New Star Software Collection/NSS_Collection.iso/3-069 qemm 603/1.ima/QMANFEST/CH9.MAN

Text File | 1991-10-07 | 17.7 KB | 418 lines

Chapter 9

QEMM-386

This chapter describes the screens available if you have an 80386
PC with Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager-386 (QEMM-386)
installed and running. If you do not have an 80386 PC, you may
still find this chapter useful in case you plan on getting an
80386 in the future.

QEMM-386 is a device driver which is cognizant of the memory you
have in your PC. Its principal function is to transform all of
your memory into memory usable in the ways specified by EMS 3.2,
EMS 4, and EEMS standards. To be specific, your extended memory
(memory above 1024K) is converted into expanded memory, with all
the functionality of expanded memory. Your conventional memory is
made mappable.

QEMM-386 also takes maximum advantage of any available areas of
high memory in your computer, that is the areas between 640K and
1024K which are not in use by any ROMs or adapter RAM that you
have. As you will see in Manifest's QEMM-386 displays, QEMM-386
not only can make available high memory areas usable for expanded
memory (known as mappable areas), but can also put RAM (in chunks
as small as 4K) into these areas. The result  is that more high
memory is available to load DOS resources, TSRs and device
drivers. Loading these things into high RAM is done using
QEMM-386's LOADHI.COM and LOADHI.SYS programs.

The topics included in the QEMM-386 category detail the effects
of QEMM-386's management of your memory. It is recommended that
you be familiar with the information in your QEMM-386 manual,
that you have a basic understanding of expanded memory (see
Chapter 6), and that you keep in mind and review the other
Manifest screens as they relate to memory utilization.

~Subhead~ QEMM-386 Overview (QO)

 QEMM-386 Overview presents the key elements necessary to
determine QEMM-386's status. This screen appears if QEMM-386 is
installed and running at the time you run Manifest.

 You should have this screen on hand if you need technical
support from Quarterdeck on QEMM-386.

 In the sections which follow you may find suggestions about
modifying QEMM-386 parameters or command line switches. Details
concerning QEMM-386 parameters and how you specify them are
contained in the Quarterdeck Expanded Memory-386 user manual.

~Subhead~ Key Terms

 QEMM-386's Status shows you the current status of QEMM.SYS.
QEMM.SYS may indicate that it is configured with High RAM or
Mapped ROM, whether memory is back-filled or video filled, and
whether expanded memory is being used.

 Mode refers to the "current state" of QEMM.SYS. When there is
high RAM, ROM mapping, memory back-filling, or video filling,
QEMM's mode is ON and may not be turned OFF. Otherwise, QEMM's
mode will typically be either AUTO/ON or AUTO/OFF, depending upon
whether expanded memory is in use. If QEMM's mode is OFF (without
the AUTO) then expanded memory is not accessible until you change
the mode using the QEMM.COM program.

 Page Frame gives the address of the page frame. This entry
indicates "None" if there is no page frame.

~Subhead~ QEMM-386 Type (QY)

 QEMM-386 Type presents you with two views of your first megabyte
of memory as seen by QEMM-386. This screen appears if QEMM-386 is
installed and running at the time you run Manifest.

 The first view of your first megabyte of memory, seen through
QEMM-386's eyes, is a map. Each row of the map contains 16
characters representing 64K of memory. Each character (+ * F H M
X V A R /) represents 4K of memory~dash~and has a special
meaning, as described in the legend table to the right. Base
addresses are indicated in the left column (0n00 at the top
through Fn00 at the bottom). To determine a particular 4K area
replace the value "n" with the character listed at the top of the
screen.

 The second view is the same information, displayed in list
format. You can display this list by pressing the F3 key.

 You use this screen to:

~Item~ determine the effect of QEMM-386's management of memory in
your PC.

~Subhead~ Type Map Described

 QEMM-386 describes your first megabyte of memory using any of
ten symbols. These are as follows:

~Item~ Mappable (+): areas of memory which can be mapped into
using EMS function calls. These areas must be 16K in size and
aligned on 16K boundaries. Areas of high memory that are marked
as Mappable can be converted to High RAM by adding the RAM switch
to the QEMM.SYS command line.

~Item~ Rammable (*): areas of memory which can be mapped into by
QEMM-386 but are too small to be accessed by EMS function calls.
You must add the RAM switch to the QEMM.SYS command line to fill
the memory area with expanded memory.

~Item~ Page Frame (F): a mappable area, 64K in size, which is the
place that almost all EMS programs use for mapping. Other
mappable regions are only used by programs written specifically
for EMS 4.0 or EEMS.

~Item~ High RAM (H): areas above conventional memory which have
been filled with RAM by QEMM-386. Any areas above conventional
memory marked as Mappable (+) or Rammable (*) may be converted to
High RAM (H) by adding the RAM switch to the QEMM.SYS command
line. Once the RAM instruction has been added and the system has
been re-booted, high RAM areas may be used by QEMM's LOADHI.COM
and LOADHI.SYS programs to load TSRs and device drivers in high
memory.

~Item~ Mapped ROM (M): addresses of Read Only Memory which have
been copied to RAM, and then mapped into the original addresses
by QEMM's ROM switch. The purpose of mapping ROM is to run ROM
code in fast memory.

~Item~ Excluded (X): areas of memory which have been explicitly
excluded from use by the exclude switch to QEMM.SYS.
Additionally, QEMM-386 automatically excludes the addresses from
0000 to 0FFF. If one of your adapter cards fails to identify
itself properly, QEMM may try to use all or part of the memory
addresses used by the adapter as either High RAM or Mappable
memory. You must explicitly exclude the conflicting memory areas
from QEMM or problems will occur.

~Item~ Video (V): addresses reserved for video display memory.

~Item~ Adapter RAM (A):  regions of memory which have RAM mapped
into them by adapter cards other than video adapter cards.

~Item~ ROM (R): regions of Read Only Memory which have not been
re-mapped by the QEMM.SYS ROM switch.

~Item~ Split ROM (/): addresses which QEMM.SYS has detected as
having ROM which occupies only a portion of the 4K area. Such
areas cannot be re-mapped by the QEMM.SYS ROM switch.

~Subhead~ Type List

 This screen shows the identical information as the Type Map
screen, but lists the regions by Memory Area, indicating the size
of each region.

~Subhead~ Technical Notes

 Extra Mapped ROM: There are two conditions under which there
will be Mapped ROM even when you have not given a ROM switch on
the QEMM.SYS command line:

~Item~ There is always 4K of Mapped ROM in the system ROM.
QEMM-386 automatically uses one area of the system ROM to help it
detect reboot requests.

~Item~ On a COMPAQ Deskpro 386, QEMM-386 automatically maps the
video ROM and the system ROM to emulate the speed-up that the
Deskpro itself imposes but which QEMM-386 overrides. QEMM-386
does this to make optimal use of the COMPAQ reserved memory
without slowing down video and other operations.

 ~Subhead~ QEMM-386 Accessed (QA)

 QEMM-386 Accessed presents you with two views of the first
megabyte of memory~dash~indicating the 4K regions of memory that
have and have not been accessed from the time you booted your PC
until the time of the display. This screen appears only if
QEMM-386 Version 5 or above is running at the time you use
Manifest.

 The first view is a map of this information. The second view is
a list. You can alternate between the map and the list by
pressing the F3 key.

 Manifest uses the term Unaccessed (U) to refer to the areas of
memory which have not been read or written by a program.
Potentially, those areas above 640K may be usable for mapping
high RAM.

 Manifest also distinguishes between areas of memory that have
been read by a program, Accessed (A), and areas of memory which
have had data written to them by a program, "Written" (W).


~Subhead~ Technical Hints

 You can use this screen to determine how "big" a program is
(i.e. how much conventional memory it accesses and writes into)
and whether a program accesses or writes into an area of high
memory.

 Inaccuracy of Accessed Map for Mappable Regions: The information
displayed is not accurate for mappable regions. When the computer
maps memory into a mappable area, the process of mapping clears
the state of the region, and makes it appear to be unaccessed.
This clearing occurs often in the conventional areas of memory in
DESQview by virtue of multitasking. Active use of the Page Frame
for mapping will also clear these indicators. Other areas are not
so frequently mapped.


~Subhead~ Accessed List

 This screen shows the identical information as the Accesed Map
Screen, but lists the regions by Memory Area, indicating the size
of each region.


~Subhead~ QEMM-386 Analysis (QN)

 QEMM-386 Analysis presents you with two views of your PC's first
megabyte of memory~dash~indicating Manifest's assessment of what
memory is OK to use, what memory should be excluded and what
should be included. This assessment is based upon you having had
QEMM-386 watch what memory was accessed by your programs. This
enables you to better optimize the use of your memory.

 The first view is in map form. The second view of this
information is in list format. You can alternate between the map
and the list by pressing the F3 key.

 You use the map to see what memory can be used. However, the
list gives you the memory addresses that you may instruct
QEMM.SYS to include or exclude.

 WARNING: The  steps you must follow in order for the QEMM-386
Analyis screen to be accurate are described later in this
section. If you do not follow this procedure:

~Item~ the information in these screens may not be valid, and

~Item~ any and all suggestions and hints you find in this section
may be inappropriate.

~Subhead~ Analysis Map

 OK (O): areas of memory that have been used by a properly
specified to QEMM.

 Exclude (X): areas of memory that have been used by a program,
but QEMM did not expect it to. You should use the EXCLUDE switch
to QEMM to prevent QEMM from using these areas.

 Include (I): areas of high memory that have not been used by a
program, but have been reserved by QEMM. You may use the INCLUDE
switch to QEMM to allow QEMM to use these areas.

 ~Subhead~ Analysis List

 This screen shows the identical information as the Analysis Map
Screen, but lists the regions by Memory Area, indicating the size
of each region.

~Subhead~ Analysis Procedures

 The Benefit of QEMM-386 Analysis: As you run your favorite
programs, QEMM is recording the memory accessed by these
programs. Manifest then analyzes the memory accessed and
recommends how to best configure your QEMM.SYS for optimum use of
your memory. The end result of analyzing your memory is that more
of your high memory may become usable for memory resident
programs, device drivers, and DOS resources~dash~resulting in
more conventional memory for your favorite programs.

 However, for QEMM to accurately determine what high memory
addresses are used requires several sequential steps, all of
which must be performed before accurate results will be obtained.

~Item~ Modify the QEMM.SYS command line in CONFIG.SYS so it
specifies the ON switch.

~Item~ Save your CONFIG.SYS file and re-boot your PC.

~Item~ Run all of your programs and perform all of their
functions. If you use DESQview, you should start it, and
immediately quit without running programs.

~Item~ Access all of the hardware in your computer. If you have
two monitors connected to your computer, display information on
each of them. Access each of your disk drives. Format a diskette.
Print a document. If you have a network adapter card or a 3270
card or the like, connect to it.

~Item~ Do not run utilities other than Manifest which check the
functioning of your computer's hardware, especially those that
check memory.

~Item~ After you have run every program you use, run Manifest and
select QEMM-386 Analysis.

~Item~ Examine the Analysis list and note the suggestions. Modify
the QEMM.SYS command line in CONFIG.SYS to include or exclude
memory areas specified in the Analysis List and to remove the ON
switch you added earlier.

 Verify Your QEMM Configuration: If you want to verify that you
have optimized the use of your memory, repeat the Analysis
process and display the Analysis List. You should see " 0000 -
FFFF  1024K   OK". If you see additional Exclude (X) areas, use
them. If you see additional Include (I) areas, ignore them.

~Subhead~ QEMM-386 Memory (QM)

 QEMM-386 Memory gives you an accounting of the memory in your PC
(conventional, high RAM, extended, and expanded) before and after
QEMM-386 has configured this memory.

 On some computers there will be a fifth category, either Top
Memory (seen most often on Compaqs) or shadow RAM (seen most
often on machines using a Chips & Technologies chip set).

 You use this screen to:

~Item~ see a summary of how QEMM has made use of your memory,

~Item~ quickly learn if QEMM can detect the shadow RAM on your
PC,

~Item~ find out how much memory is in your PC, and how it is
being used.

~Subhead~ Memory Accounting

 The "Initial" column shows the totals of each type of memory
when you turn on your computer. The Expanded and High RAM
categories always start at OK. The total of this column should
equal the amount of memory in your computer.

 The "Unavailable to QEMM" column indicates memory which has been
made unavailable to QEMM before QEMM gets a chance to use it.
Drivers loaded before QEMM which use extended memory will make
that memory unavailable to QEMM. Also, machines with Shadow RAM
make much of it unavailable for QEMM to use.

 The "Converted by QEMM" column shows what QEMM does to your
memory. It converts Extended memory (and Shadow RAM or Top Memory
if you have any) into Expanded Memory and High RAM. Thus, the
column shows some memory being "used" (subtracting from the
available) and some being "created" (adding to the available).
QEMM also can fill in missing conventional memory, so you might
see it "creating" more conventional memory. The total of this
column indicates how much memory QEMM keeps for its own use and
for mapping your ROMs.

 The "Leaving" column shows how much memory is left over once
QEMM is through initializing itself. These numbers are very
important. The remaining conventional memory, usually 640K,
indicates how much contiguous memory is accessible for your DOS
programs. The remaining Extended memory, usually 0K, indicates
how much Extended memory is left over for other programs to use.
Note that if your programs can access memory through the EMS, XMS
or VCPI interfaces, then they do not need any Extended memory
left for them by QEMM. The remaining Expanded memory is how much
memory is available to programs which support EMS. The remaining
High RAM indicates the memory available for loading DOS
resources, TSRs, and device drivers into high memory.

 The box at the bottom of the screen details the ways in which
QEMM has used memory. The first number is the total amount of
memory QEMM is using for itself and for mapping ROMs. This is the
same as the total of the third column from the top box. The next
numbers indicate the size of QEMM's code and data, the memory
reserved for QEMM tasks, the memory reserved for a DMA buffer,
the memory reserved for real alternate maps, the memory used for
mapping ROMs, and finally a small amount of memory (uually less
than 16K) which was unusable for various reasons. These numbers
can be changed depending on the setup of your computer and your
use of some command line parameters to QEMM.SYS.

 At the bottom of the screen is a number showing how much of your
conventional memory area is being used by QEMM. Note that this
number is always very small.

~Subhead~ Diagnostic Tips

 If You Think There Is More Memory in Your PC Than Is Shown:
Check that your PC's CMOS is set up properly, and that there are
no defective (or loose) memory chips.

 Why QEMM May Not Be Able to Use All of Your Shadow RAM: Shadow
RAM which overlaps ROM or adapter RAM cannot be used by QEMM.
Thus, shadow RAM which overlaps the system ROM, the video adapter
ROM, the video display RAM and any other adapters you have is
unavailable to QEMM.

 Let QEMM Allocate Extended Memory: We suggest that you not load
device drivers that use extended memory before QEMM. Instead,
reserve extended memory for use after QEMM by using the EXTMEM=
command line switch. If your extended memory program can get its
memory through XMS, then you do not need to reserve extended
memory for it.

 Using Maps: If you are not using a multitasking environment,
such as DESQview, specify the MAPS=0 parameter on the QEMM.SYS
command line to gain an additional 32K of expanded (or extended)
memory. If you are using DESQview you should have one map plus
one map for each DESQview window you use.

 Unassigned: The Unassigned category of this screen represents
that memory which QEMM-386 controls but which has not been given
any function. After QEMM-386 has set up its data and High RAM and
other resources, whatever is left of memory is made expanded
memory. Since expanded memory is allocated 16K at a time, any
memory that is less than 16K or is fragmented is left as
Unassigned. Some of the QEMM-386 parameters can be altered (RAM,
MAPS, ROM, primarily) to increase or decrease the amount of
Unassigned memory, to either use it for these new purposes or to
increase it until it becomes more expanded memory.