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- ┌──────────────────────────────┐
- │ CONFIG.SYS Recommendations │
- └──────────────────────────────┘
-
- The following options can be set within the CONFIG.SYS file to
- control DOS, and increase available low memory and/or improve
- performance.
-
- BUFFERS The BUFFERS statement selects the number of 528 byte disk
- buffers for DOS. Additional DOS memory can be obtained by
- decreasing the number of buffers.
-
- Best performance is usually achieved with buffers set to a value
- depending on the size of your hard disk, as follows:
-
- Hard Disk Size In CONFIG.SYS
- ────────────── ─────────────
- 39MB or under BUFFERS=20
- 40MB to 79MB BUFFERS=30
- 80MB to 119MB BUFFERS=40
- 120MB or over BUFFERS=50
-
- Note: If you are using MS/PC-DOS 5.0, and use the recommended
- DOS=HIGH statement in CONFIG.SYS, DOS will place up to 30 buffers
- into the HMA area. Setting a BUFFERS value of 30 or less will
- not gain any additional low DOS memory.
-
-
- FILES The FILES statement specifies the number of file handles which
- DOS can have open at one time. Each count requires about 48
- bytes.
-
- It is recommended for most programs that at least 20 files be
- set. For reliable operation with Windows, files should be set to
- at least 25. The amount of space required for 25 files is only
- 1200 bytes. Additional DOS memory can be obtained by reducing
- the number of files.
-
- STACKS The STACKS statement was added in DOS 3.3. It controls the
- number of bytes used to allocate DOS's internal stack for
- interrupt handling.
-
- Setting STACKS=0,0 will reduce the amount of stack usage to the
- minimum, saving about 1100 bytes of DOS memory over the default
- when no stacks statement is used. Using some TSRs or Windows
- enhanced mode may cause system problems if STACKS is set to 0,0.
-
- SHELL Environment Sizing The environment is an area in memory for
- holding specific information for various programs. It is set
- with the SHELL statement, using the slash "e" option. For
- example, to set COMMAND.COM as the shell, and use an environment
- of 800 bytes, the CONFIG.SYS line for DOS 5.0 would be:
-
- SHELL=C:\DOS5\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS5 /e:800 /p
-
- The correct path for COMMAND.COM must be included in the shell
- statement, and may be different than shown above.
-
- Reducing the environment size saves low memory, but programs may
- require this space to operate properly. If no slash "e" option is
- used, or a SHELL statement is not used, DOS defaults to a 256 byte
- environment.
-
- LASTDRIVE The LASTDRIVE option assigns the maximum number of drives
- for the system. If you use this command, set the LASTDRIVE letter
- to indicate only those drives you really need. For systems using
- drives past E:, each additional drive letter requires 80 to 100
- bytes. This means the command LASTDRIVE=Z could use over 2K bytes.
-
-