_far*

Syntax

#include <sys/farptr.h> unsigned char _farpeekb(unsigned short selector, unsigned long offset); unsigned short _farpeekw(unsigned short selector, unsigned long offset); unsigned long _farpeekl(unsigned short selector, unsigned long offset); void _farpokeb(unsigned short sel, unsigned long off, unsigned char val); void _farpokew(unsigned short sel, unsigned long off, unsigned short val); void _farpokel(unsigned short sel, unsigned long off, unsigned long val); void _farsetsel(unsigned short selector); unsigned short _fargetsel(void); void _farnspokeb(unsigned long offset, unsigned char value); void _farnspokew(unsigned long offset, unsigned short value); void _farnspokel(unsigned long offset, unsigned long value); unsigned char _farnspeekb(unsigned long offset); unsigned short _farnspeekw(unsigned long offset); unsigned long _farnspeekl(unsigned long offset);

Description

These functions provide the equivalent functionality of "far pointers" to peek or poke an absolute memory addresses, even though gcc doesn't understand the keyword "far". They come in handy when you need to access memory-mapped devices (like VGA) or some address in lower memory returned by a real-mode service. These functions are provided as inline assembler functions, so when you optimize your program they reduce to only a few opcodes (only one more than a regular memory access), resulting in very optimal code.

The first two groups of functions take a selector and an offset. This selector is not a dos segment. If you want to access dos memory, pass _go32_info_block.selector_for_linear_memory (or just _dos_ds, which is defined in the include file go32.h) as the selector, and seg*16+ofs as the offset. For functions which poke the memory, you should also provide the value to put there.

The last two groups assume that you've used _farsetsel to specify the selector. You should avoid making any function calls between _farsetsel and using these other functions, unless you're absolutely sure that they won't modify that selector. This allows you to optimize loops by setting the selector once outside the loop, and using the shorter functions within the loop. You can use _fargetsel if you want to temporary change the selector with _farsetsel and restore it afterwards.

Return Value

Functions which peek the address return the value at given address. _fargetsel returns the current selector.

Portability

ANSI/ISO C	No
POSIX	No