Topic       : The ATARI Compendium
Author      : Scott Sanders / JAY Software
Version     : 1.25 (20/6/2003)
Subject     : Documentation
Nodes       : 1117
Index Size  : 32614
HCP-Version : 6
Compiled on : Atari
@charset    : UTF-8
@lang       : en
@default    : 
@help       : %About
@options    : +g -i -t4 +y +z
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                            Other XBIOS Functions


NVMaccess() accesses the Non-Volatile RAM present in the TT, Mega STe
and Falcon030. You should not read or write to this area as all of its
locations are currently reserved.

The functions Settime() and Gettime() set the BIOS time and date. As of
TOS 1.02, they also update the GEMDOS time as well.

Besides the sound capabilities of the XBIOS when running on a Falcon, the
function Dosound() generates music on any Atari computer using the
FM sound generator. The function works at the interrupt level
processing a 'sound command list' you specify. It can be used to reproduce
a single tone or a complete song in as many as three parts of harmony.

Random() generates a pseudo-random number using a built-in algorithm whose
seed comes from the system 60kHz clock.

Ssbrk() is used by the operating system to reserve system RAM before
GEMDOS is initialized. It should not be used by application programmers.
Puntaes() is useful only when using a disk-loaded version of TOS. It
clears the OS from RAM and reboots the computer.

Midiws() is a similar function to Ikbdws() in that it writes to the MIDI
controller. It is more useful at transferring large amounts of MIDI data
than Bconout().

The Dbmsg() XBIOS call is added by supporting debuggers as a method of
transferring debugging messages between the application and debugger. The
Atari Debugger (DB) currently supports this interface.