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1992-03-09
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ID:VD RAMDRIVE, VDISK and QEXT.SYS
Quarterdeck Technical Note #123
by Stan Young
last revision: 12 February 1992
DESQview's QEXT.SYS driver for 286 machines with extended memory, utilizes 64K
of extended memory at the 1 Megabyte address (1024K) for loading parts of
DESQview outside of the 640K address space. Since this lowers the overhead of
DESQview in conventional memory, it is generally desirable to load this driver
if you have extended memory.
QEXT.SYS is compatible with all known versions of IBM's VDISK utility and most
versions of MS-DOS VDISK. It is not compatible with Microsoft's RAMDRIVE.SYS
versions prior to 2.00. Prior versions of the RAMDRIVE utility are not
compatible with IBM VDISK or VDISK-type utilities. Since QEXT.SYS must follow
the VDISK's conventions for loading into memory, RAMDRIVE versions prior to
2.00 cannot be used.
It is apparent that some versions of MS-DOS VDISK are actually Microsoft
RAMDRIVE renamed. QEXT.SYS will not work with these either.
If you are having trouble getting QEXT and VDISK to coexist with an MS-DOS
version you believe to include a true VDISK, check to see if the VDISK reports
a version number on boot up that is different than the version of DOS you are
running. QEXT identifies itself by adopting the same version number as the
DOS that it is running with. This is the IBM convention. If your VDISK
version is different than the DOS version, QEXT may not be identified by the
VDISK you are loading. If you think this is happening, you might try the
version of QEXT.SYS that is currently on the Quarterdeck BBS (310-314-3227)
This version supports a parameter (/VD) that allows you to specify the VDISK
version number with which QEXT.SYS will identify itself.
If you are experiencing conflicts between QEXT.SYS, RAMDRIVE.SYS or VDISK.SYS,
the only solution is to run IBM VDISK, a compatible version of MS-DOS VDISK,
RAMDRIVE.SYS ver 2.00 or later, or a third party RAMDISK utility such as AST's
FASTDISK. If you do use the AST FASTDISK, be aware that you must specify when
loading it the address where it should load, since its default is to load at
1024K (1 Meg) and if loaded there will disable QEXT.SYS. Consult the AST
manual for loading instructions. For expanded memory users, Compuserve or the
Quarterdeck BBS (310-314-3227) contain a Shareware program called NJRAMD.SYS
that creates a RAMDISK in expanded memory. Many users have reported this
works well for them.
************************************************************************
*This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long as it*
*is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit. *
* Copyright (C) 1988-92 by Quarterdeck Office Systems *
************************ E N D O F F I L E *************************