[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] Extended Memory: what can I do with it?

albert@endor.uucp (David Albert) (12/25/90)

I'm sure this is a very naive question, so if someone can just
point me towards the places I should look, I'd be grateful.  What
do I do with the extra 1300K of RAM in my new '386, other than
using it for a ramdisk?  Can I run programs there?  Can Paradox 3.0
use it to speed up searches?  Is it useful in general or only on
a program-by-program basis?  Thanks.
----------------------------------------------__------------------------------
David Albert				  |  /  )                  /
UUCP: ...!harvard!albert		  | /  /  __.  , ___o   __/
INTERNET: albert@harvard.edu		  |/__/__(_/|__\/  <___(_/_

silver@xrtll.uucp (Hi Ho Silver) (12/26/90)

In article <5156@husc6.harvard.edu> albert@endor.UUCP (David Albert) writes:
$I'm sure this is a very naive question, so if someone can just
$point me towards the places I should look, I'd be grateful.  What
$do I do with the extra 1300K of RAM in my new '386, other than
$using it for a ramdisk?  Can I run programs there?  Can Paradox 3.0
$use it to speed up searches?  Is it useful in general or only on
$a program-by-program basis?  Thanks.

   Yeah, you could use it as a disk cache :-)  (Hey, that's how I use it
under DOS)

   But seriously, look up extended memory in the Paradox manual; if it can
use it, it will say so.  Many programs are unaware of extended memory, since
you either need to manage it using XMS (e.g. HIMEM.SYS) or your program has
to be able to kick itself in and out of protected mode (well, more or less)
to get at it.  There is an increasing number, however, which will use it;
generally, programs that require an 80286 or 80386 will use it, and those
which don't will often ignore it (though some will use it).

   Look in the manuals for all the programs you run.  Find out which ones
will use extended memory and which ones will use expanded.  If you find that
you have more programs that will use expanded memory, you may want to try
using a product such as QEMM or 386^MAX (or even the EMS drivers that come
with PC-DOS 4, if that's what you're running) to convert some or all of it
into expanded memory; the 80386 can do this very easily due to its memory-
management hardware.
-- 
 __            __  _  | ...!nexus.yorku.edu!xrtll!silver |  always
(__  | | |  | |_  |_) >----------------------------------< searching
 __) | |_ \/  |__ | \ | if you don't like my posts, type |    for
_____________________/  find / -print|xargs cat|compress |   SNTF