; Program to illustrate operation of write mode 3 of the VGA.
;  Draws 8x8 characters at arbitrary locations without disturbing
;  the background, using VGA's 8x8 ROM font.  Designed
;  for use with modes 0Dh, 0Eh, 0Fh, 10h, and 12h.
; Runs only on VGAs (in Models 50 & up and IBM Display Adapter
;  and 100% compatibles).
; Assembled with MASM
; By Michael Abrash
;
stack	segment para stack 'STACK'
	db	512 dup(?)
stack	ends
;
VGA_VIDEO_SEGMENT	equ	0a000h	;VGA display memory segment
SCREEN_WIDTH_IN_BYTES	equ	044ah	;offset of BIOS variable
FONT_CHARACTER_SIZE	equ	8	;# bytes in each font char
;
; VGA register equates.
;
SC_INDEX	equ	3c4h	;SC index register
SC_MAP_MASK	equ	2	;SC map mask register index
GC_INDEX	equ	3ceh	;GC index register
GC_SET_RESET	equ	0	;GC set/reset register index
GC_ENABLE_SET_RESET equ 1	;GC enable set/reset register index
GC_ROTATE	equ	3	;GC data rotate/logical function
				; register index
GC_MODE		equ	5	;GC Mode register
GC_BIT_MASK	equ	8	;GC bit mask register index
;
dseg	segment para common 'DATA'
TEST_TEXT_ROW	equ	69	;row to display test text at
TEST_TEXT_COL	equ	17	;column to display test text at
TEST_TEXT_WIDTH equ	8	;width of a character in pixels
TestString	label	byte
	db	'Hello, world!',0	;test string to print.
FontPointer	dd	?		;font offset
dseg	ends
;
cseg	segment para public 'CODE'
	assume	cs:cseg, ds:dseg
start	proc	near
	mov	ax,dseg
	mov	ds,ax
;
; Select 640x480 graphics mode.
;
	mov	ax,012h
	int	10h
;
; Set the screen to all blue, using the readability of VGA registers
; to preserve reserved bits.
;
	mov	dx,GC_INDEX
	mov	al,GC_SET_RESET
	out	dx,al
	inc	dx
	in	al,dx
	and	al,0f0h
	or	al,1		;blue plane only set, others reset
	out	dx,al
	dec	dx
	mov	al,GC_ENABLE_SET_RESET
	out	dx,al
	inc	dx
	in	al,dx
	and	al,0f0h
	or	al,0fh		;enable set/reset for all planes
	out	dx,al
	mov	dx,VGA_VIDEO_SEGMENT
	mov	es,dx		;point to display memory
	mov	di,0
	mov	cx,8000h	;fill all 32k words
	mov	ax,0ffffh	;because of set/reset, the value
				; written actually doesn't matter
	rep stosw		;fill with blue
;
; Set driver to use the 8x8 font.
;
	mov	ah,11h		;VGA BIOS character generator function,
	mov	al,30h		; return info subfunction
	mov	bh,3		;get 8x8 font pointer
	int	10h
	call	SelectFont
;
; Print the test string, cycling through colors.
;
	mov	si,offset TestString
	mov	bx,TEST_TEXT_ROW
	mov	cx,TEST_TEXT_COL
	mov	ah,0		;start with color 0
StringOutLoop:
	lodsb
	and	al,al
	jz	StringOutDone
	push	ax		;preserve color
	call	DrawChar
	pop	ax		;restore color
	inc	ah		;next color
	and	ah,0fh		;colors range from 0 to 15
	add	cx,TEST_TEXT_WIDTH
	jmp	StringOutLoop
StringOutDone:
;
; Wait for a key, then set to text mode & end.
;
	mov	ah,1
	int	21h		;wait for a key
	mov	ax,3
	int	10h		;restore text mode
;
; Exit to DOS.
;
	mov	ah,4ch
	int	21h
Start	endp
;
; Subroutine to draw a text character in a linear graphics mode
;  (0Dh, 0Eh, 0Fh, 010h, 012h). Background around the pixels that
;  make up the character is preserved.
; Font used should be pointed to by FontPointer.
;
; Input:
;  AL = character to draw
;  AH = color to draw character in (0-15)
;  BX = row to draw text character at
;  CX = column to draw text character at
;
;  Forces ALU function to "move".
;  Forces write mode 3.
;
DrawChar	proc	near
	push	ax
	push	bx
	push	cx
	push	dx
	push	si
	push	di
	push	bp
	push	ds
	push	ax		;preserve character to draw in AL
;
; Set up set/reset to produce character color, using the readability
; of VGA register to preserve the setting of reserved bits 7-4.
;
	mov	dx,GC_INDEX
	mov	al,GC_SET_RESET
	out	dx,al
	inc	dx
	in	al,dx
	and	al,0f0h
	and	ah,0fh
	or	al,ah
	out	dx,al
;
; Select write mode 3, using the readability of VGA registers
; to leave bits other than the write mode bits unchanged.
;
	mov	dx,GC_INDEX
	mov	al,GC_MODE
	out	dx,al
	inc	dx
	in	al,dx
	or	al,3
	out	dx,al
;
; Set DS:SI to point to font and ES to point to display memory.
;
	lds	si,[FontPointer]	;point to font
	mov	dx,VGA_VIDEO_SEGMENT
	mov	es,dx			;point to display memory
;
; Calculate screen address of byte character starts in.
;
	pop	ax		;get back character to draw in AL

	push	ds		;point to BIOS data segment
	sub	dx,dx
	mov	ds,dx
	xchg	ax,bx
	mov	di,ds:[SCREEN_WIDTH_IN_BYTES]	;retrieve BIOS
						; screen width
	pop	ds
	mul	di		;calculate offset of start of row
	push	di		;set aside screen width
	mov	di,cx		;set aside the column
	and	cl,0111b	;keep only the column in-byte address
	shr	di,1
	shr	di,1
	shr	di,1		;divide column by 8 to make a byte address
	add	di,ax		;and point to byte
;
; Calculate font address of character.
;
	sub	bh,bh
	shl	bx,1		;assumes 8 bytes per character; use
	shl	bx,1		; a multiply otherwise
	shl	bx,1		;offset in font of character
	add	si,bx		;offset in font segment of character
;
; Set up the GC rotation. In write mode 3, this is the rotation
; of CPU data before it is ANDed with the Bit Mask register to
; form the bit mask. Force the ALU function to "move". Uses the
; readability of VGA registers to leave reserved bits unchanged.
;
	mov	dx,GC_INDEX
	mov	al,GC_ROTATE
	out	dx,al
	inc	dx
	in	al,dx
	and	al,0e0h
	or	al,cl
	out	dx,al
;
; Set up BH as bit mask for left half, BL as rotation for right half.
;
	mov	bx,0ffffh
	shr	bh,cl
	neg	cl
	add	cl,8
	shl	bl,cl
;
; Draw the character, left half first, then right half in the
; succeeding byte, using the data rotation to position the character
; across the byte boundary and then using write mode 3 to combine the
; character data with the bit mask to allow the set/reset value (the
; character color) through only for the proper portion (where the
; font bits for the character are 1) of the character for each byte.
; Wherever the font bits for the character are 0, the background
; color is preserved.
; Does not check for case where character is byte-aligned and
; no rotation and only one write is required.
;
	mov	bp,FONT_CHARACTER_SIZE
	mov	dx,GC_INDEX
	pop	cx		;get back screen width
	dec	cx
	dec	cx		; -2 because do two bytes for each char
CharacterLoop:
;
; Set the bit mask for the left half of the character.
;
	mov	al,GC_BIT_MASK
	mov	ah,bh
	out	dx,ax
;
; Get the next character byte & write it to display memory.
; (Left half of character.)
;
	mov	al,[si]		;get character byte
	mov	ah,es:[di]	;load latches
	stosb			;write character byte
;
; Set the bit mask for the right half of the character.
;
	mov	al,GC_BIT_MASK
	mov	ah,bl
	out	dx,ax
;
; Get the character byte again & write it to display memory.
; (Right half of character.)
;
	lodsb			;get character byte
	mov	ah,es:[di]	;load latches
	stosb			;write character byte
;
; Point to next line of character in display memory.
;
	add	di,cx
;
	dec	bp
	jnz	CharacterLoop
;
	pop	ds
	pop	bp
	pop	di
	pop	si
	pop	dx
	pop	cx
	pop	bx
	pop	ax
	ret
DrawChar	endp
;
; Set the pointer to the font to draw from to ES:BP.
;
SelectFont	proc	near
	mov	word ptr [FontPointer],bp	;save pointer
	mov	word ptr [FontPointer+2],es
	ret
SelectFont	endp
;
cseg	ends
	end	start