VESA
®
Video Electronics Standards Association
2150 North First Street, Suite 440 Phone: (408) 435-0333
San Jose, CA 95131-2029 FAX: (408) 435-8225
VESA BIOS EXTENSION (VBE)
Core Functions
Standard
Version: 2.0
Document Revision: 1.1
Ratification Date: November 18, 1994
Purpose
To standardize a modular, software interface to display and audio devices. The VBE interface is
intended to simplify and encourage the development of applications that wish to use graphics, video, and
audio devices without specific knowledge of the internal operation of the evolving target hardware.
Summary
The VBE standard defines a set of extensions to the VGA ROM BIOS services. These functions can
be accessed under DOS through interrupt 10h, or be called directly by high performance 32-bit
applications and operating systems other than DOS.
These extensions also provide a hardware-independent mechanism to obtain vendor information, and
serve as an extensible foundation for OEMs and VESA to facilitate rapid software support of emerging
hardware technology without sacrificing backwards compatibility.
VBE Core Standard
Page ii VBE CORE FUNCTIONS VERSION 2.0
DOCUMENT REVISION 1.1
VBE CORE FUNCTIONS VERSION 2.0 Page iii
DOCUMENT REVISION 1.1
Intellectual Property
Copyright © 1993, 1995 - Video Electronics Standards Association. Duplication of this document
within VESA member companies for review purposes is permitted. This document may be posted
online in its unmodified, read-only format only. No charges, other than standard connect or download
charges, may be assessed for this document. All other rights reserved.
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this standard, the Video Electronics
Standards Association and its contributors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, and make
no warranties, expressed or implied, of functionality or suitability for any purpose.
The sample code contained within this standard may be used without restriction.
Trademarks
All trademarks used in this document are property of their respective owners.
•
VESA, VBE, VESA DDC, VBE/AI, VBE/PM, and VBE/DDC are trademarks of Video
Electronics Standards Association.
•
MS-DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft , Inc.
•
IBM, VGA, EGA, CGA, and MDA are trademarks of International Business Machines
•
RAMDAC is a trademark of Brooktree Corp.
•
Hercules is a trademark of Hercules Computer Technology, Inc.
Patents
VESA proposal and standards documents are adopted by the Video Electronics Standards Association
without regard to whether their adoption may involve patents on articles, materials, or processes. Such
adoption does not assume any liability to any patent owner, nor does it assume any obligation whatever
to parties adopting the proposal or standards document.
Support for this Specification
Clarifications and application notes to support this standard will be published as the need arises. To
obtain the latest standard and support documentation, contact VESA.
If you have a product which incorporates VBE, you should ask the company that manufactured your
product for assistance. If you are a display or controller manufacturer, VESA can assist you with any
clarification you may require. All comments or reported errors should be submitted in writing to VESA
using one of the following mechanisms:
World Wide Web:
www.vesa.org
Mail to:
E-mail:
techsupport@vesa.org Video Electronics Standards Association
Fax:
408-435-8225 2150 North First Street, Suite 440
Voice:
408-435-0333 San Jose, California 95131-2029
Page iv VBE CORE FUNCTIONS VERSION 2.0
DOCUMENT REVISION 1.1
SSC/VBE Workgroup Members
Any industry standard requires input from many sources. The people listed below were members of the
VBE Workgroup of the Software Standards Committee (SSC) which was responsible for combining all
of the industry input into this proposal:
CHAIRMAN
Kevin Gillett, S-MOS Systems, Inc.,
past chairman, Rod Dewell , Excalibur Solutions
MEMBERS
David Penley, AT&T Global Information Solutions
Rebecca Nolan, Chips and Technologies, Inc.
Brad Haakenson, Cirrus Logic, Inc.
Joe Rickson, Logitech, Inc.
Aaron Leatherman, LSI Logic Corporation
Jake Richter, Panacea Inc.
Raluca Iovan, Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
Kendall Bennett, SciTech Software
Tom Ryan, SciTech Software
George Bystricky, S-MOS Systems, Inc.
Jason Li, Trident Microsystems, Inc.
Chris Tsang, ULSI Systems
Greg Moore, Video Electronics Standards Association
Andy Lambrecht, VLSI Technology, Inc.
Rex Wolfe, Western Digital Imaging
VBE CORE FUNCTIONS VERSION 2.0 Page v
DOCUMENT REVISION 1.1
Table of Contents
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY .....................................................................................................................................................iii
T
RADEMARKS
...................................................................................................................................................................................iii
P
ATENTS
............................................................................................................................................................................................iii
SUPPORT FOR THIS SPECIFICATION...................................................................................................................................iii
SSC/VBE WORKGROUP MEMBERS........................................................................................................................................iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................................................................................................v
1.0 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 S
COPE OF THE
VBE S
TANDARD
...............................................................................................................................................1
1.2 B
ACKGROUNDER
........................................................................................................................................................................2
2.0 VBE OVERVIEW......................................................................................................................................................................5
2.1 VBE F
EATURES
...........................................................................................................................................................................5
2.2 VBE A
FFECTED
D
EVICES
..........................................................................................................................................................5
2.3 P
ROVIDING
V
ENDOR
I
NFORMATION
.......................................................................................................................................5
3.0 VBE MODE NUMBERS...........................................................................................................................................................6
4.0 VBE FUNCTIONS...................................................................................................................................................................10
4.1 VBE R
ETURN
S
TATUS
.............................................................................................................................................................10
4.2 P
ROTECTED
M
ODE
C
ONSIDERATIONS
................................................................................................................................11
4.3 F
UNCTION
00
H
- R
ETURN
VBE C
ONTROLLER
I
NFORMATION
.........................................................................................12
4.4 F
UNCTION
01
H
- R
ETURN
VBE M
ODE
I
NFORMATION
......................................................................................................16
4.5 F
UNCTION
02
H
- S
ET
VBE M
ODE
.........................................................................................................................................25
4.6 F
UNCTION
03
H
- R
ETURN
C
URRENT
VBE M
ODE
...............................................................................................................26
4.7 F
UNCTION
04
H
- S
AVE
/R
ESTORE
S
TATE
............................................................................................................................27
4.8 F
UNCTION
05
H
- D
ISPLAY
W
INDOW
C
ONTROL
.................................................................................................................27
4.9 F
UNCTION
06
H
- S
ET
/G
ET
L
OGICAL
S
CAN
L
INE
L
ENGTH
................................................................................................28
4.10 F
UNCTION
07
H
- S
ET
/G
ET
D
ISPLAY
S
TART
......................................................................................................................29
4.11 F
UNCTION
08
H
- S
ET
/G
ET
DAC P
ALETTE
F
ORMAT
........................................................................................................30
4.12 F
UNCTION
09
H
- S
ET
/G
ET
P
ALETTE
D
ATA
.......................................................................................................................30
4.13 F
UNCTION
0A
H
- R
ETURN
VBE P
ROTECTED
M
ODE
I
NTERFACE
..................................................................................31
5.0 VBE SUPPLEMENTAL SPECIFICATIONS......................................................................................................................34
5.1 P
URPOSE OF
S
UPPLEMENTAL
S
PECIFICATIONS
................................................................................................................34
5.2 O
BTAINING
S
UPPLEMENTAL
VBE F
UNCTION
N
UMBERS
.................................................................................................34
5.3 R
EQUIRED
VBE S
UPPLEMENTAL
S
PECIFICATION
C
OMPONENTS
..................................................................................35
5.3.1 VBE Supplemental Specification Functions..............................................................................................................35
5.3.2 Return Status....................................................................................................................................................................35
5.3.3 Subfunction 00h - Return VBE Supplemental Specification Information............................................................35
5.4 S
UPPLEMENTAL
S
PECIFICATION
P
ROTECTED
M
ODE
G
UIDELINES
..............................................................................38
5.5 L
OADING
S
UPPLEMENTAL
D
RIVERS
....................................................................................................................................39
5.6 I
MPLEMENTATION
Q
UESTIONS
............................................................................................................................................39