bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright) (04/17/91)
Is there a stripped down version of DOS that one can use to obtain as much free memory as possible? I'm sure there must be such a thing, but I really don't know very much about DOS machines (I'm posting this for a friend). Thanks alot, BBB -- Bob Bright <bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca> Dept. of Philosophy University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Man R3T 2N2 (204) 474-9105
valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu (Doug Dougherty) (04/19/91)
bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright) writes: >Is there a stripped down version of DOS that one can use to obtain as >much free memory as possible? I'm sure there must be such a thing, >but I really don't know very much about DOS machines (I'm posting this >for a friend). Thanks alot, > BBB Sure. Get DOS 1.1 (complete with commented source code) from Information Modes. (800) 628-7992 -- (Another fine mess brought to you by valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu)
kdorff@nmsu.edu (Kevin C. Dorff) (04/19/91)
Well, as I see it I think that someone should:
rewrite command.com so that it makes commands EXTERNAL. I know that
this would not save a LOT of space. It could retain a FEW but I think
it would be great.
The amiga and unix, etc, keep the commands seperate so if you want
'ls' to do something else you just copy the file over with the
program you want. It seems like a simiar setup would be handy for DOS
too. Just a thought.
--
Kevin Dorff
kdorff@nmsu.educ60b-1eq@web-4f.berkeley.edu (Noam Mendelson) (04/19/91)
In article <1991Apr17.165452.7670@ccu.umanitoba.ca> bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright) writes: >Is there a stripped down version of DOS that one can use to obtain as >much free memory as possible? I'm sure there must be such a thing, >but I really don't know very much about DOS machines (I'm posting this >for a friend). Thanks alot, The lower the DOS version the less memory it takes. If you are very tight on conventional memory, you can switch to DOS 2.1. Most applications will run on DOS 2.1 (but be sure to check the documentation first), and you will save ~30k (that's just a rough estimate) of memory. Also, if you own a VGA or 256K EGA, there is at least one shareware program which will allow you to allocate 96K of the {E,V}GA's memory to DOS for use as conventional memory. Also, if you have the Chips & Technologies chipset, you may be able to utilize "high" memory (memory above 640K) using a shareware utility known as The Last Byte (available on simtel20). Additionally, if you have a 386 or better, you can use Quarterdeck's QEMM memory manager to load TSR's and device drivers into high memory. -- +==========================================================================+ | Noam Mendelson ..!agate!ucbvax!web!c60b-1eq | "I haven't lost my mind, | | c60b-1eq@web.Berkeley.EDU | it's backed up on tape | | University of California at Berkeley | somewhere." |
valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu (Doug Dougherty) (04/19/91)
valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu (Doug Dougherty) writes: >bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright) writes: >>Is there a stripped down version of DOS that one can use to obtain as >>much free memory as possible? I'm sure there must be such a thing, >>but I really don't know very much about DOS machines (I'm posting this >>for a friend). Thanks alot, >> BBB >Sure. Get DOS 1.1 (complete with commented source code) from >Information Modes. (800) 628-7992 >-- Correction to the above: I have since talked to IM and have been informed that all that is being sold is the commented source, not the DOS itself, and that the way it was disassembled, it is not going to be easy to reassemble. (It was disassembled for instructional purposes only; not for reasons of modification and reassembly) Still, you could probably get the DOS (1.1 or any early version) yourself if you looked around some (I know I have a copy of 1.1 somewhere...) and it would be small. You'd sure get a big number from MAPMEM or CHKDSK... -- (Another fine mess brought to you by valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu)
valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu (Doug Dougherty) (04/19/91)
kdorff@nmsu.edu (Kevin C. Dorff) writes: >Well, as I see it I think that someone should: > rewrite command.com so that it makes commands EXTERNAL. I know that >this would not save a LOT of space. It could retain a FEW but I think >it would be great. Most DOS commands *are* external (MODE, CHKDSK, FORMAT, etc) The resident portion of COMMAND.COM (It is COMMAND.COM that contains those few DOS "commands" that aren't external [dir, cls, etc]) is only about 3 or 4K, so I don't think you have much of a point. (In fact, I think most of the non-external commands are not in the resident portion, but nevertheless, in terms of COMMAND.COM overhead, the 3 or 4K resident portion is the only part that matters) Incidentally, I disremember the exact details of what happens when an application, running above the resident portion of COMMAND.COM, issues an INT 2E call, referencing a command not currently resident. Does COMMAND allocate memory above the application and load parts of itself there? (I think this is right, since I know if you are coding a .COM program that uses INT 2E, you have to free memory (as with EXEC), but I'm not sure if that applies when the command is a COMMAND.COM built-in) Yes, this is drift... -- (Another fine mess brought to you by valley@gsbsun.uchicago.edu)
ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi) (04/19/91)
In article <1991Apr17.165452.7670@ccu.umanitoba.ca> bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright) writes: > >Is there a stripped down version of DOS that one can use to obtain as >much free memory as possible? I'm sure there must be such a thing, >but I really don't know very much about DOS machines (I'm posting this : Perhaps there might be such tiny beasts, I really am not sure. I've never encountered one, but that doesn't prove anything for certain. However, the usual way to go about this problem is to load parts of the system (drivers, TSRs etc) in the upper memory. There are both commercial and shareware utilities for this task. At our archives there are such utilities in the /pc/memutil directory. One that might be recommended is tlb-v118.zip. Be warned though. These facilities may be very difficult to install properly for the first time. Then there are, of cource, options like using DOS 5.0 or DR-DOS, but discussing these is outside the scope of this particular newsgroup. ................................................................... Prof. Timo Salmi Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous ftp archives 128.214.12.37 School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, SF-65101, Finland Internet: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi Funet: gado::salmi Bitnet: salmi@finfun
av@uta.fi (Arto V. Viitanen) (04/19/91)
In article <1991Apr17.165452.7670@ccu.umanitoba.ca> bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright) writes: > >Is there a stripped down version of DOS that one can use to obtain as >much free memory as possible? I'm sure there must be such a thing, >but I really don't know very much about DOS machines (I'm posting this >for a friend). Thanks alot, How about DR-DOS version 5 ? They claim, it can have as much as 600k free memory (at least with 386 processor). It DR-DOS is not possible, try the normal things: set FILES and BUFFERS as small as possible, load TSRs first (before setting environment variables) and load things to high-memory (with QEMM or 386-MAX) -- Arto V. Viitanen email: av@kielo.uta.fi University Of Tampere, av@ohdake.cs.uta.fi Finland
pschwart@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Paul Schwartz) (04/19/91)
In article <1991Apr17.165452.7670@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright) writes... > >Is there a stripped down version of DOS that one can use to obtain as >much free memory as possible? I'm sure there must be such a thing, >but I really don't know very much about DOS machines (I'm posting this >for a friend). Thanks alot, MS-DOS 5.0 is supposed to only consume @5-6k if you have high memory space avaliable. It should be comming out soon. I think DR-DOS 5 does this already, though it may not be quite this small. - Z - +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | PauL M SchwartZ | There are many causes worth dying for, | | PSCHWART@macc.wisc.edu | but none worth killing for. | | PSCHWART@wiscmacc.BitNet | - Gandhi | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
drj2540@tamsun.tamu.edu (Dennis Johnson) (04/22/91)
In-Reply-To: av@kielo.uta.fi (Arto V. Viitanen) >>Is there a stripped down version of DOS that one can use to obtain as >>much free memory as possible? I'm sure there must be such a thing, >>but I really don't know very much about DOS machines (I'm posting this >>for a friend). Thanks alot, >How about DR-DOS version 5 ? They claim, it can have as much as 600k free >memory (at least with 386 processor). >It DR-DOS is not possible, try the normal things: set FILES and BUFFERS as >small as possible, load TSRs first (before setting environment variables) and >load things to high-memory (with QEMM or 386-MAX) How about MS-Dos 5.0. I know that you can have 625k free with a '386. I also have 100k+ of TSR's loaded, 10 buffers, and 30 files. I also have Qemm/386 loaded... ;-) Dennis R. Johnson ARPA INTERNET: drj2540@tamsun.tamu.edu TEXNET/THENET: SIGMA::DRJ2540 BITNET: DRJ2540@TAMVENUS.TAMU.EDU DRJ2540@TAMSIGMA.TAMU.EDU HEPNET: FNBIT::TAMHEP::THOR::DRJ2540 SPAN: UTSPAN::UTADNX::THOR::DRJ2540 -- "Nothing is true unless it makes you laugh, and you cannot understand unless it makes you weep..." -All Hail Discordia
luce@aurs01.UUCP (J. Luce) (04/22/91)
Of course you can always see if Patterson (the REAL s/w person for
MSDOS) and his Seattle Computer Products are still around and get a copy
of 1.1 from him. He cloned CP/M for the 8086 (called it QDOS for Quick
and Dirty OS) that Gates bought from him for a song.
:)
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