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Contents 1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.1 SWELL.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3.2 SwellCFG.EXE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3.3 MemMap (MM.EXE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 Where did my TSR go? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5 Turbo Trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6 Possible Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6.1 Lotus 123 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6.2 MAKE.EXE / Microsoft C Compiler . . . . . 5 6.3 Text editor with a Compiler . . . . . . . 5 6.4 Debuggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 6.5 Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) . . . . . . . 6 7 Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 7.1 Special Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7.2 Communications Programs . . . . . . . . . 7 7.3 Local Area Networks (LANs) . . . . . . . . 7 8 Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 9 License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 9.1 Registered Version . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 9.2 Demonstration Version . . . . . . . . . . 8 10 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 10.1 Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 10.2 Order Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 11 For more information: . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Index 13 1 Abstract SWELL transparently swaps a program out of memory onto disk when a child program is loaded. This allows a program to run other programs even if there is not enough RAM for them to occupy simultaneously. 2 Introduction This program alleviates memory constraints under certain conditions. The following example will help illustrate: Many word processors (Sprint, WordPerfect) come with conversion utilities that run externally. If you have 300k of free memory and your word processor uses 250k, this leaves 50k for the conversion utility to operate. It may not be enough! When SWELL is active, it will swap the word processor session out to disk before loading the conversion utility (leaving the full 300k free for the conversion utility to operate) then reload the wordprocessing session at the completion of the conversion. The wordprocessor will not be aware that it was put into limbo while the conversion utility was running. The results are obvious: SWELL can allow programs to work when they would not work before. 3 Usage 3.1 SWELL.EXE SWELL is a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program that requires no parameters on the command line. If not already installed, SWELL will remain in memory after you start it. The registered version of SWELL uses approximately 9K of memory, the demonstration version uses approximately 48k. SWELL will use the root directory of the drive you loaded it from for its swap files unless you specify one of two environment variables as follows: SET TMP=x:\path or SET SWELL=x:\path Both the TMP and SWELL environment variables have the same effect. If both are specified, SWELL takes precedence over TMP. If you have extended, EMS or XMS memory, you can create a RAM disk and point TMP, or SWELL to it. Note that SWELL only looks for these variables when it is loaded into memory; Changing TMP or SWELL afterwards will NOT change the path where SWELL swaps memory. Performance is so high with a ram disk that you will probably not notice any swapping occurring. If you have any other TSR programs, you will probably want to load them before SWELL (this is discussed further in section 4.) 3.2 SwellCFG.EXE SwellCFG Allows you to view and/or change certain SWELL options. SwellCFG will only work if SWELL has been loaded into memory. Starting this program with no parameters brings up the following help screen: █▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█ █ SwellCFG (C) 1989 Peter Fitzsimmons 06-03-89 █ █ Version 1.01 █ █ Usage: SWELLCFG [/d] [/v on|off] [/1] [/s] [/a] [/u] █ █ [/b on|off] █ █ █ █ Purpose: Display/Modify SWELL's (the SWapper shELL) █ █ operating characteristics. █ █ Options: /d - Display current status (no changes). █ █ /v - turn verbose flag off (quiet mode) or on. █ █ /1 - suspend once : don't do any swapping █ █ for the next program that is loaded. █ █ /s - suspend (until reactivated with /a). █ █ /a - activate. █ █ /u - uninstall (remove SWELL from memory). █ █ /b - engage/disengage support for certain █ █ Borland products. █ █ Example: SWELLCFG /a /v off █ █ would ensure that SWELL is active, and is in █ █ quiet mode. █ █▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█ Figure 1: The SwellCFG Usage Box SwellCFG communicates with SWELL through the SWELL Application Programming Interface (SAPI). Registered users receive the C source code (Microsoft/Turbo) for SwellCFG, as well as complete documentation on SAPI. SwellCFG takes the following command line parameters, in any order: /d - Displays the status of the verbose flag, the "suspend once" flag, and the suspended flag. /v - Changes the status of the verbose flag. When ON, SWELL will print messages when it is swapping memory out to disk, loading programs, and swapping data from disk to memory. When loading a program, SWELL will report how many bytes of RAM it has saved you so far. Verbose on is useful when debugging your system, or if you are curious about SWELL's effectiveness. With the verbose flag OFF, SWELL is in quiet mode; it will only print - 2 - messages during an error condition (ex: swap disk full). The default is OFF. /s - This option will suspend SWELL from swapping programs out to disk. It will NOT stop it from swapping IN any programs it had swapped out to disk before it was suspended. Use this option when you are about to use a program that does not work with SWELL (ex: Microsoft Windows). /a - This option reactivates SWELL if it was suspended with the /s or /1 options. It is not an error to use this option if SWELL is already active. /1 - This option tells SWELL not to swap anything on the next program load. It's usefulness is limited in a user invoked program like SwellCFG. The "suspend once" option was intended for use by programs that use the SAPI to communicate with SWELL. It could be used if you are about to load a TSR (TSR programs are discussed later in more detail). /u - Ask SWELL to remove itself from memory. I use the word "ask" because SWELL may refuse your request. If SWELL is still responsible for programs swapped out to disk it will not `uninstall' itself. SwellCFG /u must be called again after all swapping has completed. /b - Engage or Disengage "Turbo support". Certain Borland products (Turbo C 2.00, Turbo Pascal 5.00, perhaps others) will not get swapped unless this option is ON. See section 5. The default is OFF. NOTE: SwellCFG is not case sensitive. "/v off" is the same as "/V Off". Also, the forward slash character can be replaced by the minus sign. ie: "-a -v on" is the same as "/a /v On". 3.3 MemMap (MM.EXE) MemMap does not affect SWELL in any way. It can be used with or without SWELL in memory. It simply displays DOS memory usage at any given time. At this moment, I am working on this document in a word processor. I am going to shell to DOS (actually, the "DOS box" of OS/2) and run MM with SWELL active: size name hooked vectors ------ --------------------------- ----------------------- 3744 config.sys 2E 3536 C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM 8992 D:\usr\msc\v51\swl\SWELL.EXE 21 22 23 24 2F 672 ..\CMD\SP.EXE 672 C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM 342880 free Figure 2: Memory map with SWELL active Now, I will do the same after suspending SWELL: - 3 - size name hooked vectors ------ --------------------------- ----------------------- 3744 config.sys 2E 3536 C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM 8992 D:\usr\msc\v51\swl\SWELL.EXE 21 2F 227552 ..\CMD\SP.EXE 3536 C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM 22 23 24 113104 free Figure 3: Memory map with SWELL inactive SP.EXE is my word processor. Notice that it only uses 672 bytes when SWELL is active, and 227552 when it is not. Although not as significant, COMMAND.COM also uses less memory with SWELL active. SWELL swaps out all of the parent application except its PSP (Program Segment Prefix) which is 256 bytes, plus the size of the environment, which in my case was 416 bytes. Now I'll do something impossible without SWELL: size name hooked vectors ------ --------------------------- ----------------------- 3744 config.sys 2E 3536 C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM 8992 D:\usr\msc\v51\swl\SWELL.EXE 21 22 23 24 2F 672 ..\CMD\SP.EXE 672 C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM 672 ..\CMD\SP.EXE 672 C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM 672 ..\CMD\SP.EXE 672 C:\OS2\COMMAND.COM 340064 free Figure 4: Over committed memory map I loaded my WP 3 times! Normally this would have used (3 x 227552) + (3 x 3536) = 693264 bytes of memory (note this is larger than the infamous 640k barrier). I could have loaded it many more times, but my RAM disk (which I was using for swapping) became full. 4 Where did my TSR go? After SWELL swaps a parent program out to disk, and just before it loads the child program, all of the Interrupt Vector Table (IVT) is restored to the state that is was in when SWELL was first loaded. Therefore, any "pop-up" type TSR programs that were loaded when SWELL was suspended will probably not respond. If SWELL is active when a TSR is loaded (and the active parent program was loaded after SWELL) the TSR will simply vanish from memory! The reasons for this side effect are beyond the scope of this document. Note that when SWELL is first loaded, the active parent program (most likely command.com) is at a lower address in RAM than - 4 - SWELL, so it is not swapped. Any TSR's loaded at this time will remain resident, but will not activate after any swapping is in effect. As soon as there is a parent program above SWELL, any TSR's that are loaded will simply vanish. For these reasons, it is recommended that SWELL is the last TSR program that you load. 5 Turbo Trouble For some reason, Turbo C 2.00 and Turbo Pascal 5.00 use an undocumented DOS call (INT 21h, ax = 4B01h) to invoke the DOS Shell function. I have simulated this call, and these two products seem to work properly. However, since the DOS call they use is undocumented, SWELL, by default, will not respond to this call. To engage support for these Borland products and any others that may use this method, you must invoke "SWELLCFG /b on". Note that no harm will come if these two products are used when SWELL does not have Borland support engaged; they just won't get swapped out to disk when you shell. Other Borland products, such as Turbo Debugger and Sprint, make the proper DOS EXEC call (ax = 4B00h) and work perfectly. 6 Possible Uses 6.1 Lotus 123 When you invoke the 'System' feature of 123, 123 will be swapped out to disk while you use DOS to format disks etc. Since your suspended 123 session uses very little memory, it is possible to start up another 123 session (or MANY of them). Or, you can temporarily use your word processor or telecommunications program to gather data for your spread sheet. When you EXIT back to 123, it will be in the precise state in which you left it. 6.2 MAKE.EXE / Microsoft C Compiler I find I can't live without SWELL in the OS/2 DOS Box. After loading all of my network device drivers etc, I only have about 350K of free memory. The MSC 5.10 compiler will not load if running a MAKE file. SWELL gives back more than 140k of free memory to each pass of the compiler. 6.3 Text editor with a Compiler Even on a full 640k machine, it is almost impossible to shell to DOS from your favorite editor (ex: Qedit, Microsoft Editor) and run any of today's compilers (QuickC, QuickBasic, Turbo C, Turbo Pascal etc). SWELL makes your editor temporarily disappear from memory to let these beasts run. Alternatively, you can shell to DOS FROM your compiler and run your editor (then shell again to your compiler (then shell again into your editor ((((...)))))). - 5 - As noted above, the Turbo C and Turbo Pascal compilers won't get swapped out to disk during a DOS shell unless Borland support is engaged. 6.4 Debuggers Debuggers like CodeView and Turbo Debugger use a lot of memory. With SWELL active, there is plenty of room to shell to/from your editor or compiler, or have more than one debugging session. 6.5 Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) BBS sysops will be very pleased with SWELL. Many BBS programs, like Opus, use external programs (sometimes called "door" programs) to run on-line games, mail management etc. SWELL allows a BBS session to run in such little memory that more phone lines can be added and serviced on the same computer. The Royal Trust BBS listed at the end of this document operates under SWELL. 7 Problems Side Effects caused by SWELL: - Turbo C/Turbo Pascal: When Borland support is engaged (see section 5) the "Run" command causes the compiler to be swapped out of memory. This is both good and bad. It effectively gives your program 320,000 bytes more RAM! The bad side is that it disables the built-in debugger. If you have the external Turbo Debugger, this is not a problem (and is quite a benefit since you can start up the debugger without ending your Turbo C session). - Quick C Version 1: If you compile to an EXE file (rather than MEMORY) QC.EXE will hang. This happens because the linker (LINK.EXE) and QC.EXE share memory during the link stage. This is not a problem with QCL.EXE. (It is not known at this time if QC Version 2 has the same problem). SWELL is known not to work with the following programs: - Microsoft Windows (Although I have not tested them, I suspect other multi-taskers like Desqview and Double DOS will have the same problems.) SWELL does work if loaded in a Windows/386 command prompt, however, care must be taken to use a different swap path for each copy of - 6 - SWELL loaded into memory. See "network drives" in section 7.3. - Carbon Copy Early testing reports suggest some problems related to the use of this remote communications utility. - GEM 7.1 Special Situations As stated in Section 4, SWELL restores the entire interrupt vector table (IVT) to the state it was in when SWELL was first loaded. Therefore, if the parent program had hooked any vectors, they will be temporarily reset when it calls a child program. Although I know of only one program that does this (Quick C 1.x), it is conceivable that the parent and child could be sharing memory pointed to by one of these vectors, or by some environment variable. In this situation, SWELL would interfere with the parent/child relationship. SwellCFG /1 or the SAPI could be used by the parent to prevent itself from being swapped to disk before the child is loaded to get around this problem. 7.2 Communications Programs In a similar situation, some programs (especially communications programs, like Telix) need to install an Interrupt Service Routine (ISR) in the IVT to service hardware events, like a character being received from COM1:. When such a program is swapped out to disk, the ISR it installed will be reset as it was when SWELL was installed. In the case of a program like Telix that uses the COMx: ports, this means it will stop receiving/transmitting characters while you are in a shell (everything will return to normal when you return to Telix though). This is usually of no significance, since you would not shell from Telix if it was busy doing something. Note that shelling to a program that installs its own ISR (ex: DSZ.COM) will work fine. 7.3 Local Area Networks (LANs) When swapping to a network drive, be sure to pick a swap path (see section 3.1 on page 1) that no other workstation is using for SWELL. If you do not differentiate each workstation's path, the workstations will overwrite each other's swapped memory, causing at least one of the workstations to fail. - 7 - 8 Disclaimer The Program is supplied "AS IS" without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantabilty and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall Peter Fitzsimmons be liable for any damages, either direct or consequential, caused by the use, or inability to use, this program, even if Peter Fitzsimmons has been advised of the possibility of such damages. 9 License The "DEMONSTRATION VERSION" of SWELL, to which subsection 9.2 applies, is that version which clearly identifies itself (each time it is executed) as the DEMONSTRATION VERSION. Subsection 9.1 applies to any version that is not clearly marked as DEMONSTRATION VERSION. 9.1 Registered Version You may: a) use the Program on ONLY one machine at any one time; b) make a copy of the Program for backup or modification purposes ONLY in support of your Authorized Use; and c) modify and/or merge the Program into another program only in support of your Authorized Use. YOU MAY NOT: a) use, copy, modify, merge, or transfer copies of the Program except as noted in this Agreement; b) reverse assemble, reverse engineer, or reverse compile the Program; and/or c) sublicense, rent, lease or assign the Program or any copy of it. 9.2 Demonstration Version 9.2.1 You are free to use and distribute, with no obligation, the DEMONSTRATION VERSION of SWELL provided that: a) you distribute only verbatim copies of the DEMONSTRATION VERSION of SWELL as you receive it; and b) it is accompanied by unmodified copies of its documentation. 9.2.2 You may incorporate the DEMONSTRATION VERSION of SWELL into your hardware and/or software product under the terms of Paragraph 9.2.1 above provided that: - 8 - a) you do not in any way modify the program; b) you do not interfere with the program's operation in any manner, including, but not limited to, redirecting or impeding its interaction with the user via the keyboard or screen; and c) you tangibly demonstrate to Peter Fitzsimmons, or a representative appointed by Peter Fitzsimmons, that all terms of this license are in compliance. 10 Registration Registered owners of SWELL will receive the most recent production version of SWELL with all annoyances removed. The registered version uses approximately 9k of memory. Complete C source code for SwellCFG.EXE is supplied so that application developers can interface their applications with SWELL. Registration also entitles you to one free minor-revision upgrade. 10.1 Prices Quantity | Discount | Price per Copy | | $US | $Canadian ------------------------------------- 1-10 | - | $40 | $48 11-30 | 25% | $30 | $36 31+ | 35% | $26 | $31 Discounts are per order and are not cumulative. Prices include shipping via Canada Post inside the USA and Canada. All other destinations should include $10 U.S. for shipping charges. Please allow 4 weeks for delivery. ALL PRICES AND DISCOUNTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. - 9 - 10.2 Order Form Remit payment to: Peter Fitzsimmons Post Office Box 670 Adelaide St Postal Station Toronto, Canada M5C 2J8 --- ( fold here if you are using a windowed envelope ) --- Check one: Amounts specified in U.S. __ -OR- Canadian funds __. _____ SWELL registrations .............. @ $_____ each = $_______ _____ Overseas shipping................. @ $10.00 each = $_______ Ontario residents please add 8% PST.........Tax $_______ Total $_______ Name_______________________________________________________ Company____________________________________________________ Address____________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ Phone(______)________________ Bus.(______)________________ Where did you obtain Swell? ___________________________________________________________ Comments___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ - 10 - 11 For more information: Write to: Post Office Box 670 Adelaide St Postal Station Toronto, Canada M5C 2J8 To receive the latest FREE demo version of SWELL, send a self- addressed diskette to the address above, or call the following BBS (which has kindly granted me permission to distribute the demonstration version of SWELL through it): RT Labs BBS (416)867-9663 (fido 1:250/628 FREQ SWELL1??.ARC) Toronto Canada 300 - 9600 bps (Hayes V-series) - 11 - - 12 - Index /1 3 L /a 3 LAN 7 /b 3 License 8 /d 2 /s 3 M /u 3 Microsoft C Compiler 5 `uninstall' 3 Microsoft Editor 5 /v 2 Microsoft Windows 6 A N active parent program 4 network 7 Application Programming Interface 2 O Opus 6 B BBS 6 P parameters 1 C payment 10 Carbon Copy 7 Prices 9 CodeView 6 PSP 4 command line parameters 2 Q communications programs Qedit 5 7 Quick C 6, 7 QuickBasic 5 D QuickC 5 Desqview 6 DOS Box 5 R Double DOS 6 Registration 9 DSZ.COM 7 S E SAPI 2, 3 EMS 1 source code 2 environment variables 1 Sprint 5 extended 1 suspend 3 suspend once 3 I SWELL 1 Interrupt Service sysops 6 Routine 7 Interrupt Vector Table T 4 Telix 7 ISR 7 Terminate and Stay IVT 4, 7 Resident 1 TMP 1 TSR 2, 4 - 13 - Turbo C 3, 5, 6 X Turbo Debugger 5, 6 XMS 1 Turbo Pascal 3, 5, 6 V verbose flag 2 - 14 - Figures Figure 1: The SwellCFG Usage Box . . . . . . . . . . 2 Figure 2: Memory map with SWELL active . . . . . . . 3 Figure 3: Memory map with SWELL inactive . . . . . . 4 Figure 4: Over committed memory map . . . . . . . . . 4 iii