[comp.sys.ibm.pc] DesqView 286

phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (04/07/90)

In article <879@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU> kdunn@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU (Kevin Dunn) writes:
|
|  I am interested in any information on DV 286.  I have a 286 with 640k +
|  384k EXT/EMS memory, and heard from a friend that DV 286 can use the 384k to

Forget it. It won't work. You won't like it.

From the description of your system, it has EMS 3.2, which is useless
for multi-tasking. You need EEMS, which you can only get on either an
AST Premium 286 or a 386.

--
Phil Ngai, phil@amd.com		{uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil
Spring is here!

davin@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) (04/08/90)

phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes:
>From the description of your system, it has EMS 3.2, which is useless
>for multi-tasking. You need EEMS, which you can only get on either an
>AST Premium 286 or a 386.

Phooey on your AST Premium 286, I've got EEMS on my Nec ProSpeed 286 Laptop.

Davin
--

goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) (04/09/90)

In article <29763@amdcad.AMD.COM>, phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes...
>From the description of your system, it has EMS 3.2, which is useless
>for multi-tasking. You need EEMS, which you can only get on either an
>AST Premium 286 or a 386.

Phil, please clarify something.  If the PC has "LIM EMS 4.0" implemented
using its chipset (ie, the current SUNTAC or C&T NEAT), complete with 
its own driver (that makes 4DOS and VDISK happy), will DESQview use it,
or will DESQview only use EEMS?  Most current 286 clones seem to have
this LIM4.0 EMS included.  Thanx,
      fred
---
Fred R. Goldstein   goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com 
                 or goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com
                    voice:  +1 508 486 7388 

phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (04/10/90)

In article <10122@shlump.nac.dec.com> goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes:
|>From the description of your system, it has EMS 3.2, which is useless
|>for multi-tasking. You need EEMS, which you can only get on either an
|>AST Premium 286 or a 386.
|
|Phil, please clarify something.  If the PC has "LIM EMS 4.0" implemented
|using its chipset (ie, the current SUNTAC or C&T NEAT), complete with 
|its own driver (that makes 4DOS and VDISK happy), will DESQview use it,
|or will DESQview only use EEMS?  Most current 286 clones seem to have
|this LIM4.0 EMS included.  Thanx,

Because EMS 4.0 was written after EEMS, you would expect it to have
all the functionality and more. EMS 4.0 does, but most of it is
optional to accommodate all the vendors with 3.2 product. Therefore,
EMS 4.0 compliance by itself is really meaningless. If the vendor
will guarantee both EMS 4.0 and EEMS, then you can use DV.

However, I warn you that both the so-called NEAT and the Suntac I
am familiar with are really 3.2, not the full 4.0. NEAT requires
an extra chip to implement the full 4.0 and this is usually not
provided because the demand for full 4.0 is so low.

The AST Premium was the only one I knew of with EEMS, now someone has
said the NEC Prospeed has it too. In any case, EEMS on 286s is very
rare and I don't recommend DV/286 unless your vendor will let you
return it if it doesn't work.

The key to all this is whether you can bank switch only 64K (EMS 3.2)
or the entire 1 megabyte (EEMS).

--
Phil Ngai, phil@amd.com		{uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil
The War on Drugs is the modern day Inquisition.

c8847914@cc.nu.oz (Athol ('Mugz') Mullen.) (04/10/90)

In article <879@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU>, kdunn@lehi3b15.csee.Lehigh.EDU (Kevin Dunn) writes:
> 
>   I am interested in any information on DV 286.  I have a 286 with 640k +
>   384k EXT/EMS memory, and heard from a friend that DV 286 can use the 384k to
> multitask.

With 384K, you can only load part of DESQview into EXT or EMS memory, and
use the rest as a 'swap disk'.

DESQview needs at least 1Meg of EMS (EEMS or EMS4.0) before it will run
programs in there. With EMS, DV loads about 32K of itself up there.
With EXT, DV loads almost 64K of itself up there.

Mugz.

Signature? I'm only an undergrad !