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System Calls - Manual Reference Pages  - VM86 (2)

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vm86old, vm86 - enter virtual 8086 mode

CONTENTS

Synopsis
Description
Errors

--> #include <sys/vm86.h>

int vm86old(struct vm86_struct *info);

int vm86(unsigned long fn, struct vm86plus_struct *v86);

The system call vm86() was introduced in Linux 0.97p2. In Linux 2.1.15 and 2.0.28 it was renamed to vm86old(), and a new vm86() was introduced. The definition of ‘struct vm86_struct’ was changed in 1.1.8 and 1.1.9.

These calls cause the process to enter VM86 mode (virtual-8086 in Intel literature), and are used by dosemu.

VM86 mode is an emulation of real mode within a protected mode task.

On success, zero is returned. On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

EFAULT	This return value is specific to i386 and indicates a problem with getting userspace data.
ENOSYS	This return value indicates the call is not implemented on the present architecture.
EPERM	Saved kernel stack exists. (This is a kernel sanity check; the saved stack should only exist within vm86 mode itself.)

This call is specific to Linux on Intel processors, and should not be used in programs intended to be portable. or go to Top of page |  Section 2 |  Main Man Index.