linux, parport & EPP BIOS calls

David Campbell (campbell@torque.net)
Fri, 16 Oct 1998 07:46:22 +0800


Does anyone have an idea for the "right way" for performing a call ("shock,
horror") to the mainboard BIOS?

There is a little known extension known as "EPP BIOS" which gives better
control over the parallel port. The actual location is found by a call to INT 17h
(BIOS printer location) which then returns a "real mode" address to the BIOS
address space.

Advantages:

a) Avoid the need for wild IRQ probes

b) Change parallel port modes reliably without stumbling around looking for

the IO chipset in wierd and wonderful locations.

Disadvantages:

a) EPP BIOS can only be accessed from real mode (urk!)

Below is an abstract from the API specs.

==================

A.4.3 Set Mode

Set Mode is used to set the operating mode of the EPP port. This call can
only be made while the CPU is operating in real mode.

==================

David Campbell

<nofill>
=======================================================
campbell@torque.net

Current project list:
a) Maintain Linux ZIP drivers
b) Create Linux chipset specific parport drivers
c) Start on ParSCSI drivers

Any assistance to clearing this list most welcome

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