In English

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., July, 1986

ISBN: 0-201-11099-7 (Wikipedia Book Sources) (Wikipedian kirjalähteet)
LCCN: 86-10887 (Library of Congress)

The Amiga Computer is an exciting new high-performance microcomputer with superb graphics, sound, and multitasking capabilities. Its technologically advanced hardware, designed around the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, includes three sophisticated custome chips that control graphics, audio, and peripherals. The Amiga's unique system software is contained in 192K of read-only memory (ROM), providing programmers with unparalleled power, fexibility, and convience in designing and creating programs.

The AMIGA ROM KERNEL REFERENCE MANUAL: Exec, written by the technical staff at Commodore-Amiga, Inc., is a detailed description of Exec, the ROM-based multitasking system executive that controls the Amiga's underlying system execution environment. It includes:

• an overview of capabilities of Exec

• key descriptions of how Exec handles multitasking and inter-task communication

• explanations of Exec's exception handling and memory allocation

• a complete listing of the ROM routines that make up Exec

For the serious programmer working in assembly language, C, or Pascal who wants to take full advantage of the Amiga's impressive capabilities, the AMIGA ROM KERNEL MANUAL: Exec is an essential reference.

Written by the technical staff at Commodore-Amiga, Inc., who designed the Amiga's hardware and system software, the AMIGA ROM KERNEL MANUAL: Exec is the definitive source of information on the system execution environment of this revolutionary microcomputer.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	v
System Software Architechture	v
Programming	vi
REGISTER CONVENTIONS	vi
DATA STRUCTURES	vi
OTHER PRACTICES	vii
68010 AND 68020 COMPABILITY	ix
USING AMIGA EXEC FUNCTIONS	ix
Contents of This Manual	xi
Chapter 1 LISTS AND QUEUES	1
Introduction	2
List Structure	2
NODE STRUCTURE	2
NODE INTIALIZATION	3
HEADER STRUCTURE	4
HEADER INITIALIZATION	5
List Functions	6
INSERTION AND REMOVAL	6
SPECIAL CASE INSERTION	7
SPECIAL CASE REMOVAL	7
PRIORITIZED INSERTION	7
SEARCHING BY NAME	8
List Macros	8
Empty Lists	9
Scanning a List	10
Chapter 2 TASKS	11
Introduction	12
SCHEDULING	12
TASK STATES	13
TASK QUEUES	14
PRIORITY	14
STRUCTURE	14
Creation	15
STACK	18
Termination	18
Signals	19
ALLOCATION	20
WAITING FOR A SIGNAL	21
GENERATING A SIGNAL	22
Exclusion	22
FORBIDDING	22
DISABLING	23
SEMAPHORES	25
Exceptions	25
Traps	26
HANDLERS	27
TRAP INSTRUCTIONS	27
Chapter 3 MESSAGES AND PORTS	29
Introduction	29
Ports	30
STRUCTURE	30
CREATION	32
DELETION	33
RENDEZVOUS	33
Messages	33
PUTTING A MESSAGE	34
WAITING FOR A MESSAGE	35
GETTING A MESSAGE	36
REPLYING	37
Chapter 4 INPUT/OUTPUT	39
Introduction	39
Request Structure	40
Interface Functions	43
Standard Commands	44
Performing I/O	45
PREPARATION	45
SYNCHRONOUS REQUESTS	46
ASYNCHRONOUS REQUESTS	47
CONCLUSION	48
QUICK I/O	48
Standard Devices	49
Chapter 5 INTERRUPTS	51
Introduction	51
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS	52
INTERRUPT PRIORITIES	53
NONMASKABLE INTERRUPT	55
Servicing Interrupts	55
DATA STRUCTURE	55
ENVIRONMENT	56
INTERRUPT HANDLERS	56
INTERRUPT SERVERS	60
Software Interrupts	62
Disabling Interrupts	63
Chapter 6 MEMORY ALLOCATION	65
Introduction	65
Using Memory Allocation Routines	66
MEMORY REQUIREMENTS	66
MEMORY HANDLING ROUTINES	67
SAMPLE CALLS FOR ALLOCATING SYSTEM MEMORY	68
SAMPLE FUNCTION CALLS FOR FREEING SYSTEM MEMORY	68
ALLOCATING MULTIPLE MEMORY BLOCKS	69
Memory Allocation and Tasks	71
MEMORY ALLOCATION AND MULTITASKING	72
MANAGING MEMORY WITH ALLOCATE() AND DEALLOCATE()	72
Chapter 7 LIBRARIES	75
What is a Library?	76
How to Access a Library	76
OPENING A LIBRARY	76
USING A LIBRARY TO CALL A ROUTINE	77
USING A LIBRARY TO REFERENCE DATA	78
CACHING LIBRARY POINTERS	78
CLOSING LIBRARY	79
Adding a Library	79
MAKING A NEW LIBRARY	79
MINIMUM SUBSET OF LIBRARY CODE VECTORS	80
STRUCTURE OF A LIBRARY NODE	81
CHANGING THE CONTENTS OF A LIBRARY	82
Relationship of Libraries to Devices	82
Chapter 8 ROM-WACK	83
Introduction	83
Getting to Wack	84
Keystrokes, Numbers, and Symbols	84
Register Frame	85
Display Frames	86
Relative Positioning	87
Absolute Positioning	88
Altering Memory	89
Execution Control	91
Breakpoints	91
Returning to Multitasking After a Crash	91
Appendix A C EXEC INCLUDE FILES	A-1
Appendix B OTHER ROUTINES	B-1
Exec Support Library
Debug.lib Functions
Amiga.lib Functions
AmigaDOS General Information
Interchange File Format
Appendix C MEMORY/DISK INFORMATION	C-1
Software Memory Map
Disk Format Information
Appendix D LIBRARY BASE OFFSETS	D-1
Index	Index-1