phil@pepsi.amd.com (02/13/90)
Has anyone read it? I got very excited by it but it also raised some
questions. Maybe we can start a discussion:
1) He says the Adaptec doesn't require a BIOS area after bootup.
Is this special? Does the WD1006 do this or not?
2) He says the Phoenix BIOS only needs from F8000-FFFFF after boot up.
Is this true for all Phoenix 386 BIOSes? I thought the idea of using
E0000-EFFFF was neat but this goes even further!
3) PC SuperKwik gets loaded in 32K. Is PCSK the only one that can do
this?
4) The Gateway Ethernet interface has no high memory footprint?
Anyone care to comment on the Gateway? I've never seen it for
sale.
Is anyone else excited about this?
--
Phil Ngai, phil@amd.com {uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil
When guns are outlawed, only governments will have guns.nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) (02/13/90)
In article <29140@amdcad.AMD.COM> phil@pepsi.amd.com writes:
4) The Gateway Ethernet interface has no high memory footprint?
Anyone care to comment on the Gateway? I've never seen it for
sale.
It's probably I/O based and doesn't have a boot prom installed. There
are quite a few of these boards, among them the 3c501 and ni5010 (I
wouldn't put either of these in a 386), Novell NE[12]000 and clones.
I don't know how much performance you lose when you use an I/O based
Ethernet card.
There is also the ni6510, which is a bus mastering Ethernet card. I've got
two of these (donated to Clarkson by Racal/Interlan so that I could write a
packet driver for it), and they're pretty slick. It will write its packets
anywhere in the first 16 Mbytes, so you could put your packet buffers up
in extended memory, or, if you have a 386 control program that does expanded
memory mapping, you could put your buffers in expanded memory.
Their prototype cards wouldn't work in my prototype Zenith Z-386 -- does that
surprise anyone? I have no idea whether the real cards will work in real
386ses. If you're thinking about buying one of these, contact Racal/Interlan
to see if the board will work in your machine. They have a list of machines
that the board is known to work in. For example, it works in a Z-248, but
not in a Z-286-LP12 (that is, the prototype board doesn't work).
--
--russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu]) Russ.Nelson@$315.268.6667
Violence never solves problems, it just changes them into more subtle problemsphil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (02/14/90)
In article <NELSON.90Feb13095724@image.clarkson.edu> nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu writes: |are quite a few of these boards, among them the 3c501 and ni5010 (I |wouldn't put either of these in a 386), Novell NE[12]000 and clones. According to the NetWare Buyer's Guide, the Novell cards have on board buffer RAM. Are you saying this RAM is not in the PC's memory address space? |I don't know how much performance you lose when you use an I/O based |Ethernet card. I'm not a performance freak so as long as it's not too bad I don't care. How fast can a PC print anyway? (printer sharing is my main application) -- Phil Ngai, phil@amd.com {uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil When guns are outlawed, only governments will have guns.
jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Jason Merrill) (02/14/90)
In article <29140@amdcad.AMD.COM> phil@pepsi.amd.com () writes: >Has anyone read it? I got very excited by it but it also raised some >questions. Maybe we can start a discussion: > >2) He says the Phoenix BIOS only needs from F8000-FFFFF after boot up. >Is this true for all Phoenix 386 BIOSes? I thought the idea of using >E0000-EFFFF was neat but this goes even further! My computer uses the AMI BIOS, and it also only needs F800-FFFF after bootup; I have QEMM-386 using E800-F7FF for the EMS page frame. More memory! Heheheheh... Incidentally, what is the most recent release of AMI's BIOS? Mine is dated September 25, 1988, which seems pretty old. -- Jason Merrill jmerrill@jarthur.claremont.edu
nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) (02/14/90)
In article <29158@amdcad.AMD.COM> phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes: In article <NELSON.90Feb13095724@image.clarkson.edu> nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu writes: |are quite a few of these boards, among them the 3c501 and ni5010 (I |wouldn't put either of these in a 386), Novell NE[12]000 and clones. According to the NetWare Buyer's Guide, the Novell cards have on board buffer RAM. Are you saying this RAM is not in the PC's memory address space? Yes, this RAM is not in the PC's address space. Same for the other cards. But beware: the 3c501 and ni5010 only have 2K of RAM, whereas the Novell and clones have 8K of ram. 2K is quite insufficient. -- --russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu]) Russ.Nelson@$315.268.6667 Violence never solves problems, it just changes them into more subtle problems
huilin@hpindda.HP.COM (Hui-Lin Lim) (02/15/90)
/ jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Jason Merrill) / 9:30 pm Feb 13, 1990 / >In article <29140@amdcad.AMD.COM> phil@pepsi.amd.com () writes: >>Has anyone read it? I got very excited by it but it also raised some >>questions. Maybe we can start a discussion: >> >>2) He says the Phoenix BIOS only needs from F8000-FFFFF after boot up. >>Is this true for all Phoenix 386 BIOSes? I thought the idea of using >>E0000-EFFFF was neat but this goes even further! >My computer uses the AMI BIOS, and it also only needs F800-FFFF after >bootup; I have QEMM-386 using E800-F7FF for the EMS page frame. More >memory! Heheheheh... Is the BIOS at f000-f800 automatically disabled so that it doesn't appear in the memory map or does it have to be manually disabled? If the latter case, how is this done? Hui-Lin Lim ARPA: huilin%hpinddf@hplabs.hp.com UUCP: {ucbvax,hplabs}!hpinddf!huilin Phone: (408)447-2835
jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Jason Merrill) (02/15/90)
In article <40970047@hpindda.HP.COM> huilin@hpindda.HP.COM (Hui-Lin Lim) writes: >/ jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Jason Merrill) / 9:30 pm Feb 13, 1990 / >>My computer uses the AMI BIOS, and it also only needs F800-FFFF after >>bootup; I have QEMM-386 using E800-F7FF for the EMS page frame. > >Is the BIOS at f000-f800 automatically disabled so that it >doesn't appear in the memory map or does it have to be manually >disabled? If the latter case, how is this done? It has to be manually disabled on my computer; on my device=qemm.sys line, I have the parameter I=E000-F7FF (include). E000-EFFF is the on-board EGA bios...not really something I need. If you have QEMM 5.0, the Analyze function will tell you what parts of ROM can be manually included -- but you have to run just about every program you own to make sure you don't mess anything up -- there is one 4K block which, as far as I can tell, is only used by Norton Disk Doctor (if I include it, NDD locks immediately)... -- Jason Merrill jmerrill@jarthur.claremont.edu
phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (02/16/90)
In article <40970047@hpindda.HP.COM> huilin@hpindda.HP.COM (Hui-Lin Lim) writes: |Is the BIOS at f000-f800 automatically disabled so that it |doesn't appear in the memory map or does it have to be manually |disabled? If the latter case, how is this done? Nope, it's the magic of QEMM-386/386^Max. The MMU remaps the logical addresses F000:0-8000 to real RAM, probably in the extended address range but the actual location is irrelevant. -- Phil Ngai, phil@amd.com {uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil When guns are outlawed, only governments will have guns.
huilin@hpindda.HP.COM (Hui-Lin Lim) (02/16/90)
jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Jason Merrill) writes: [stuff deleted] >bios...not really something I need. If you have QEMM 5.0, the Analyze >function will tell you what parts of ROM can be manually included -- but you >have to run just about every program you own to make sure you don't mess >anything up -- there is one 4K block which, as far as I can tell, is only >used by Norton Disk Doctor (if I include it, NDD locks immediately)... Which 4K block is this that causes NDD to have problems? Thanks Hui-Lin Lim ARPA: huilin%hpinddf@hplabs.hp.com UUCP: {ucbvax,hplabs}!hpinddf!huilin Phone: (408)447-2835
jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Jason Merrill) (02/18/90)
In article <40970048@hpindda.HP.COM> huilin@hpindda.HP.COM (Hui-Lin Lim) writes: >jmerrill@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Jason Merrill) writes: >>anything up -- there is one 4K block which, as far as I can tell, is only >>used by Norton Disk Doctor (if I include it, NDD locks immediately)... > >Which 4K block is this that causes NDD to have problems? In the 9/25/88 release of the AMI BIOS, it is FB00-FBFF. NDD may not need all 4K, but... -- Jason Merrill jmerrill@jarthur.claremont.edu