The Undocumented PC: A Programmer's Guide to I/O, CPUs, and Fixed Memory Areas, 2/e

Description

"The ultimate source for low-level details on the PC."
Mike Schmit, author of Pentium Processor Optimization Tools

"...a category-killer for PC-hardware junkies...hard-core technical information."Circuit Cellar INK

"...a bible for system-level programmers."PC Magazine

The best-selling first edition of The Undocumented PC revealed hidden programming features of PC hardware that allowed programmers to solve tricky problems and dramatically speed up the execution time of their programs. Thoroughly revised and updated, this new edition contains even more undocumented and hard-to-find information. The Undocumented PC includes comprehensive coverage of Pentium, Pentium Pro, and MMX functions, AMD's 5K86 processor, 5x86 and 6x86 CPUs from Cyrix, the Windows® 95 keyboard functions, and more.

You will find each major subsystem of the PC explained in detail, followed by extensive reference sections that show and explain both documented and undocumented BIOS functions. Going into a level of detail available nowhere else, The Undocumented PC covers all the major system architectures and is still the only available reference to input/output ports, undocumented CPU instructions, fixed memory areas, and much more.

The bonus disk includes:

• diagnostic and analytical tools, including TSRs that monitor current I/O and serial port status on screen
• equipment detection routines for the disk, diskette, PCI, video, and other important aspects
• CPU detection routines to identify the exact CPU, FPU, speed, vendor, and other critical processor information, including the presence of MMX, and identify the true instruction set (it's often different from what you expect!)
• utilities to identify and test undocumented CPU instructions
• a Model Specific Register program that describes many undocumented registers by name and provides quick access to hidden registers
• demonstration utilities to access CMOS memory, the keyboard controller, and other subsystems

  Plus you get complete, documented source code for all utilities on the disk!

Frank van Gilluwe is President of V Communications, Inc., developers of DOS and Windows programming tools, including the bestselling Sourcer disassembler.