bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) (11/10/88)
I've heard of a product called '386 to the max' which enables you to configure your 386 memory to either EMS or extended memory. Anyone know who makes it, and how to contact them? Thanks in advance...
scjones@sdrc.UUCP (Larry Jones) (11/11/88)
In article <1750@dataio.Data-IO.COM>, bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) writes: > I've heard of a product called '386 to the max' which enables you to > configure your 386 memory to either EMS or extended memory. > > Anyone know who makes it, and how to contact them? Thanks in advance... It's from Qualitas, Inc. (301) 469-8848, but I suggest getting it from one of the discount houses (e.g. Programmer's Connection, Programmer's Paradise, etc.) since they're much cheaper. For those that aren't familiar with it, it uses the 386's virtual memory hardware to remap extended memory into the first meg where DOS can use it. This is done in a number of ways: holes are filled in so if you have less than 640k, you get 640k anyway, plus the hole between the video buffer and the bios roms is filled in and there's an option to load tsrs there rather than having them take up space in the lower 640k; a 64k page frame is allocated for LIM 4.0 expanded memory, and it will even copy roms (which are slow) into ram (which is fast). If you have different speed memory, it will also allow you to replace the slow ram with fast! Needless to say, I like it a lot. ---- Larry Jones UUCP: uunet!sdrc!scjones SDRC scjones@sdrc.uucp 2000 Eastman Dr. BIX: ltl Milford, OH 45150 AT&T: (513) 576-2070 "Save the Quayles" - Mark Russell
ddl@husc6.harvard.edu (Dan Lanciani) (11/11/88)
In article <432@sdrc.UUCP>, scjones@sdrc.UUCP (Larry Jones) writes: | In article <1750@dataio.Data-IO.COM>, bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) writes: | > I've heard of a product called '386 to the max' which enables you to | > configure your 386 memory to either EMS or extended memory. | > | > Anyone know who makes it, and how to contact them? Thanks in advance... | | For those that aren't familiar with it, it uses the 386's virtual | memory hardware to remap extended memory into the first meg where | DOS can use it. This is done in a number of ways: holes are | filled in so if you have less than 640k, you get 640k anyway, | plus the hole between the video buffer and the bios roms is | filled in and there's an option to load tsrs there rather than | having them take up space in the lower 640k; a 64k page frame is | allocated for LIM 4.0 expanded memory, and it will even copy roms | (which are slow) into ram (which is fast). If you have different | speed memory, it will also allow you to replace the slow ram with | fast! Does anyone know how this product might interact with, say, DESQview (which presumably expects QEMM to be used)? Are any standards evolving for use of virtual mode on the 386? It is, after all, a limited resource in the sense that only one program can manage it at a time. It would be nice to have a driver of which one could request not only LIM-style page mapping but other virtual 8086 mode features. I would assume that QEMM already does something like this; is it documented? Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.*
ralph@mtunf.ATT.COM (Ralph Heredia) (11/11/88)
In article <1750@dataio.Data-IO.COM> bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) writes: >I've heard of a product called '386 to the max' which enables you to >configure your 386 memory to either EMS or extended memory. > >Anyone know who makes it, and how to contact them? Thanks in advance... The product you are talking about is actually called 386MAX. It is developed by Qualitas, Inc. The address is: Qualitas, Inc. 8314 Thoreau Dr. Bethesda, MD 20817-3164 (301) 469-8848 There product is MUCH more than an extended to expanded memory conversion program. It is a COMPLETE memory manager. It supports LIM 4.0. It SHADOWS the EGA and ROM BIOS. Allows TSRs to be loaded in memory above 640K. Supports the new HIMEM XMS (Microsoft extended memory Specification) It has other features that are to long to list here but you get the idea. I've been using it for quite a while and have been satisfied. Hope this helps. Ralph Heredia -- Ralph Heredia EMAIL: ihnp4!mtunf!ralph or attmail!rheredia AT&T 200 Laurel Ave. Middletown, NJ 07748 (201) 957-2567 Disclaimer: "I don't know where you get your information, but mine comes from my horoscope."
pjh@mccc.UUCP (Pete Holsberg) (11/12/88)
Another program like 386^max is QEMM from Quarterdeck, the DesqView people.
--
Pete Holsberg UUCP: {...!rutgers!}princeton!mccc!pjh
Mercer College CompuServe: 70240,334
1200 Old Trenton Road GEnie: PJHOLSBERG
Trenton, NJ 08690 Voice: 1-609-586-4800jangr@microsoft.UUCP (Jan Gray) (11/12/88)
In article <1750@dataio.Data-IO.COM> bright@Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright) writes: >I've heard of a product called '386 to the max' which enables you to >configure your 386 memory to either EMS or extended memory. > >Anyone know who makes it, and how to contact them? Thanks in advance... The best feature of 386^max is it allows you to map some of your "386 memory" into any unused regions from A0000 to F0000 and change the DOS allocation arena to put programs and data there. I use it to load all my TSRs above A0000. Thus it allows you to push the "DOS 640K limit" to more like 700-800K. Earlier versions had some problems loading network TSRs into high memory, but these problems were remedied and I find it quite reliable. (That is, my machine crashes one or two orders of magnitude more often due to other factors.) It has now become an essential part of my (soon to be historic) DOS programming environment. As usual, speaking only for myself, I highly recommend it. 386^max Qualitas, Inc. 8314 Thoreau Dr. Bethesda, MD 20817-3164 Jan Gray uunet!microsoft!jangr Microsoft Corp., Redmond Wash. 206-882-8080
funkstr@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (-=/ Larry Hastings /=-) (11/12/88)
+-In article <581@husc6.harvard.edu>, ddl@husc6.harvard.edu (Dan Lanciani) wrote | Does anyone know how this product might interact with, say, | DESQview (which presumably expects QEMM to be used)? Are any standards | evolving for use of virtual mode on the 386? It is, after all, a limited | resource in the sense that only one program can manage it at a time. | It would be nice to have a driver of which one could request not only | LIM-style page mapping but other virtual 8086 mode features. I would | assume that QEMM already does something like this; is it documented? | | Dan Lanciani | ddl@harvard.* +---------- QEMM is a great deal like 386ToTheMax. Although I haven't tested it personally, I'm told that DesqVIEW should work with 386ToTheMax (I'll probably be trying this in the next week or two; if you wish to find out, mail me). As for "standards" for use of 386 protected mode... well, there's Windows 386, and there's DesqVIEW/386 memory manager (which will allow you to run Phar Lap Dos Extender 386 programs UNDER DesqVIEW, so you can MULTITASK Paradox386 and others), and there's VM386, and a couple others (Omniview comes to mind). What QEMM does mainly is turn the 386 exTENDed memory into LIM exPANDed memory so that DesqVIEW can use it, withouth DesqVIEW being a 386 protected mode program itself (yes, friends, DesqVIEW runs in virtual 8086 mode, except for some minor spots where it changes on loading into a 386). It also throws in some other utilities (loadhi, etc.). And dat's da name of dat tune. -- /|\ /|\ .. . . . . . . . . . . | |\| |\| .. . . . . . . . . . . |/|\|/|\|/|| _ _ _ _ |_| _ _ |_ -__ _ _ARPA: funkstr@ucscb.ucsc.EDU | |/| |/|L_ (_\( ( (_/ | |(_\_) (_ || )(_)_)UUCP: *!ucbvax!ucscb!funkstr \|/ \|/ larry / hastings _/ WORK: sun!acad!metaware!funkster MetaWare Disclaimer: It was a bad day. ALSO: root@ucbvax.ucb.EDU (heh.) Incorporated "That reminds me of my days as a rodeo clown... but I digress."
pete@octopus.UUCP (Pete Holzmann) (11/13/88)
A quick note:
386max *does* work with Desqview, as long as you use the current version
of 386max (x.62 I think). Unfortunately, plain DV doesn't include the QEXT.SYS
driver that's required to move 60K of DV into extended memory. Thus, 386max+DV
isn't an identical replacement for DV+QEMM. On the other hand, 386max does
some nice things that QEMM doesn't do, such as mapping unneeded ROM's out of
the address space (f'rexample: as long as you don't need to use the G=c800:5
trick, you can map the ROM on an Adaptec controller right out of your memory
space without any trouble: it is only used at pre-config.sys boot time!...
another example: AMI BIOSes contain a spare 16K EGA BIOS that is completely
unneeded... grabbing these areas back with 386max gives me lots of high DOS
memory...
On the OTHER hand (that's why I'm Octopus... 2 hands is never enough :-)),
the new DV is supposed to do a lot of magical things, like load config.sys
drivers into high dos memory. We'll see...
Pete
[recovering for 24 hours between returning from Singapore and heading off
to COMDEX. I'll post a report of interesting things learned in a week or so.]
[Another note: I *very* carefully tested the "write 360K on 1.2M drive" S/W,
and every other trick I could think of, including using a $400 drive alignment
package to align the drives within an inch of their life. Conclusion: while
you will get good results MOST of the time, it is impossible to reliably write
360K floppies on a 1.2 drive. In every case, I produced floppies that didn't
read correctly on one or more perfectly aligned 360K drives.]
--
OOO __| ___ Peter Holzmann, Octopus Enterprises
OOOOOOO___/ _______ USPS: 19611 La Mar Court, Cupertino, CA 95014
OOOOO \___/ UUCP: {hpda,pyramid}!octopus!pete
___| \_____ Phone: 408/996-7746kdq@demott.COM (Kevin D. Quitt) (06/05/90)
If you are using or have used 386 to the Max, would you send e-mail to me about your experiences with it? Is it great, good, ok... What problems do you have, etc. Thanks in advance. (I will post a summary if there's enough interest.) kdq -- _ Kevin D. Quitt Manager, Software Development DeMott Electronics Co. VOICE (818) 988-4975 14707 Keswick St. FAX (818) 997-1190 Van Nuys, CA 91405-1266 MODEM (818) 997-4496 Telebit PEP last 34 12 N 118 27 W srhqla!demott!kdq kdq@demott.com 96.37% of the people who use statistics in arguments make them up.
Renee@cup.portal.com (Renee Linda Roberts) (06/07/90)
This is from my husband, Rory Roberts, who does not have his own Usenet
account:
I have been using 386^MAX professional for over a year now on several
20mhz machines with 2 - 5 megabytes of RAM. I am obviously a strong supporter
of the product. I am running MS-DOS 4.01 & 386^MAX 4.07 and with all the
following items loaded I still have 594,752 bytes free (your mileage may
vary). The few times I have called Technical Support, because of odd hardware
combinations, they take your name and product serial number and return your
call within the hour.
DEVICE=386max.sys dos4 include=b000-b800
FILES=35
FCBS=20,8
BUFFERS=25,8 /x
DEVICE=386load.sys prog=ANSI.SYS /L
DEVICE=386disk.sys 640 128 256
DEVICE=386load.sys prog=FDCD.sys /D:MSCD000 /N:1
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=82432 prog=fastopen.exe c:=(150,150) /x
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=10900 prog=APPEND.exe /E
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=16480 prog=ced.com -f\util\ced.cfg
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=664 prog=fdread.com
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=14796 prog=PRINT.com /D:LPT1
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=13576 prog=SHARE.COM
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=17968 prog=dtips.com /s10 /pc:\dt
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=17724 prog=GRAPHICS.com GRAPHICS
INSTALL=386load.com envname size=23504 prog=MSCDEX.exe /D:MSCD000
INSTALL=maxhi.com ;This one lets command.com load into high memory
Hope this helps!
Renee Roberts