Diskette Parameter Table
A series of these 11-byte structures can be found at the vector address of
INT 1eH (the 4-byte address found at 0:0078). The list is also known as
the "Disk Base Table."
It specifies a variety of critical variables for diskette drives only.
The table is set to default values by the ROM-BIOS and may be modified by
DOS to improve diskette performance or increase battery life on a laptop.
DisketteParmRec
Offset Size Contents
▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
+0 1 rSrtHdUnld bits 0-3: SRT step rate time
bits 4-7: head unload time
+1 1 rDmaHdLd bit 0: 1=use DMA
bits 2-7: head load time
+2 1 bMotorOff 55-ms increments before turning disk motor off
+3 1 bSectSize sector size (0=128, 1=256, 2=512, 3=1024)
+4 1 bLastTrack EOT (last sector on a track)
+5 1 bGapLen gap length for read/write operations
+6 1 bDTL DTL (Data Transfer Length) max transfer when
length not set
+7 1 bGapFmt gap length for format operation
+8 1 bFillChar fill character for format (normally 0f6H '÷')
+9 1 bHdSettle head-settle time (in milliseconds)
+0aH 1 bMotorOn motor-startup time (in 1/8th-second intervals)
11 length of DisketteParmRec
See Also: Int 13H (disk I/O
Hard Disk Parameter Table
Data Structures
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