For DOS remote boot to work, the RPL boot loader is loaded into the client's memory over the network before the operating system starts. Without special precautions the operating system could easily overwrite the RPL code during boot, since the RPL code resides in unallocated memory (typically at the top of the available conventional memory). The RPL code hides and thereby protects itself from being overwritten by hooking INT 12h and reducing the memory reported by this BIOS service by its own size. INT 12h is used by DOS to query the amount of available memory when initializing its own real-mode memory allocation scheme. This causes problems on more modern DOS systems, where free real-mode address ranges may be utilized by the operating system in order to relocate parts of itself and load drivers high, so that the amount of available conventional memory is maximized. Typically, various operating system vendor and version specific "dirty tricks" had to be used by the RPL code in order to survive this very dynamic boot process and let DOS regain control over the memory occupied by RPL once the boot is complete in a seamless manner.
In addition to this "RPL" interface, DR DOS 6.0 and higher since 1991 support a more flexible extension named "RPLOADER". If DR DOS detects the presence of RPLOADER rather than RPL only, it starts to issue INT 2F/AX=12FFh/BX=0005h broadcasts at certain critical stages in the boot process. The RPL code can use them to relocate itself in memory (in order to avoid conflicts with other resident software or to avoid memory fragmentation when the RPL memory is freed later on), or to hook into and better integrate with the operating system in order to perform its final cleanup tasks in a well-defined and coordinated manner through a robust and supported backend interface rather than mere hacks. This helps to improve compatibility without having to adapt the RPL code with each new version of the operating system, and it avoids unnecessary memory fragmentation and thereby increases available memory for DOS programs to run. The interface can also be utilized to run DR DOS as a task under a host operating system such as Concurrent DOS.
McKenzie, James; Lightfoot, Chris (1999). "RPLD - an RPL/RIPL remote boot server". Archived from the original on 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2009-06-11. http://gimel.esc.cam.ac.uk/james/rpld/
Paul, Matthias R. (1997-10-02) [1997-09-29]. "Caldera OpenDOS 7.01/7.02 Update Alpha 3 IBMBIO.COM BOOT.TXT - A short description of how OpenDOS is booted". Archived from the original on 2003-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-29. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20031004074600/http://www-student.informatik.uni-bonn.de/~frinke/ibmbioa3.zip
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F4A06: INT 2F - DOS 5+ - DOS SUPERVISOR "REBOOT PANEL" - ADJUST MEMORY SIZE". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "12: INT 12 - BIOS - GET MEMORY SIZE". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "12: INT 12 - BIOS - GET MEMORY SIZE". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Paul, Matthias R. (1997-10-02) [1997-09-29]. "Caldera OpenDOS 7.01/7.02 Update Alpha 3 IBMBIO.COM BOOT.TXT - A short description of how OpenDOS is booted". Archived from the original on 2003-10-04. Retrieved 2009-03-29. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20031004074600/http://www-student.informatik.uni-bonn.de/~frinke/ibmbioa3.zip
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F4A06: INT 2F - DOS 5+ - DOS SUPERVISOR "REBOOT PANEL" - ADJUST MEMORY SIZE". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Chappell, Geoff (January 1994). Schulman, Andrew; Pedersen, Amorette (eds.). DOS Internals. The Andrew Schulman Programming Series (1st printing, 1st ed.). Addison Wesley Publishing Company. pp. 134, 140–143. ISBN 978-0-201-60835-9. ISBN 0-201-60835-9. (xxvi+738+iv pages, 3.5"-floppy [2][3]) Errata: [4][5][6] 978-0-201-60835-9
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F4A06: INT 2F - DOS 5+ - DOS SUPERVISOR "REBOOT PANEL" - ADJUST MEMORY SIZE". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F12FFBX0005: INT 2F - DR DOS 6.0+ - BOOT PHASE BROADCASTS FOR MEMORYMAX/RPLOADER/SECURITY". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. (NB. Additional information is pending for release 62.) /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F4A06: INT 2F - DOS 5+ - DOS SUPERVISOR "REBOOT PANEL" - ADJUST MEMORY SIZE". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F12FFBX0005: INT 2F - DR DOS 6.0+ - BOOT PHASE BROADCASTS FOR MEMORYMAX/RPLOADER/SECURITY". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. (NB. Additional information is pending for release 62.) /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F4A06: INT 2F - DOS 5+ - DOS SUPERVISOR "REBOOT PANEL" - ADJUST MEMORY SIZE". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F12FFBX0005: INT 2F - DR DOS 6.0+ - BOOT PHASE BROADCASTS FOR MEMORYMAX/RPLOADER/SECURITY". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. (NB. Additional information is pending for release 62.) /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F4A06: INT 2F - DOS 5+ - DOS SUPERVISOR "REBOOT PANEL" - ADJUST MEMORY SIZE". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2000-07-17). Brown, Ralf D. (ed.). "2F12FFBX0005: INT 2F - DR DOS 6.0+ - BOOT PHASE BROADCASTS FOR MEMORYMAX/RPLOADER/SECURITY". Ralf Brown's Interrupt List 61. Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-22. (NB. Additional information is pending for release 62.) /wiki/Ralf_D._Brown
Paul, Matthias R. (2002-08-13). "Suche freien Speicherbereich unterhalb von 1 MB, der nicht von OS überschrieben wird" (in German). Newsgroup: de.comp.lang.assembler.x86. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-09-03. https://groups.google.com/d/msg/de.comp.lang.assembler.x86/boKnIpqPl-Q/ZLDFDX9E1e0J
Chappell, Geoff (January 1994). Schulman, Andrew; Pedersen, Amorette (eds.). DOS Internals. The Andrew Schulman Programming Series (1st printing, 1st ed.). Addison Wesley Publishing Company. pp. 134, 140–143. ISBN 978-0-201-60835-9. ISBN 0-201-60835-9. (xxvi+738+iv pages, 3.5"-floppy [2][3]) Errata: [4][5][6] 978-0-201-60835-9
ecm (2018-10-08). "RxDOS 7.24 release". bttr-software.de. DOS ain't dead. Archived from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2020-01-27. https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/board_entry.php?id=15627
Chappell, Geoff (January 1994). Schulman, Andrew; Pedersen, Amorette (eds.). DOS Internals. The Andrew Schulman Programming Series (1st printing, 1st ed.). Addison Wesley Publishing Company. pp. 134, 140–143. ISBN 978-0-201-60835-9. ISBN 0-201-60835-9. (xxvi+738+iv pages, 3.5"-floppy [2][3]) Errata: [4][5][6] 978-0-201-60835-9