[comp.sys.ibm.pc] Using QEMM-386 v5.0 w/ Canon 386 - how it was resolved

boerner@ut-emx.UUCP (Brendan B. Boerner) (03/23/90)

This is an article letting anyone who cares know what I did regarding
my problem w/Quarterdeck's QEMM-386 v5.0.

I have a Canon 386 with a Tall Tree Systems' Jlaser Plus SA (a board
which lets me talk to an HP Laserjet II at 600x300 dpi).  I also have
a Logitech mouse and a Microtech scanner interface board.  I was using
QEMM to convert 3 MB of extended memory to expanded.  My problems were
a) when I tried to run the test program supplied by Tall Tree, my
machine would lock up, and b) when I moved the mouse in MS Windows/286
v2.11, again the machine would lock up.

I talked to a tech. person at Tall Tree who told me that they did know
that their software would run using Qualitas' 386 Max memory manager
and furthermore that they knew it would not work with QEMM.  I was
told that QD did not implement function calls 9 and 10 of the LIM 3.2
spec in QEMM.  QD however, told me that they did implement the LIM 3.2
and 4.0 specs and that Tall Tree was using function calls from a
previous spec which Qualitas' happened to support.  Athough I don't
know who is correct, 386 Max Professional did correct both problems.
(I got the Professional version so I could load device drivers into
High RAM).

There is a major difference and one or two minor differences between
the two products which I should note:

As I understand it, QEMM works w/DESQview 2.26 to provide
virtual-8086s for each open window.  386 Max cannot do this.  While it
would be nice if 386 Max could do this, I seem to be getting along
fine without this capability.  386 Max also does not have the
capability to load FILES and BUFFERS into high memory as QEMM does.
Also, the manual states that when running multitasking software such
as DV or MS Windows, it is important to reserve some space in High RAM
as a swapping region.  I did find that reserving a 48K swapping region
did allow my window size to increase to 512K.  However, under QEMM,
this was not neccessary and since I could load FILES and BUFFERS high
I was able to get a window size of 560K.  Because of this, I am using
the QEMM at work on a Zenith 386/33 where I don't have the Jlaser or a
Logitech mouse. :-)

If anyone has any questions about my experiences with the two
products, drop my a line and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Brendan
--
Brendan B. Boerner		Phone: 512/471-3241
Microcomputer Technologies	The University of Texas @ Austin
Internet: boerner@emx.utexas.edu     UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!boerner
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Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (03/23/90)

In article <26701@ut-emx.UUCP>, boerner@ut-emx.UUCP (Brendan B. Boerner) wrote:
}I talked to a tech. person at Tall Tree who told me that they did know
}that their software would run using Qualitas' 386 Max memory manager
}and furthermore that they knew it would not work with QEMM.  I was
}told that QD did not implement function calls 9 and 10 of the LIM 3.2
}spec in QEMM.  QD however, told me that they did implement the LIM 3.2
}and 4.0 specs and that Tall Tree was using function calls from a
}previous spec which Qualitas' happened to support.  Athough I don't

According to the info I have, those two calls are from the LIM EMS 3.0 spec,
and are undocumented in the LIM EMS 3.2 spec.
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sysop@tlvx.UUCP (SysOp) (03/25/90)

In article <26701@ut-emx.UUCP>, boerner@ut-emx.UUCP (Brendan B. Boerner) writes:
> This is an article letting anyone who cares know what I did regarding
> my problem w/Quarterdeck's QEMM-386 v5.0.
...
> There is a major difference and one or two minor differences between
> the two products which I should note:
> 
> As I understand it, QEMM works w/DESQview 2.26 to provide
> virtual-8086s for each open window.  386 Max cannot do this.  While it

What are you referring to?  I use 386-to-the-Max with DesqView, and it allows
me to run a few programs at once, each one with over 400K.  (So, I know it's
using the extended-turned-expanded, and not the 640K!)  So far, it hasn't
been terribly useful (since what I run in the background merely takes yet
more time to get done....).  I'm hoping it will occasionally have its uses
though.

The lastest version of 386Max (4.08 I think?) has a new flag which has something
to do with multitasking.. perhaps this makes a difference?

> would be nice if 386 Max could do this, I seem to be getting along
> fine without this capability.  386 Max also does not have the
> capability to load FILES and BUFFERS into high memory as QEMM does.
> Also, the manual states that when running multitasking software such
...

boerner@ut-emx.UUCP (Brendan B. Boerner) (03/26/90)

In article <258@tlvx.UUCP> sysop@tlvx.UUCP (SysOp) writes:
>What are you referring to?  I use 386-to-the-Max with DesqView, and it allows
>me to run a few programs at once, each one with over 400K.  (So, I know it's
>using the extended-turned-expanded, and not the 640K!)  So far, it hasn't
>been terribly useful (since what I run in the background merely takes yet
>more time to get done....).  I'm hoping it will occasionally have its uses
>though.

The QEMM/DV combination will allow applications which write directly to
the screen to run in the background AND in a small window without
writing outside of that apps. window.  For instance, while I was using
QEMM, I would run Turbo Pascal v5.0 in a small window in the background
without having my foreground window written over.  When using 386Max,
when I made the window small and then zoomed it back to fullsize, parts
of the Turbo screen were missing (menu bar, status line, etc...).  I
then told DV that Turbo DID write directly to the screen and that took
care of that problem.  However, when I started a compile and then made
the window small, the compile was paused.  If I left it in a full
screen window and brought another app. to the foreground, the info
concerning lines compiled overwrote my foreground apps. text (I told DV
that Turbo could run in the background).

>The lastest version of 386Max (4.08 I think?) has a new flag which has something
>to do with multitasking.. perhaps this makes a difference?

No, I think you might be referring to AMRS (Alternate Map Register
Sets).  Anyway, a tech. person I talked to at Qualitas told me that
they didn't know the exact protocol QEMM and DV were using to get this
virtual-8086 capability so couldn't do it.  He also couldn't tell me if
they would be able to provide this functionality in a future version.

Brendan
--
Brendan B. Boerner		Phone: 512/471-3241
Microcomputer Technologies	The University of Texas @ Austin
Internet: boerner@emx.utexas.edu     UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!boerner
BITNET:   CCGB001@UTXVM.BITNET 	AppleLink: boerner@emx.utexas.edu@DASNET#