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Mail Archives: djgpp/2001/02/12/21:29:44

Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 21:25:51 -0500
Message-Id: <200102130225.VAA00462@envy.delorie.com>
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From: DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
In-reply-to: <3a8896fa$0$96557$272ea4a1@news.execpc.com>
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Subject: Re: 18-sector limit with biosdisk()
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> >> > Does this mean that if we bump the limit to 21 sectors, programs might 
> >> > choke with som BIOSes?
> 
> I don't believe it will. Most programs assume every floppy disk
> is 1.44 meg. These programs will read/write, at most, 18 sectors;
> blissfully unaware of the extra capability of biosdisk()

Besides, the 18-sector limit is only there because biosdisk() needs to
allocate real-mode memory for the buffer.  It won't hurt to allocate a
little more; nobody will know unless they ask for more than 18 sectors
anyway, and the program will just get whatever error code the BIOS
would return to a real mode program.

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