PC/TCP Packet Driver: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:56, 31 January 2013

Revision as of 00:41, 5 February 2013

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'''PC/TCP Packet Driver''' is an [[Application programming interface|API]] created in 1986 by [[FTP Software]] for [[network card]]s under [[x86]] [[Disk Operating System|DOS]] like [[MS-DOS]], [[DR-DOS]], [[FreeDOS]], etc. It uses an [[INT (x86 instruction)|x86 interrupt number]] (INT) between {{nowrap|60h .. 80h.}} The exact interrupt number is detected at runtime, most commonly 60h.

An application uses the interrupt number vectors {{nowrap|60h .. 80h}} as a pointer (4-bytes [[Endianness|little endian]]) to the address of a possible interrupt handler. If the text string "''PKT DRVR''" is found within the first 12-bytes immediately following the entry point. A driver is found.<ref>[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GWzoIfATUFcJ:ftp://ftp.etsii.ull.es/pub/REDES2/doc/packet.txt googleusercontent.com/ull.es - PC/TCP Version 1.09 Packet Driver Specification, FTP Software, Inc.], 1989-09-14</ref>

googleusercontent.com/ull.es - PC/TCP Version 1.09 Packet Driver Specification, FTP Software, Inc.], 1989-09-14</ref>

Packet drivers can implement many different network interfaces, including [[Ethernet]], [[Token ring]], [[RS-232]], [[ARCNET|Arcnet]], and [[X.25]].<ref name="crpkt">{{cite web|title=PC/TCP Packet Driver Specification|url=http://www.crynwr.com/packet_driver.html}} 090430 crynwr.com</ref>