Re: Hardware Interrupts

[tmoran@acm.org]

>It seems like what I need is to define a procedure, say
>"getequiplist" and then define what machine code is
>supposed to be generated by the compiler for "getequiplist".
  And the way you "define what machine code is supposed to be generated"
is by describing it using Machine-Code Insertions.

A generally better way is to define a general BIOS call procedure, eg
    Procedure Int_Call(Int_Num : Integer; Regs : In Out Most_Regs);
        -- Call the interrupt (for BIOS use, others?) with the registers set
        -- from Regs.  The result registers and flags are placed back into Regs.
(Taken from Janus Ada 83 "package DosCall") and then define
  function Get_BIOS_Equipment_List return ... is
    Regs : Most_Regs := (AX=>..., BX=>..., ...
  begin
    Int_Call(16#11#, Regs);
    return ...
  end Get_BIOS_Equipment_List;

But note that you need an Ada compiler that generates code for your
machine/OS combination - in this case 16 bit "real mode" x86 with your
boot loader (no DOS) as the OS.   If you don't mind a little dust on
the antique manuals ;), I'm sure you could purchase such a thing.  I
don't know if, say, MaRTE OS, supports 16 bit BIOS calls.