ata_std_bios_param(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💾 ata_std_bios_param(9) — the Kernel API Manual page bestie edition 🎀

okay so this is a page out of the Kernel API Manual (ata_std_bios_param(9)), and honestly? it's short, it's sweet, and it does exactly one (1) thing. let's get into it ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

ata_std_bios_param — the generic bios head/sector/cylinder calculator that sd uses. that's it. that's the whole job. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int ata_std_bios_param (struct scsi_device *sdev , struct gendisk
*unused , sector_t capacity , int geom[] );

four args, one int back. no cap, that's the whole signature 🫶

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

  • sdev — the SCSI device whose BIOS geometry we're trying to figure out. main character of this function, lowkey 👑
  • unused — the gendisk that's associated with sdev. yeah. it's in the name. it's giving "present but not participating" 💀
  • capacity — the capacity of the SCSI device. the actual size, the number that matters 🍓
  • geom — the location where the geometry gets written out. the output slot. the little drop-off point for the results 📦

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so basically this is the generic bios head/sector/cylinder calculator that sd uses. iconic behavior, no notes.

here's the tea though: most BIOSes nowadays expect a XXX/255/16 (CHS) mapping. literally that's the vibe they're all on. and if you don't use it? some situations may arise where the disk is not bootable. 😭 not a drill, not a joke — the disk just won't boot. so yeah, do the mapping. slay, but responsibly.

🔒 LOCKING 🔒

locking is defined by the SCSI layer. and honestly? we don't really care. the audacity, the confidence, the main character energy of that sentence. periodt 🧚

⭐ RETURN ⭐

Zero. that's it. zero. the most chill return value in the whole kernel. 🌈

fr fr, that's the entire return section. some functions return errors, some return counts, this one returns Zero and goes to sleep 😴

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

bestie, buckle up, this list is long and we're listing every single one of them, no skipping, iykyk 💜

okay that's all of them. every last one. i counted, i double-checked, we are not dropping any of these 💅✨

anyway that's the whole page! this lil manpage lives at ./drivers/ata, dated October 2026, and the version on the tin is ata_std_bios_param(9) — go read it, it's giving short king 👑💖

📦 where this page comes from