mss2@quads.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer) (05/07/91)
Many device driver and similar programs seem to come in two forms: A TSR .com file and a .sys device driver to be placed in config.sys. I was wondering if someone would explain to me why they come in two flavors, and which is preferable. (Or if one is preferable for one use, and one for another, please elaborate.) And as long as I'm asking Naive Beginner Questions (tm), do people generally define their hard drives as many, few, or one logical drive, and why? Mike -- Michael S. Schiffer, LHN "Well, _I_ believe in solipsism-- aq578@cleveland.freenet.edu but that's just one man's Mike_Schiffer@ub.cc.umich.edu opinion." -- Craig Neumeier, LHN mss2@usite-next.uchicago.edu
mig@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Meir) (05/10/91)
In article <1991May7.163424.20942@midway.uchicago.edu> mss2@quads.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer) writes: >Many device driver and similar programs seem to come in two forms: >A TSR .com file and a .sys device driver to be placed in config.sys. >I was wondering if someone would explain to me why they come in two >flavors, and which is preferable. (Or if one is preferable for one use, >and one for another, please elaborate.) > >And as long as I'm asking Naive Beginner Questions (tm), do people >generally define their hard drives as many, few, or one logical drive, >and why? > >Mike >-- >Michael S. Schiffer, LHN "Well, _I_ believe in solipsism-- >aq578@cleveland.freenet.edu but that's just one man's >Mike_Schiffer@ub.cc.umich.edu opinion." -- Craig Neumeier, LHN >mss2@usite-next.uchicago.edu In my humble opinion, a .COM can be loaded after bootup and aded later, whereas a .SYS can only be loaded AT bootup and cannot be unloaded at all. .SYS files usually take up less memory (they are smaller) but probably cannot be moved to high memory, if your system is capable of that. Hmm. There. I said it. Please correct any errors or misleading statements I might have made. * * * * * * * ======================= Meir Green * * * * * * * * ======================= mig@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu * * * * * * * ======================= N2JPG
shutton@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Scott K. Hutton) (05/22/91)
mss2@quads.uchicago.edu (Michael S. Schiffer) writes: >Many device driver and similar programs seem to come in two forms: >A TSR .com file and a .sys device driver to be placed in config.sys. >I was wondering if someone would explain to me why they come in two >flavors, and which is preferable. (Or if one is preferable for one use, >and one for another, please elaborate.) > >And as long as I'm asking Naive Beginner Questions (tm), do people >generally define their hard drives as many, few, or one logical drive, >and why? SYS files are configured as devices-- you can write and/or read to them as such. SYS files are not normally unloadable, and can only be placed in memory at boot-up. COM files are executables (usually generated by the DEBUG utility). Some COM files are able to <T>erminate and <S>tay <R>esident in memory, to be called up for execution by some external event such as an interrupt. Some of the TSRs you'll be familier with are those which ride on the keyboard interrupt and are sensitive to special keystrokes like SHIFT-SHIFT or CTRL-ALT. Others are sensitive to input to a device (e.g., print spoolers). Hope that helps. _____________________________________________________________________________ Scott K. Hutton, KA9WTR Internet: SHutton@UCS.Indiana.edu UCS Support Services SHutton@Bronze.UCS.Indiana.edu Indiana University Bitnet: SHutton@IUIS, SHutton@IUBACS