Plug and Play BIOS Extension

Windows device driver information for Plug and Play BIOS Extension

The Plug and Play BIOS Extension distinguishes the interface that may be used by software to gain access to video boards that are compliant at high bit depths and resolutions. It is availed through the video adapters BIOS, which is able to install some interrupt vectors that are pointing to itself when the system is starting up .The older versions were only able to support an interface that was in real mode, which meant that it could not be utilized without significant penalty from operating systems with protected mode. The 2.0 standard for the Plug and Play BIOS Extension provides added functionality and enables applications to distinguish the extent of ability of graphics cards while giving the ability to set any display modes that may be found. The 2.0 standard is improved on the previous 1.2 standard and has some new features that include protect mode banking and frame buffer access.

The frame buffer access, which is linear, enables uninterrupted frame buffer access when in protect mode without the likelihood of thunking back to real mode. The Plug and Play BIOS Extension has page flipping that uses super VGA and offers high quality animation, which gives smooth motion for heavy graphics laden content as well as motion for computer games and other applications. With virtual screens that are VGA based, software is able to be set up virtual image resolutions that are actually larger than the real displayed resolution. Smooth pan or scroll can be done around the bigger image. The Plug and Play BIOS Extension is equipped with true color as well as high color modes. Also included is the standard 24 bit or 16 bit modes for graphics resolutions which range from 320 x 200 going all the way until 1600 x 1200. It is highly recommended you run a free registry scan for and Plug and Play BIOS Extension errors before installing any driver updates.