[comp.sys.ibm.pc] does MKS loads COMMAND.COM?

treed@dasys1.UUCP (Timothy Reed) (01/30/89)

I'm sure that this one has an easy explanation...

Using /etc/init.exe or /bin/sh.exe as my SHELL leaves me with about 490
KB RAM free; /bin/exec'ing CHKDSK reveals about 580-600 KB free (I don't
have the exact number handy, but it does not waver) - the *same* free
space that chkdsk reports when running command.com as my default
shell.  What gives?  Here I am thinking that command.com is totally out
of the picture all these years.  

BTW - is 490 KB free a typical amount?  My enviroment is pretty lean,
though I do start PRINT up before I get my shell.

Thanks!
Timothy Reed
..!uunet!dasys1!treed
-- 
NAME : Timothy Reed
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pfales@ttrde.UUCP (Peter Fales) (01/31/89)

In article <8507@dasys1.UUCP>, treed@dasys1.UUCP (Timothy Reed) writes:
> I'm sure that this one has an easy explanation...
> 
> Using /etc/init.exe or /bin/sh.exe as my SHELL leaves me with about 490
> KB RAM free; /bin/exec'ing CHKDSK reveals about 580-600 KB free 

> What gives?  Here I am thinking that command.com is totally out
> of the picture all these years.  

I would be interested in more information on this as well - I gave
up on trying to use init/login/sh when I discovered that my free space
(also measured by CHKDSK) was almost the same as when I started sh
from command.com.  Any ideas for improvement would be appreciated.

-- 
Peter Fales			AT&T, Room 2F-217
				200 Park Plaza
UUCP:	...att!ttrde!pfales	Naperville, IL 60566
Domain: pfales@ttrde.att.com	work:	(312) 416-5357		

wheels@mks.UUCP (Gerry Wheeler) (02/03/89)

In article <837@ttrde.UUCP>, pfales@ttrde.UUCP (Peter Fales) writes:
> In article <8507@dasys1.UUCP>, treed@dasys1.UUCP (Timothy Reed) writes:
> > Using /etc/init.exe or /bin/sh.exe as my SHELL leaves me with about 490
> > KB RAM free; /bin/exec'ing CHKDSK reveals about 580-600 KB free 
> I would be interested in more information on this as well.

Instead of using chkdsk, try the ps command.  Here are the results from
my machine:

PID  PPID SIZE DS   Command
2b68 9df4 0272 2cca ?
2ddb 2b68 0001
2ddd FREE 0002
2de0 2b68 14ef 3d9c c:/bin/sh.exe
42d0 2de0 029c 4461 /bin/ps.exe
456d FREE 5a71
9fdf 42d0 0016
9ff6 2de0 000a

(Since DOS doesn't have process id's, we use the load address of the
program.  All addresses and sizes are in hexadecimal, and in paragraphs. 
So, to get a decimal number of bytes, convert the hex number to decimal
and multiply by 16.)

The first line represents init.exe, which was loaded by DOS.  The name
is not there because DOS doesn't save it for later recall.  The second
line is init's environment space.  The fourth line is the shell which
was started when I logged in.  It's environment space is shown as the
last line of output.  Lines 5 and 7 are the ps command and its
environment.  And, finally, line 6 shows all the rest of free memory. 
This output is really just a printout of DOS's list of memory blocks, so
there is an extra 1 paragraph of overhead for each block that we don't
show. 

So, based on this output, init uses 10032 bytes, sh uses 85904 bytes, ps
uses 11040 bytes, and there are 370448 bytes in the largest piece of
free memory. 

As you can see, when you use the "SHELL=..." directive in config.sys,
you do indeed replace command.com with whatever program you have named. 
If you're using our configuration #3, you will have just sh.exe in
memory.  If you're using our configuration #4, you will end up with
init.exe and sh.exe in memory after you log in. 
 --
     Gerry Wheeler                           Phone: (519)884-2251
Mortice Kern Systems Inc.               UUCP: uunet!watmath!mks!wheels
   35 King St. North                             BIX: join mks
Waterloo, Ontario  N2J 2W9                  CompuServe: 73260,1043

-- 
     Gerry Wheeler                           Phone: (519)884-2251
Mortice Kern Systems Inc.               UUCP: uunet!watmath!mks!wheels
   35 King St. North                             BIX: join mks
Waterloo, Ontario  N2J 2W9                  CompuServe: 73260,1043