lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) (01/06/89)
Is there any product, hardware or software, that will let you use
expanded memory (LIM EMS whatever) as extended, or, vice versa?
A couple of people have asked me about this...I have no idea why
they want to do it, but I thought it was a good question!
Thanks.
--
John Wright ///////////////// Phone: 902-424-3805 or 902-424-6527
Post: c/o Dr Pat Lane, Biology Dept, Dalhousie U, Halifax N.S., CANADA B3H-4H8
Cdn/Bitnet: lane@cs.dal.cdn Arpa: lane%dalcs.uucp@uunet.uu.net
Uucp: lane@dalcs.uucp or {uunet,watmath,utai}!dalcs!lane johnl@ima.ima.isc.com (John R. Levine) (01/07/89)
In article <3129@dalcs.UUCP> lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) writes: >Is there any product, hardware or software, that will let you use >expanded memory (LIM EMS whatever) as extended, or, vice versa? On every AT expanded memory board I have ever seen it is possible to set DIP switches on the board to configure the memory as expanded, extended, or in many cases a combination of the two. If you are using an operating system that runs in protected mode, extended memory is much more useful. If you are asking if it's possible to flip memory back and forth between extended and expanded without taking apart your computer, it happens for free on PS/2 boards and otherwise is as far as I can tell unavailable. This discussion applies only to 286 machines. On a 386, you always want to configure your memory as extended because the 386's on-chip memory mapping is powerful enough to implement full EMS in software using a driver like QEMM. Finally, if you have a board that only provides extended memory, there are programs with names like LIMSIM that provide a partial implementation of EMS that is adequate for some programs, notably 1-2-3. -- John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869 { bbn | spdcc | decvax | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something You're never too old to have a happy childhood.
carlson@gateway.mitre.org (Bruce Carlson) (01/10/89)
In article <3136@ima.ima.isc.com> johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) writes: >In article <3129@dalcs.UUCP> lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) writes: >>Is there any product, hardware or software, that will let you use >>expanded memory (LIM EMS whatever) as extended, or, vice versa? > >On every AT expanded memory board I have ever seen it is possible to set >DIP switches on the board to configure the memory as expanded, extended, >or in many cases a combination of the two. If you are using an operating >system that runs in protected mode, extended memory is much more useful. > >John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869 >{ bbn | spdcc | decvax | harvard | yale }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.something >You're never too old to have a happy childhood. I have an AST Premium 286 (AT compatible) and the AST memory board can be set for various combinations of expanded/extended memory. The default is 640k of "normal memory" and the remainder as expanded, but I also tried the option of 1.5 mbyte of extended and it worked as advertised. I think the memory in the AST Premium meets the LIM 4.0 specs, but I'm not sure. According to the AST documentation, in my current configuration I can use the REMM.SYS driver to access the expanded memory and then use the REX.SYS driver to use some of the expanded memory to emulate extended memory. AST seems to think this is primarily so I can create a RAM disk, but I assume it may work with other extended memory applications. A note about the REMM.SYS file versions. The REMM.SYS that came with the computer was 3.xxx and when I tried to use it with Windows 2.1 it caused Windows to blow up completely (unreadable screen) and the computer locked up. Windows 2.1 came with another REMM.SYS driver (4.1 I think) and once I switched to the new driver I didn't have any problems. Bruce Carlson
abcscnge@csuna.UUCP (Scott "The Pseudo-Hacker" Neugroschl) (01/11/89)
In article <3136@ima.ima.isc.com> johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) writes: >If you are asking if it's possible to flip memory back and forth between >extended and expanded without taking apart your computer, it happens for >free on PS/2 boards and otherwise is as far as I can tell unavailable. Intel did it right with the AboveBoard 286. There are _NO_ DIP switches, NO jumpers. The board comes with software to program a EEPROM on the board. From software, you can choose any AboveBoard in your computer and configure it however you like. I don't know why more companies don't use this scheme. In fact, I don't know why IBM didn't use if for the MicroChannel, since not all PS/2's run DOS, how does the POS software know where to find the .ADF file? Intel's method (S/W programmable EEPROM) seems to be much more intelligent. -- Scott "The Pseudo-Hacker" Neugroschl UUCP: ...!sm.unisys.com!csun!csuna!abcscnge -- "Beat me, whip me, make me code in Ada" -- Disclaimers? We don't need no stinking disclaimers!!!