Some Basic Interrupts

Quick reference:

INT 10h/00h
INT 10h/01h
INT 10h/02h
INT 10h/03h
INT 10h/05h
INT 10h/06h
INT 10h/07h
INT 10h/08h
INT 10h/09h
INT 10h/0Ah
INT 10h/0Eh
INT 10h/13h
INT 10h/1003h
INT 11h
INT 12h
INT 13h/00h
INT 13h/02h
INT 13h/03h
INT 15h/86h
INT 16h/00h
INT 16h/01h
INT 19h
INT 1Ah/00h
INT 21h




A list of supported interrupts with descriptions:

 
INT 10h / AH = 00h - set video mode.
input:
AL = desired video mode.

These video modes are supported:

00h - Text mode 40x25, 16 colors, 8 pages.

03h - Text mode 80x25, 16 colors, 8 pages.
 
INT 10h / AH = 01h - set text-mode cursor shape.
input:
CH = cursor start line (bits 0-4) and options (bits 5-7).
CL = bottom cursor line (bits 0-4).

When bits 6-5 of CH are set to 00, the cursor is visible, to hide a cursor set these bits to 01 (this CH value will hide a cursor: 28h - 00101000b). Bit 7 should always be zero.
 
INT 10h / AH = 02h - set cursor position.
input:
DH = row.
DL = column.
BH = page number (0..7).
 
INT 10h / AH = 03h - get cursor position and size.
input:
BH = page number.
return:
DH = row.
DL = column.
CH = cursor start line.
CL = cursor bottom line.
 
INT 10h / AH = 05h - select active video page.
input:
AL = new page number (0..7).
the activated page is displayed.
   
INT 10h / AH = 06h - scroll up window.
INT 10h / AH = 07h - scroll down window.
input:
AL = number of lines by which to scroll (00h = clear entire window).
BH = attribute used to write blank lines at bottom of window.
CH, CL = row, column of window's upper left corner.
DH, DL = row, column of window's lower right corner.
 
INT 10h / AH = 08h - read character and attribute at cursor position.

input:
BH = page number.
return:
AH = attribute.
AL = character.
 
INT 10h / AH = 09h - write character and attribute at cursor position.

input:
AL = character to display.
BH = page number.
BL = attribute.
CX = number of times to write character.
 
INT 10h / AH = 0Ah - write character only at cursor position.

input:
AL = character to display.
BH = page number.
CX = number of times to write character.
 
INT 10h / AH = 0Eh - teletype output.

input:
AL = character to write.
This functions displays a character on the screen, advancing the cursor and scrolling the screen as necessary. The printing is always done to current active page.

 
INT 10h / AH = 13h - write string.

input:
AL = write mode:
    bit 0: update cursor after writing;
    bit 1: string contains attributes.
BH = page number.
BL = attribute if string contains only characters (bit 1 of AL is zero).
CX = number of characters in string (attributes are not counted).
DL,DH = column, row at which to start writing.
ES:BP points to string to be printed.

 
INT 10h / AX = 1003h - toggle intensity/blinking.

input:
BL = write mode:
    0: enable intensive colors.
    1: enable blinking.
BH = 0 (to avoid problems on some adapters).


 
Bit color table:
Character attribute is 8 bit value, low 4 bits set foreground color, high 4 bits set background color. Background blinking not supported.

HEX    BIN        COLOR

0      0000      black
1      0001      blue
2      0010      green
3      0011      cyan
4      0100      red
5      0101      magenta
6      0110      brown
7      0111      light gray
8      1000      dark gray
9      1001      light blue
A      1010      light green
B      1011      light cyan
C      1100      light red
D      1101      light magenta
E      1110      yellow
F      1111      white
 

INT 11h - get BIOS equipment list.
return:
AX = BIOS equipment list word, actually this call returns the contents of the word at 0040h:0010h.

Currently this function can be used to determine the number of installed number of floppy disk drives.

Bit fields for BIOS-detected installed hardware:
Bit(s)	Description
 15-14  number of parallel devices.
 13     not supported.
 12     game port installed.
 11-9   number of serial devices.
 8      reserved.
 7-6    number of floppy disk drives (minus 1):
          00 single floppy disk;
          01 two floppy disks;
          10 three floppy disks;
          11 four floppy disks.
 5-4    initial video mode:
          00 EGA,VGA,PGA, or other with on-board video BIOS;
          01 40x25 CGA color;
          10 80x25 CGA color;
          11 80x25 mono text.
 3    not supported.
 2    not supported.
 1    math coprocessor installed.
 0    set when booted from floppy.
 

INT 12h - get memory size.
return:
AX = kilobytes of contiguous memory starting at absolute address 00000h, this call returns the contents of the word at 0040h:0013h.


Floppy drives are emulated using FLOPPY_0(..3) files.

 

INT 13h / AH = 00h - reset disk system, (currently this call doesn't do anything).

   

INT 13h / AH = 02h - read disk sectors into memory.
INT 13h / AH = 03h - write disk sectors.
input:
AL = number of sectors to read/write (must be nonzero)
CH = cylinder number (0..79).
CL = sector number (1..18).
DH = head number (0..1).
DL = drive number (0..3 , depends on quantity of FLOPPY_? files).
ES:BX points to data buffer.
return:
CF set on error.
CF clear if successful.
AH = status (0 - if successful).
AL = number of sectors transferred.
Note: each sector has 512 bytes.
 

INT 15h / AH = 86h - BIOS wait function.
input:
CX:DX = interval in microseconds
return:
CF clear if successful (wait interval elapsed),
CF set on error or when wait function is already in progress.

Note:
the resolution of the wait period is 977 microseconds on many systems, emu8086 uses 1000 microseconds period.

 

INT 16h / AH = 00h - get keystroke from keyboard (no echo).
return:
AH = BIOS scan code.
AL = ASCII character.
(if a keystroke is present, it is removed from the keyboard buffer).
 

INT 16h / AH = 01h - check for keystroke in keyboard buffer.
return:
ZF = 1 if keystroke is not available.
ZF = 0 if keystroke available.
AH = BIOS scan code.
AL = ASCII character.
(if a keystroke is present, it is not removed from the keyboard buffer).
 

INT 19h - system reboot.
Usually, the BIOS will try to read sector 1, head 0, track 0 from drive A: to 0000h:7C00h.
 

INT 1Ah / AH = 00h - get system time.
return:
CX:DX = number of clock ticks since midnight.
AL = midnight counter, advanced each time midnight passes.
Notes:
There are approximately 18.20648 clock ticks per second,
and 1800B0h per 24 hours.
 


Some basic DOS interrupts:

INT 20h - exit to operating system.

INT 21h / AH=09h - output of a string at DS:DX.

INT 21h / AH=0Ah - input of a string to DS:DX, fist byte is buffer size, second byte is number of chars actually read.

INT 21h / AH=4Ch - exit to operating system.

INT 21h / AH=01h - read character from standard input, with echo, result is stored in AL.

INT 21h / AH=02h - write character to standard output, DL = character to write, after execution AL = DL.