kdq@demott.com (Kevin D. Quitt) (01/22/91)
In article <BCHEN.91Jan21114625@wpi.WPI.EDU> bchen@wpi.WPI.EDU (Bi Chen) writes: > >Hi, Dear netter: > >I bought my 386/25 recently with 4MB ram installed and bundled with some >popular softwares such as MS-DOS4.01 and Windows3.0. I heard both QEMM386 >and 386MAX will save some low memory by loading TSR/dirver to high. I >would like to order one to free some low memory for my compiler and still >keep some useful TSRs handy around. One of my friend has a similar machine >and installed QEMM386. But he told me that QEMM386 could not install some >TSR such as pcshell or desktop in pctools even though he had a lot of >expenad memory. But form what I read form menu that the 386MAX does not >coexist with window3.0. Is the problem mentioned caused by his wrong >installation of QEMM386(ver. 5.11 as he told me) or by QEMM386. Will the >QEMM386 be any helpful if I run window in 386 enchanced mode? Which is >better, QEMM386 or 386MAX? Will either later version will load those >big ("usually < 50KB") TSR to high memory? Version 5.1 of 386MAX is certified as a "Microsoft(r) Windows(tm) Version 3.0 Compatiable Product". And does all sorts of whiz-bang stuff. -- _ Kevin D. Quitt demott!kdq kdq@demott.com DeMott Electronics Co. 14707 Keswick St. Van Nuys, CA 91405-1266 VOICE (818) 988-4975 FAX (818) 997-1190 MODEM (818) 997-4496 PEP last
kusumoto@chsun1.uchicago.edu (Bob Kusumoto) (01/22/91)
QEMM386 and 386MAX do essentially the same thing, load some TSRs into "High
RAM" area, namely the space between 640k and 1MB that's not being used. The
latest versions of both programs are made so that it can work with MS Windows
3.0, but I believe both only allow TSRs to be loaded high in real or standard
modes (you can use the 386 Enh mode if you don't let these programs relocated
your TSRs into High RAM, although I've read some press that people have been
able to load TSRs high and run in 386 Enh mode as well, but I haven't seen it
work yet. Your mileage may vary :-). You can help these programs free up
more space by shifting any drivers or hardware that uses this space in high
RAM so that more space is continuous to load those bigger TSRs. Neither of
these programs will relocate TSRs into expanded or extended memory (at least
I haven't read anything to the contrary yet).
I've read about a program called NetRoom which works to relocated TSRs
(specifically Novell's IPX and NETx drivers) into High RAM, expanded or
extended memory. I've also heard that this program is worthless (from
someone who tried it). It's supposed to work on any machine (not just
386 machines) with expanded memory.
Back to your problem, I would say it makes a big difference in the space you
use in High RAM and what order the TSRs are loaded. For example, I use QEMM386
(and very happy with it, it also has the advantage of having desqview take
advantage of any leftover High RAM space available and XMS area for the
multitasking program) on our typical machines (an AST Premium 386SX/16 with
4MB RAM). We have VGA on these machines and ARCnet cards on them. Since the
ARCnet cards use High RAM addresses, we changed the location of the address it
uses from the default D000 to CC00 (closer to the end of the address space used
by VGA) so that we have 64k available to QEMM386 (the space between D000, the
end of the ARCnet card address, and E000, the beginning of the EMS page frame).
Assuming that no hardware is being loaded into this High RAM area, you should
have better than 64k in High RAM. Of course, I'm also assuming that your
machine's memory conforms to the LIM 4.0 spec, otherwise you won't be able
to acheive the same effect (I was disappointed that the AST Bravo/286 machines
that we picked up a year and a half ago were using LIM 3.2 memory specs instead
of the 4.0 specs... :( ).
Good Luck
Bob
--
Bob Kusumoto | Find the electric messiah!
Internet: kusumoto@chsun1.uchicago.edu | The AC/DC God!
Bitnet: kusumoto@chsun1.uchicago.bitnet | - My Life with the Thrill Kill
UUCP: ...!{oddjob,gargoyle}!chsun1!kusumoto | Kult, "Kooler than Jesus"flint@gistdev.gist.com (Flint Pellett) (01/23/91)
I'm using 386MAX 5.0 with Windows 3.0, 4dos, and several TSRs, and it works great. I don't know anything much on QEMM tho, but here are my experiences with 386 MAX: 1. I bought their previous release to 5.0 about 2 months before 5.0 came out. I sent in the registration, and they sent out 5.0 (without my asking) about a month later. However, 5.0 didn't work with windows, and they said so. I didn't have windows then, so I didn't care, but about a month later when I got windows, I was going to call them and see if they had a fix ready. That day, before I called, an update arrived in the mail to make it work with Windows! 2. When I installed Windows, I had trouble getting it to work at first. I called the vendor of my PC and spent about an hour with their tech support and only improved things slightly. I then called Qualitas tech support, and they were busy but said they'd call me back. I got the call back about an hour later and they had it all figured out for me inside 5 minutes. What I really like about 386 MAX is their Maximize utility: If you have space in high memory fragmented into maybe 4 different regions of various sizes, and have 6 TSRs to load into them of various sizes, figuring out how to fit those programs into those regions in the best way is pretty impossible. Run Maximize and it tries out the thousands of combinations that are available and sets everything up for the optimum configuration. For me, I spent about a whole day with the 386max version that preceeded Maximize getting it set up, vs. 5 minutes with Maximize, and Maximize gained me 3K over what I had _thought_ was the best I could do. -- Flint Pellett, Global Information Systems Technology, Inc. 1800 Woodfield Drive, Savoy, IL 61874 (217) 352-1165 uunet!gistdev!flint or flint@gistdev.gist.com
kdq@demott.com (Kevin D. Quitt) (01/23/91)
In article <kusumoto.664499099@chsun1> kusumoto@chsun1.uchicago.edu (Bob Kusumoto) writes: > >Back to your problem, I would say it makes a big difference in the space you >use in High RAM and what order the TSRs are loaded. Very true - that's why 386MAX comes with MAXIMIZE which analyzes your TSRs and device drivers, and modifies your config.sys and autoexec.bat files so that everything is put in the right place. The order that TSRs is loaded is highly critical: they often require a great deal of memory to get started, but then release most of it. If such a TSR is loaded last, there may not be enough room in high RAM for it; whereas if it's loaded earlier, there's no problem fitting everything in. -- _ Kevin D. Quitt demott!kdq kdq@demott.com DeMott Electronics Co. 14707 Keswick St. Van Nuys, CA 91405-1266 VOICE (818) 988-4975 FAX (818) 997-1190 MODEM (818) 997-4496 PEP last
marcs@crpmks.UUCP (Marc Snyder) (01/24/91)
In article <kusumoto.664499099@chsun1> kusumoto@chsun1.uchicago.edu (Bob Kusumoto) writes: > >... I believe both only allow TSRs to be loaded high in real or standard >modes (you can use the 386 Enh mode if you don't let these programs relocated >your TSRs into High RAM, although I've read some press that people have been >able to load TSRs high and run in 386 Enh mode as well, but I haven't seen it >work yet. I am currently running QEMM 5.11 with Windows 3.0. I am also using DEC's PCSA (now Pathworks, I believe). I have loaded almost all of the drivers required by PCSA into high memory, and run Windows in enhanced mode. The machine in question is an AST 386sx/16 with 3MB of RAM. I have this configuration operating on several other machines as well. -- Marc Snyder UUCP: ...philabs!crpmks!marcs System Administrator ...gaboon!crpmks!marcs Ciba-Geigy Corporation Hawthorne, New York Work: 914.785.2284 Play: 914.347.6440