From: "Liam D. Redmond" <LiamRedmond AT busicom DOT demon DOT co DOT uk>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: (SOT) Boot environment
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 14:11:32 -0000
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Phoenix Technologies (a well know known BIOS manufacturer) produce some very
good books on the 'pre-operating system' state of the PC and how BIOS's work
and
actually how the BIOS loads the boot sector etc. Also some memory maps. I
don't
have my book with me so I can't give you the ISBN. Sorry.

Cheers,

Liam. D. Redmond.

Jeramie Hicks wrote in message <3658a7a7 DOT 104312 AT newshost DOT cc DOT utexas DOT edu>...
>Sorry for the "Slightly Off Topic" (SOT) post, but I don't know where
>else a question like this is more appropriate.
>
>What is the computer environment like at boot time, specifically the
>16-bit memory layout before any OS plays with it? I know the the
>vector table starts at memory 0. The video memory is at 0xA000
>(hardware standard, or MS de facto standard?). Pnp BIOSes float their
>data in memory (I can look that up, I've read it before). But what
>else is already loaded in memory, before even the boot sector is
>loaded?
>
>Thanks! And sorry for being SOT...
>
>- Jeramie Hicks