Bernie & all,
Since I have managed to somehow do the nearly impossible, I thought I'd
share some of what I've learned in the last few days. One thing I
learned was that no detail was too small.
And I also learned that SETVER is my friend. Without it I wouldn't have
my NIC happily installed and still be running in DOS 5.0 -- my preferred
OS.
I agree with Bernie that memmaker leaves a bit to be desired,
particularly after my years of experience with the Optimize process of
QEMM. But since I had no idea how some of the stuff works in 6.22, and
because my NIC won't [currently] accept any EMM386 software other than
EMM386.EXE v 4.49 from DOS 6.22, memmaker's weak attempts at least gave
me some directions to go in.
And DOSMAX [I used it before QEMM, but needed the newest ver 2.1] is a
help, even for "non-Dosmax things" ... plus the helpfile for EMM386 ...
and a LOT of patience & try it this way and that. The example Dosmax
provides is the basic structure I ended up with.
First, this is what I now have to work with despite having to use EMM386:
First Meg / Programs
Memory Area Size Description
0406 - 0416 0.3K COMMAND
0417 - 042B 0.3K [Available]
042C - 04AC 2K COMMAND Environment
04AD - 9E7E 615K [Available] <=== 615K !!!!!!!
====Conventional memory ends at 634K=====
B14A - B1E9 2.5K FILES
B1EA - B1FA 0.3K FCBS
B1FB - B21B 0.5K WKBUFFER
B21C - B29B 2K LASTDRIV
B29C - B2A4 0.1K INSTALL
B2A5 - B2B2 0.2K MOUSE Environment
B2B3 - B7FD 21K [Available]
C801 - C895 2.3K COMMAND
C896 - CFFD 29K 3C90XPD
CFFE - D361 13K MOUSE
D362 - DBFD 34K [Available]
DD02 - DD4C 1.2K RAMDRIVE
DD4D - DD5B 0.2K DOSMAX
DD5C - E65E 36K SMARTDRV
E65F - E7B3 5.3K ANSI
E7B4 - E7D4 0.5K SETVER
E7D5 - EA65 10K MTMCDAI
EA66 - ECE9 10K ASPI3520
ECEA - F5C1 35K MSCDEX
F5C2 - F7FF 9K [Available]
As you can see, it's not a bare bones configuration either. Yet
everything except the stubs for Command is loaded high -- CD-ROM, Mouse,
SmartDrv, ASPI for my SCSI host adapter, RAMdrive, and Setver [which
could be smaller probably, but I haven't taken the time to pare down a
specific Setver for this config [you know ... only list what is needed].
At first glance the CONFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT that follow may seem
sloppy or have stuff in them that isn't necessary. But believe me when
I tell you: Move stuff around, leave out a DOS= from the wrong place,
and you won't get 615K free conventional memory. You'll get only 583 or
so. I don't know about you, but I consider 33K more to be very
important. <G>
=====CONFIG.SYS=====
DOS=LOW
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM NOEMS HIGHSCAN I=B000-B7FF } broken into 2
X=DC00-DCFF I=DD00-DFFF ON } lines so you
} could see all
} of it.
DOS=UMB
LASTDRIVE=W
FILES=48
FCBS=4,0
DOS=HIGH
COUNTRY=044,437 C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS * see notes
STACKS=0,0
BREAK=OFF
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 10240 512 /E
SHELL=C:\BOOT\SHELLMAX.COM C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /E:2048 /P
DEVICEHIGH=C:\BOOT\DOSMAX.EXE /H/M1
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.SYS 1024 512
DEVICEHIGH=C:\PROII\ANSI.SYS ** see notes
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DEVICEHIGH=L:\CDROM\MTMCDAI.SYS /D:MTMIDE01
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DTCSCSI2\ASPI3520.SYS
BUFFERS=8
=====AUTOEXEC.BAT=====
SET COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM
PATH C:\DOS;Q:\COBOL;Q:\QEMM;G:\WS5.5;F:\FAX;H:\CABLE;C:\BOOT
LOADHIGH J:\CABLE\PKTDRV\3C90XPD /S=3 /K=0 /I=0x60
CALL C:\DOS\OLDPROMPT
C:\DOS\BE SA BRIGHT CYAN ON BLUE *** see notes
CALL C:\DOS\ROOTS.BAT
V:
MD\JUNK
MD\TEMP
SET TEMP=V:\TEMP
SET TMP=V:\TEMP
CD\JUNK
CALL C:\DOS\GSOUND.BAT
LOADHIGH C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.COM/2 >NUL **** see notes
LOADHIGH L:\CDROM\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MTMIDE01 /E /V /M:10
SET USER=l.d.best
SET INFO=DOS Cable Spider Configuration
rem C:\DOS\SPIDER.BAT
:END
My deepest thanks go to Clarence, Bernie, and a couple of others who
reminded me of some of the tools still available outside the world of
QEMM. Without them I'd have nothing left at the ends of my arms except
bloody stumps; as it is now, the bruises should disappear in a week or
two. <G>
l.d.
P.S. My son's young tutee [he tutors her] looked at me kinda weird when
I started bouncing up & down in my chair firmly saying yes! Yes! YES!!
as I saw that 615 appear. But surely my fellow nerds & nerdettes, who
are DOSasauers like I, can appreciate the feeling.
===============
NOTES:
* I have this setup because I want my dates set DD MM YYYY
** Actually TANSI.SYS renamed to please NIC software
*** BE.EXE is Norton Utilities Batch Enhancer; it allows me to set
screen attributes [SA] so I don't have to just stare at b&w
screen -- particularly at any of the many menues I have.
**** Q-Tronics mouse driver; 3-button by switch, much smaller than
preferred Logitech drivers.
-- Arachne V1.60, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/
