+%define WAIT_DELAY 0x02 ; 0.131072 seconds
+
+; constants -------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+%define COLS 80
+%define ROWS 25
+%define VGAPGSZ (COLS * ROWS * 2)
+
+; memory layout ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+%define ORG 0x7c00
+%define VGA 0xb8000
+%define DAT ORG + 512
+
+; static variables ------------------------------------------------------------
+
+%define xss DAT ; xs() state (word)
+%define currvgapg xss + 2 ; current vga page near pointer (word)