Serial Bus Protocol 2 (SBP-2) - [SCSI]
Serial Bus Protocol 3 (SBP-3) - [SCSI]
Serial Port Programming Information ZIP - [Serial Ports] Documents and source code
Serial Storage Architecture - Physical Layer 1 (SSA-PH1) - [SCSI]
Serial Storage Architecture - Physical Layer 2 (SSA-PH2) - [SCSI]
Serial Storage Architecture - SCSI-2 Protocol (SSA-S2P) - [SCSI]
Serial Storage Architecture - SCSI-3 Protocol (SSA-S3P) - [SCSI]
Serial Storage Architecture - Transport Layer 1 (SSA-TL1) - [SCSI]
Serial Storage Architecture - Transport Layer 2 (SSA-TL2) - [SCSI]
Serial-Port 16-Bit SoundPort Stereo Codec AD1847 - [Sound]
Serial-Port 16-Bit SoundPort Stereo Codec AD1849K - [Sound]
SFF-8070i Specification for ATAPI Removable Rewritable Media Devices Rev 1.2 - [CD-R/W]
SiS5595 PCI System I/O Chipset Revision 2.0 - [PCI Chipsets]
Small Computer System Interface - 2 - [SCSI]
Small Computer System Interface - v2 (SCSI-2) - Small Computer System Interface - v2 (SCSI-2) This standard defines mechanical, electrical, and functional requirements for attaching physically small computers with each other and with intelligent peripherals such as rigid disks, flexible disks, magnetic tape devices, printers, optical disks, and scanners. The resulting interface facilitates the interconnection of physically small computers and intelligent peripherals and thus provides a common interface specification for both systems integrators and suppliers of intelligent peripherals.
SMC FC37C78 Floppy Disk Controller - [Floppy]
SMC Plug and Play Compatible Ultra I/O Controller - [ISA Chipsets]
Solo-1 PCI AudioDrive Solution Data Sheet - [Sound]
SonicVibes PCI Audio Accelerator - [Sound]
SoundBlaster Programming Information v0.90 - [Sound] Includes source code.
SROM Programming Utilities - [Ethernet] "Supporting the Digital Semiconductor 21140, 21140A, 21041, 21142, 21143 (including 21143 Rev 4.0, Rev 4.1) and 21540 (rev 4.8 and rev 4.9) SROM specification version 4.05." Includes SROM format specification document.
SST-1 Revision 1.61 - [Video] "(a.k.a. Voodoo Graphics)"
SST-96 Voodoo Graphics for Windows Revision 2.2 - [Video] "(a.k.a. Voodoo Rush)"
ST16C650A UART with 32-byte FIFO's and Infrared (IrDA) Encoder/Decoder - [Serial Ports]
STAC9700 Stereo AC'97 Codec Data Sheet - [Sound]
STAC9701/3 Multimedia Audio Codec for AC 97 - [Sound]
STAC9704/7 Multimedia Audio Codec for AC'97 - [Sound]
STAC9705 Audio/Modem Codec for AC 97, 2.0 - [Sound]
STAC9708/11 Multi-Channel AC'97 Codec with Multi-Codec Option - [Sound]
STAC9721/23 Stereo AC'97 Codec with Multi-Codec Option - [Sound]
STAC9744 Stereo AC'97 Codec with Multi-Codec Option and On-Chip SRCs - [Sound]
STAC9756/57 Data Sheet - [Sound] Two channel AC'97 codecs with I2S digital I/O and SPDIF Output
Standard MIDI-File Format Spec v0.06 - Standard MIDI-File Format Spec v0.06 - by Dave Oppenheim and Doug Wyatt Same as the 1.0 spec, with different wording and layout...
Standard MIDI-File Format Spec v1.1 - Standard MIDI-File Format Spec v1.1 The official 1.1 spec. Difficult to read, but the final word in 1.1...
STE10/100 PCI 10/100 Ethernet Controller with Integrated PHY (5V) - [Ethernet]
STP2002QFP Fast Ethernet, Parallel Port, SCSI (FEPS) User's Guide Revision 1.0 - [SPARC Architecture]
Summary of Industry Feedback on APM 1.2 Specification (and FAQ) - [APM]
Sun VIS Instruction Set - Sun VIS Instruction Set - by Sun Microsystems The VIS instruction set extends the Sparc V9 instruction set to make it more suitable for multimedia operations. This allows multiple 8 bit data types to be operated on with a single instruction, for instance...
Superscalar 32-Bit Microprocessors - Product Brief - [68K Architecture] MC68060, MC68LC060, MC68EC060
SuperSPARC II Addendum Rev 1.3 - [SPARC Architecture]
SVR4 ABI for the Power PC - SVR4 ABI for the Power PC This document describes the PowerPC Application Binary Interface for SVR4 Unix. It details parameter passing conventions, the OS interface, object file format, debugging format... etc. Unfortunately, it seems that the pages are in a backwards order... so the first page is page 150, the 150th page is page 1... agravating. If anyone figures out how to fix this, please let me know... :)
Switching VGA modes without BIOS... - [Video] AOD posting, circa 1998
SYM53C875/875E PCI-Ultra SCSI I/O Processor - [SCSI]
The 8272A Floppy Disk Controller - The 8272A Floppy Disk Controller This document details the IO port interface exposed by the common 8272A Floppy controller. Virtually every PC has one of this in it, virtually every OS supports em...
The Comparison Table of RTL8139 Family - [Ethernet]
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (Tutorial) - [Network Protocols]
The EMU10K1 Digital Audio Processor - [Sound]
The Keyboard Interface Tutorial - [Keyboard]
The Mobius Operating System: Documentation: Device Driver Book - [Device Drivers]
The Mobius Operating System: Documentation: Inter-Process Communication - [Device Drivers]
The Operation of the FIFO in the DP8390, DP83901, DP83902 and DP83905 - [Ethernet]
The PC Games Programmers Encyclopedia 1.0 - [Video] Some information on programming specific video cards.
The Plug and Play BIOS Specification v1.0a - The Plug and Play BIOS Specification v1.0a This Plug and Play BIOS Specification defines new functionality to be provided in a PC compatible system BIOS to fulfill the goals of Plug and Play. To achieve these goals, several new components have been added to the System BIOS. Two key areas that are addressed by the System BIOS are resource management and runtime configuration.
The PS/2 Mouse Interface - [Mouse]
The Serial Port - [Serial Ports]
The Sparc Architecture Manual v8 - The Sparc Architecture Manual v8 - by Sun Microsystems SPARC, formulated at Sun Microsystems in 1985, is based on the RISC I & II designs engineered at the University of California at Berkeley from 1980 through 1982. the SPARC register window architecture, pioneered in UC Berkeley designs, allows for straightforward, high-performance compilers and a significant reduction in memory load/store instructions over other RISCs, particularly for large application programs.
The Sparc Architecture Manual v9 - The Sparc Architecture Manual v9 - by Sun Microsystems SPARC-V9 is a robust RISC architecture that will remain competitive well into the next century. The SPARC-V9 architecture delivers oh this promise by enhancing SPARC-V8 to provide explicit support for: 64-bit virtual addresses and 64-bit integer data, improved system performance, advanced optimizing compilers, superscalar implementations, advanced operating systems, fault tolerance, extremely fast trap handling and context switching, big and little endian byte orders.
The Technology Behind Crusoe Processors - [IA32 Architecture] Written by Alexander Klaiber. "Low-power x86-Compatible Processors Implemented with Code Morphing Software"
The Un-official Sound Blaster AWE32 Programming Guide - [Sound]
TIR2000 Data Manual - [Serial Ports] High-Speed Serial Infrared Controller With 64-Byte FIFO
TL16C450 Asynchronous Communications Element - [Serial Ports]
Tool Interface Standard (TIS) Portable Formats Specification Version 1.1 - [Executable Formats] Covers Executable and Linkable Format (ELF), DWARF Debugging Information Format, and Relocatable Object Format Module (OMF).
Transmission Control Protocol (RFC 793) - [Network Protocols]
Trident 4DWAVE Linux Software Programmer's Guide (SPG) - [Sound]
Trident 4DWAVE SPDIF Interface - [Sound]
Trident 4DWAVE-DX Technical Reference Manual - [Sound]
Trident 4DWAVE-DX/NX Linux Software Programmers Guide (SPG) - [Sound]
Tweaking the Video Mode 13h into Mode X - [Video]
U2P UPA to PCI Interface User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
U2S User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
UDA1325 Universal Serial Bus (USB) CODEC - [Sound]
UDI Core Specification Version 1.01 Volume I (Chapters 1-18) - [Device Drivers]
UDI Core Specification Version 1.01 Volume II (Chapters 19-33) - [Device Drivers]
UDI IA-32/IA-64 ABI Binding Specification Version 1.01 - [Device Drivers]
UDI NIC Driver Specification Version 1.01 - [Device Drivers]
UDI PCI Bus Binding Specification Version 1.01 - [Device Drivers]
UDI Physical I/O Specification Version 1.01 - [Device Drivers]
UDI Reference Implementation - [Device Drivers]
UDI SCSI Driver Specification Version 1.01 - [Device Drivers]
UDI System Bus Binding Specification Version 1.01 - [Device Drivers]
UltraSPARC-IIi User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
Universal Disk Format Specification Revision 2.00 - [CD-R/W]
Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI) Design Guide Revision 1.1 - [USB]
Universal Serial Bus Specification Revision 1.1 - [USB]
Universal Serial Bus Specification Revision 2.0 - [USB]
Universal Serial Bus Specs 1.0 - Universal Serial Bus Specs 1.0 This document defines an industry standard Universal Serial Bus. The specification describes the bus attributes, the protocol definition, types of transactions, bus management, and the programming interface required to design and build systems and peripherals that are compliant with this standard.
UNIX System V Application Binary Interface - [IA64 Architecture]
Unknown ATA Demo Code - [ATA]
Unnamed ZIP with a lot of floppy docs and source code - [Floppy]
USB Device Class Definition for Audio Data Formats Release 1.0 - [USB]
USB Device Class Definition for Audio Devices Revision 1.0 - [USB]
USB Device Class Definition for MIDI Devices Release 1.0 - [USB]
USB Device Class Definition for Terminal Types Release 1.0 - [USB]
USB in a Nutshell. Making Sense of the USB Standard. - [USB]
USC User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
User Datagram Protocol (RFC 768) - [Network Protocols]
Using the Digital Semiconductor 21041 with Boot ROM, Serial ROM, and External Register: An Application Note - [Ethernet]
Using the Digital Semiconductor 21140A with Boot ROM, Serial ROM, and External Register: An Application Note - [Ethernet]
VESA BIOS Extension (VBE) Core Functions Standard Version 3.0 - [Video]
VESA Super VGA BIOS Extension - [Video] I believe this is the first VESA BIOS Extension, dated November 14, 1989
VGA Programmers Master Reference Manual - [Video] "Concepts and pragmatics of computational modelling, visual model representation and manipulation, using a Video Graphics Array controller chip."
VGA/SVGA Video Programming--Standard VGA Chipset Reference -
Video Mode 13h Tutor--part 1 - [Video]
Virtual 8086 Mode -
Virtual 8086 Mode - [IA32 Architecture] Written by Tim Robinson - http://www.themoebius.org.uk/
Voodoo Banshee Universal Access 2D Databook Revision 1.0 - [Video]
Voodoo2 Graphics Revision 1.16 - [Video]
Voodoo3 Proogramming Guide: Revision 1.4 - [Video]
VT82C42 Keyboard Controller - [Keyboard]
VT82C586B PIPC PCI Inegrated Peripheral Controller Revision 1.0 - [PCI Chipsets] PC97 Compliant PCI-to-ISA Bridge with ACPI, Distributed DMA, Plug and Play, Master Mode PCI-IDE Controller with UltraDMA-33, USB Controller, Keyboard Controller, and RTC
VT82C686A "Super South" South Bridge PSIPC PCI Super-I/O Integrated Peripheral Controller Revision 1.1 - [PCI Chipsets]
W83977F/AF Data Sheet - [Floppy]
Windows Sockets: An Open Interface for Network Programming under Microsoft Windows (Version 1.1) - [Network Protocols]
Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible, Electronic Edition, Chapter 6 - [ISA Chipsets]
Winzip v8.0 - [Misc. Utilities]
WM9701A Low Power AC'97 Multimedia Audio Codec - [Sound]
WM9703 AC'97 Revision 2.1 Audio Codec - [Sound]
WM9704M AMC'97 Audio and Modem Codec - [Sound]
WM9704Q 4-Channel Surround Sound Codec - [Sound]
Wout Mertens' Guide To Keyboard Programming v1.1 - [Keyboard]
Writing Drivers for the DP8390 NIC Family of Ethernet Controllers - [Ethernet]
Writing Windows NT Device Drivers - [Device Drivers]
x86 Code Optimization for AMD Processors - x86 Code Optimization for AMD Processors - by AMD Inc. This document contains information to assist programmers in creating optimized code for the AMD-K6 processor. This document is targeted at compiler/assembler designers and assembly language programmers writing high-performance code sequences.
XB1 User's Manual - [SPARC Architecture]
YMF711 OPL3-SA2 OPL3 Single-chip Audio System 2 - [Sound]
YMF715 OPL3-SA3 OPL3 Single-chip Audio System 3 - [Sound]
YMF715E OPL3-SA3 OPL3 Single-chip Audio System 3 - [Sound]
YMF715x (OPL3-SA3) Register description Document - [Sound]
YMF721 OPL4-ML2 FM + Wavetable Synthesizer LSI - [Sound]
YMF724F DS-1 - [Sound]
YMF740C DS-1L - [Sound]
YMF744B DS-1S - [Sound]
YMF754 (DS-1E) Hardware Specification - [Sound] PCI Audio function only
YMF754 DS-1E - [Sound]
YMF754 Source Code - [Sound]

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