Hiho Glenn,
(me again...)
you wrote on 08.01.00 to "Re: load EPPPD high":
>> Type of Memory Total = Used + Free
>> ---------------- ---------- ---------- ----------
[..]
>> Reserved 393,216 393,216 0
>> Extended (XMS) 15,537,296 2,335,888 13,201,408
[..]
>> Also, I need to know how to load SMARTDRV high. As you can
>> see, I have 159K of upper memory, so there should be plenty to
>> load both epppd and smartdrv high.
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
GM> But, you can't load _high_ because you don't have any _high memory_
There seems to be some confusion about the different terms that are
used to describe the types of memory above 640k, not only on this
list, but even at Microsoft, or at least at their translating
department in Germany. As I wrote before, the part between the
conventional memory and the first 1 MB of the extended memory is
called "Upper Memory Blocks" (UMB) and has nothing to do with the
"High Memory Area" (HMA) which is the first 64k of the extended memory
starting at 1 MB. To "load something high" (with the command "lh" in
autoexec.bat or "devicehigh" in config.sys) means the device driver or
program is put into the UMB's, if there is enough space for them.
If not, they are left in the conventional memory below 640k.
The HMA is used by the first program that calls for its use during
the boot sequence, but that can be changed with switches to their
command lines. Normally MS-DOS itself will use this 64k space, if
there's a line like DOS=HIGH in the config.sys. DOS=UMB means -
well, take a guess... ;-)
I'm not writing this especially to you, Glenn, because I assume
that you know all this already. But perhaps someone else reading
this can eliminate some misunderstandings in this obstacle course
called DOS Memory Management.
By the way, the extended memory above 1 MB is called XMS or EMS.
This depends on the specific type of RAM that is built into one's
computer and/or the type of memory manager used to emulate EMS
memory with built-in XMS memory (this refers to the /noems and /ram
option of EMM386.EXE).
GM> What's casing that "Reserved" section of memory?
GM> Reserved for _what_???
GM> Obviously not for you to use as _you_ see fit.
The "Reserved" section is used, if your BIOS setup enables "Shadow
RAM" for the mainboard and the video ROM. The advantage of shadowing
(meaning copying) the content of both ROM parts into the RAM is
that the hardware chips used for RAM are normally much quicker than
the ones used for ROM. So this will speed up the performance of
almost every computer and is therefore the default setting in the
BIOS setup.
And another BTW: Those of you who use a MS-DOS version newer than 5.0
can get extensive help to all DOS commands by just typing "help" or
"help emm386.exe" (for example) and will be lead to the new DOS help
screen that is even mouse-clickable for those who need it... ;-)
The advantage of this help system is that it is easier to use and it
goes much more into details (with examples etc.) than the short one-
page-only-syntax-screens of the older versions.
Hans-Juergen
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