gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu (Errol Casey) (03/18/90)
I am presently looking into purchasing an INTEL 386/PC board for my IBM PC. But before purchasing, I would like to collect as much information as possible about this upgrade product. Any comments about this board will be appreciated. Both compliments and complaints. As I want to be sure that the board will give me what I want. Please email replies to gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu (I will summarize the replies and post to comp.sys.ibm.pc and comp.sys.intel, if there is interest). Preliminary Questions: (1) Can I use my existing 640K of memory, along with the memory that comes on the Intel 386/PC board. (2) How much memory can the Intel 386/PC board have installed on it? I have heard that their are daughter boards that will allow up to 4 megabytes to be installed on the board. Any users have this configuratioN? (3) Is the board compatible with such 386 programs as Microsoft Windows/386 and Desqview with the QEMM/386 memory manager program? (4) I have been told that some software is not compatible with this board. Does anybody have any know software that is NOT compatible with it? (5) Any sources to reliable mail-order firms that sale this product will also be helpful. I have seen an add for it by PC Connection in the latest issue of BYTE. (6) Can the memory on the INTEL/386 PC board be used as EMS 4.0 memory? Reasons for upgrading: (1) Increase speed. For compiling and editing large files. (2) Increased memory. For multitasking and disk caching. (3) Multitasking. Background telecommunications. Looking forward to the replies. Granville Errol Casey, Jr. NCSU Computer Science Department Email Addresses: gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu gec%cscosl@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu
nghiem@ut-emx.UUCP (Alex Nghiem) (03/19/90)
In article <1990Mar18.085014.18588@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu (Errol Casey) writes: I have an Intel 386/PC and am pleased with it. >Preliminary Questions: > >(1) Can I use my existing 640K of memory, along with the memory that >comes on the Intel 386/PC board. Yes and No. You need the PC's main memory for intial dos boot only. After the initial boot, a device driver is loaded and all of the PC's conventional memory is bypassed. The amount of memory for the intial memory needed for boot varies from motherboard to motherboard. My clone with Phoenix BIOS only needs 16k to boot dos. I put all of my extra memory on an additional expanded memory board. >(2) How much memory can the Intel 386/PC board have installed on it? I >have heard that their are daughter boards that will allow up to 4 >megabytes to be installed on the board. Any users have this >configuratioN? Intel 386/PC comes standard with one meg of memory: 640 is used for main memory, 128K is used for bios shadowing, and the remaining 256k is available as extended memory. You can add three more megs of memory on a daughter board, however, very few places sell the daughter card. I believe it is cheaper to add expanded memory than buy the Intel daughter card. >(3) Is the board compatible with such 386 programs as Microsoft >Windows/386 and Desqview with the QEMM/386 memory manager program? Microsoft Windows/386 has drivers for the Intel 386/PC. UltraScript PC also has drivers for the 386/PC. I can't say for the QEMM program. I don't have access to it. >(4) I have been told that some software is not compatible with this >board. Does anybody have any know software that is NOT compatible with >it? Software that conforms to Lotus Intel Microsoft 4.0 extended/expanded memory specifications should work with this board. If it does not conform, it may not work. OS/2 does not work with the Intel 386/PC. >(5) Any sources to reliable mail-order firms that sale this product >will also be helpful. I have seen an add for it by PC Connection in >the latest issue of BYTE. I bought mine from CompuAdd. The going mail order price is about 560.00 with one meg of memory. >(6) Can the memory on the INTEL/386 PC board be used as EMS 4.0 >memory? Yes. The 386/PC comes with a device driver to convert extended to expanded memory, however it will not work with 80386 specific programs such as Windows/386. Intel also provides a BBS where you can download the latest drivers. >Reasons for upgrading: > >(1) Increase speed. For compiling and editing large files. Yes, however disk I/O will be limited by the standard 4.77 Mhz 8 bit bus. >(2) Increased memory. For multitasking and disk caching. Yes, Windows multitasking is nice. Intel's disk cache works well to. >(3) Multitasking. Background telecommunications. Yes. I can run MS-Kermit 3.0 in a window and play with my downloads in another window. >Looking forward to the replies. > >Granville Errol Casey, Jr. >NCSU Computer Science Department >Email Addresses: gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu > gec%cscosl@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu __________________________________________________________________________ This article is posted for factual information only. Any misrepresentation, if any, is purely unintentional. Any opinion expressed or implicit in these remarks are solely my own. nghiem@emx.utexas.edu !cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!nghiem nghiem@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu !cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf!nghiem