tarquin@athena.mit.edu (Robert P Poole) (08/15/90)
I have heard conflicting reports about how much memory is needed for Windows 3.0. I have a 286 machine with (currently) 640K, which I plan on upgrading to 2 meg+ eventually (I might stop off at 1.5 meg for a while). I also have a 40 meg HD, a VGA card that is fully BIOS compatible with IBM, and a few other nice gadgets which are useful (like a mouse, etc.) In a preliminary review of Windows 3.0 that I read, it was indicated that Windows could run in a "limited" mode, which only required 640K. Then, when I actually saw the boxed set, the label said "Requires at least 1 Meg RAM." Finally, I saw an ad in CompuAdd's catalog that said Windows required 2 Meg. Now, who's telling the whoppers here? Since RAM is cheap these days (about $8 for a 1 Meg x 1 bit chip), it hardly matters -- I'll get that memory one way or another, but I don't see the point in getting more than is optimal. Thanks. -- Robert P. Poole tarquin@athena.mit.edu 46 Massachusetts Avenue MIT Course VIII 311B Bexley Hall "I love the smell of napalm early in the Cambridge, MA 02139 morning. Smells like... victory!"
patrickd@chinet.chi.il.us (Patrick Deupree) (08/23/90)
In article <1990Aug15.044352.25786@athena.mit.edu> tarquin@athena.mit.edu (Robert P Poole) writes: >In a preliminary review of Windows 3.0 that I read, it was indicated that >Windows could run in a "limited" mode, which only required 640K. Then, when I >actually saw the boxed set, the label said "Requires at least 1 Meg RAM." >Finally, I saw an ad in CompuAdd's catalog that said Windows required 2 Meg. >Now, who's telling the whoppers here? Windows can run on a 640K machine, though it will run in real mode since you won't be able to load himem.sys on a 640K machine. If you want to run in Standard mode, you need at least 1Meg of memory. The more memory you get for your PC, the more you'll have in Windows when you run in Standard mode. There is another mode for 386's that might require 2Meg to work correctly. -- "Organized fandom is composed of a bunch of nitpickers with a thing for trivial pursuit." -Harlan Ellison Patrick Deupree -> patrickd@chinet.chi.il.us