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Text File | 1991-03-15 | 15KB | 366 lines

CTMAP 0.98 - DOS Memory manager/extender for 80286, 80386 and '386SX "AT" computers which use Chips & Technologies DRAM controller chips. LOADHIGH 0.98 - Makes memory-resident software load in "Upper" RAM. Especially useful for network drivers like Novell's IPX, NET3 and NET4. Copyright 1989-1991, Burton Systems Software. All rights reserved. Burton Systems Software P.O. Box 4156, Cary, NC 27519 USA Tel: (919) 233-8128 FAX: 233-0716 BBS: 233-0106 OVERVIEW -------- The CTMAP package contains two programs: CTMAP and LOADHIGH. CTMAP: If you are using an 80286, 80386 or 80386SX computer which has a Chips and Technologies 82C212 "NEAT" chip set, an 82C235 "SCAT" chip, or an 82C302 or 82C307 "CHIPSET" DRAM controller chip, CTMAP can increase the amount of usable RAM memory available to DOS from the usual 640K to as much as 944K, depending on what eluse you have installed in your computer. If you do not use EGA or VGA graphics, them 64 or 96K of this additional memory will usually be contiguous with the 640K of memory which DOS normally uses, increasing that area to 704K or 736K. Additionally, CTMAP can enable DOS to use up to 240K of discontiguous RAM, located above the display adapter RAM and below the ROM BIOS. However, some programs can't use discontiguous RAM (and CHKDSK ignores it). CTMAP has a significant advantage over other commercial 80386-only memory managers like 386-MAX and QEMM (which are trademarks or their respective vendors). CTMAP does not put the CPU into protected mode, nor does it install a TSR or device driver, so it is HIGHLY COMPATIBLE with protected- mode 80286 and 80386 software. In fact, IT EVEN WORKS with OS/2 1.2's "DOS Compatibility Box!" LOADHIGH: LOADHIGH is used to make programs (especially TSRs) load in "upper" memory (the RAM that CTMAP enables above 640K, between the video display RAM and the ROM BIOS). By installing your TSRs in upper memory, you can further increase the amount of contiguous low memory available for those application programs which will not directly utilize upper memory. CTMAP ----- For operating instructions, run CTMAP like this: CTMAP ? Typical usage with EGA or VGA adapter is: CTMAP /A -A -B Typical usage with non-VGA monochrome adapter is: CTMAP /A If you use "EMS"/"XMS"/"LIM"/"expanded" memory on your computer, you may also have to add either the "-D" switch or the "-E" switch prevent CTMAP from interferring it. LOADHIGH -------- For operating instructions, run LOADHIGH like this: LOADHIGH ? TERMINOLOGY ----------- These seem to be the most generally accepted terms for the various kinds of memory on IBM-compatible PCs: K or kilobyte = 2**10 = 1024 bytes. But some people use this term to mean 10**2 = 1000 bytes. In this document, we use the regular "1024" meaning. It is a curious fact that 2**10 & 10**2 are almost (but not quite) equal. M or megabyte = 1024K = 1024x1024 = 1,048,576 bytes. But occasionally this term is used to mean 1,000,000 bytes (which is why your "100 megabyte" disk drive may only hold 95.4 megabytes). EXTENDED MEMORY = RAM which is above 1M+64K. But sometimes this term is used to refer to all memory above 1M, including the HIGH memory. Not available on 8088 ("XT") computers. HIGH MEMORY = 64K of RAM above 1M and below 1M+64K (used by Microsoft HIMEM.SYS driver). However, this term is also sometimes used to refer to UPPER memory (below). Not available on 8088 computers. UPPER MEMORY = RAM which is above the DISPLAY memory but below the BIOS. Usually between 756K and 960K. Sometimes called "high memory." Unfortunately, the built-in "help" screens in CTMAP and LOADHIGH use the term obsolete term "high memory" to refer to this region; one of these days we'll fix them. EXPANDED MEMORY = Any of several types of additional RAM which is accessed via a "page frame segment" (usually 64K long) in the UPPER memory region. Also called EMS, XMS, or LIM memory. DISPLAY MEMORY = The special RAM used by display adapters, generally addressed somewhere between 640K and 764K. LOW MEMORY = The normal DOS RAM between 0K and the DISPLAY memory. HOW IT WORKS ------------ CTMAP is a simple program. Mainly, what it does is manipulate the hardware registers in the C&T DRAM controller chip to enable the "extra" RAM which is already there on your computer, then it patches up the DOS memory control block chain so that DOS "knows about it." The DOS memory control block chain is documented in a number of places. See, for instance, the Microsoft's MS-DOS Encyclopedia, or the Turbo Pascal source code for Kim Kokkonen's famous MAPMEM utility. LOADHIGH is even simpler than CTMAP. Mainly what it does is patch the "owner" field in DOS memory control blocks so that DOS considers them used or available. CAVEATS, PROBLEMS, ETC. ----------------------- 1) No warranties of any kind are expressed or implied. Use at your own risk. 2) If you find that some I/O device or an EMS/EMM/LIM "expanded" memory card or driver fails when you use "CTMAP /A", you can use explicit "-xx" options to prevent CTMAP from using particular areas of RAM. We suggest trial and error to determine which memory segments you can and cannot allow CTMAP to use. For display adapters, the most likely culprits are the A and B segments. For EMS/EMM/LIM (expanded memory) problems, the D or E segment (but not both!) is usually at fault. Examples: VGA/EGA systems: CTMAP -A -B /A For EMM at D000: CTMAP -D /A For EMM at E000: CTMAP -E /A VGA/EGA + EMM at D000: CTMAP -A -B -D /A VGA/EGA + EMM at E000: CTMAP -A -B -E /A 3) A few TSRs may not work when loaded in upper memory. In particular, TSRs which increase the size of the keyboard type-ahead buffer cannot work when loaded in upper memory. 4) We've noticed that some command line editor programs get confused about which retrieval buffer to use if they are loaded in upper memory or if they are loaded before CTMAP and LOADHIGH are run. DOSEDIT, NDOSEDIT and RETRIEVE have this problem, so if you use one of them, you should install it at the end of your AUTOEXEC.BAT, after the "LOADHIGH OFF". However, CED and PCED (two other popular command line editors) do not seem to have this problem. We've not yet tried ANARKEY or ALIAS (other command line editors). 5) So far, we have been unable to make device drivers load in upper memory. If you are an expert on the guts of DOS and know how to do this, we'd welcome the help. In the meantime, we suggest that users of CTMAP use a TSR-style RAMDISK or CACHE program instead of DOS's VDISK or RAMDRIVE, or else (if you have more than 1 megabyte of RAM memory), run it with the buffer in extended or expanded memory. 6) We're using undocumented DOS features to manipulate the DOS memory pool, so we cannot guarantee compatibliity with future DOS releases. If you have a problem, let us know - perhaps we can solve it. 7) We recommend the use of Chris Dunford's PMAP program to display the DOS memory pool. It is very similar to Kim Kokkonen's MAPMEM, but it does a better job of displaying information about "upper" memory. If you received CTMAP on diskette, you may have also received a copy of PMAP; otherwise, look for PMAP132.ZIP on your favorite BBS. However, PMAP is not a part of the CTMAP package! PMAP is a different product, from a different company; see PMAP.DOC for license information and legal restrictions on the use and distribution of PMAP. 8) Note that some programs, such as MAPMEM and DOS CHKDSK, will not display information about DOS RAM above the video display. Also, Norton-SI will tell you about upper RAM... but will not tell you whether it is part of the DOS memory pool. This does not mean that CTMAP did not work! You can run "LOADHIGH OFF" for a quick display of available RAM (do it before and after running CTMAP to see the difference!). Better yet, use Chris Dunford's PMAP (for details, use "PMAP /R"). LANs ---- Most local area network adapters use some upper address space. CTMAP will generally detect the LAN adapter RAM and/or ROM, and not enable general purpose RAM at that address. In other words, CTMAP will probably not interfere with your LAN, but the presence of the LAN adapter will probably reduce the amount of RAM which CTMAP can add to DOS's memory pool. If you can choose the memory address for your LAN card, it is a good idea to try to pick an address adjacent to either the ROM BIOS (at F0000) or the display RAM (the address depends upon your display adapter). This will allow CTMAP to add the upper memory to DOS's memory pool as one big chunk of memory instead of two little chunks, so that bigger programs will fit in it, with less wasted RAM. Example: We once used Novell Netware on an Arcnet, using Network Innovations' PcARC network adapter. It uses 16K of RAM at an address which is selected by DIP switches on the board. The most common setting, and the one expected by Novell's ANET3.COM program is: D0000 (the default) However, we relocated it to: EC000 (just below the BIOS RAM) (Note: the Network Innovations documentation refers to these addresses as D000H and EC00H.) To use the reconfigured card with one version of Novell Netware, it was necessary to patch ANET3.COM. That version of Netware uses a 50605 byte version of ANET3.COM, dated 05/16/88. When run with the "I" option it displays: Advanced/SFT NetWare V2.01-2 Workstation Shell for PC DOS V3.x Copyright (c) by Novell, Inc. 1983, 1987 LAN Option: Standard Microsystems ARCNET That version of ANET3.COM is fairly easy to patch (if you are comfortable using DOS debug). Simply use DOS debug to search the file for the eight instances of 00 D0, and change all eight instances to 00 EC. Later, we upgraded to a newer version of Netware which had to be patched differently. Instead of ANET3.COM, it has programs named IPX.COM and NET3.COM (or NET4.COM). IPX.COM is the program which needs to be patched. Ours was 27966 bytes long, dated 8/25/89. When installed for our LAN card, it displayed: Novell IPX/SPX V2.15 (C) Copyright 1985, 1988 Novell Inc. All Rights Reserved. LAN Option: Standard Microsystems ARCNET/Pure Data V1.00 Hardware Configuration: IRQ = 2, I/O Base = 2E0h, RAM Buffer at D000:0 In our case, it was easy to patch the IPX.COM memory address. We simply used DOS debug to search the file for the first instance of 00 D0, and we changed it to the desired address (00 EC, in our case). For esthetics, we also patched the string which follows to indicate the proper address ("EC00:0" instead of "D000:0"), so that the patched version of IPX.COM displays the proper address when it is installed: Hardware Configuration: IRQ = 2, I/O Base = 2E0h, RAM Buffer at EC00:0 IPX.COM contains a table of 18 combinations of hardware settings; the spot we patched was the first entry in the table. If your LAN uses a different interrupt level (IRQ) or I/O Base, you'll have to patch a different table entry. LICENSE ------- This software is not free. You may try it out on your computer(s) at no cost, but if you like it and decide to continue using it, or if you add it to your AUTOEXEC.BAT, then you must register it at a cost of $30 per computer. REGISTRATION ------------ Register by sending $30 per computer to: CTMAP 0.98 registration Burton Systems Software P.O.Box 4156, Cary, NC 27519 USA Please include the following: Your full name, your company (if any), your telephone number(s), your mailing address (including country), the number of computers you are registering for use of CTMAP 0.98, the brands and models of your computers & your version of DOS, and your payment of $30 US (or $40 Canadian) per computer. Also, please answer the questions: "Are you a programmer? In what computer languages?" Payment should be by check or money order on a US or Canadian bank, or by Visa, MasterCard or EuroCard charge. If paying by credit card, please be sure to include your credit card number, expiration date, type of card (Visa or MC), and the name on the card; and please sign your letter. Or, with a credit card, you can register by telephone or FAX. Our telephone is (919) 233-8128, our FAX is (919) 233-0716, our BBS is (919) 233-0106. DISTRIBUTION ------------ You are encouraged to give copies of this software to your friends and colleagues for trial on their computers. You are free to "upload" this software to any computer bulletin board system (BBS). You may charge recipients of this software a fee of no more than $6 US plus the cost of the distribution media, provided that purchasers are forewarned that continued use requires registration with Burton, and that registration costs $30. However, under no circumstances may "patched" or otherwise modified copies of this software be distributed without prior written permission from Burton. Manufacturers and distributors of computer equipment should contact Burton to purchase distribution licenses for customized versions of this software. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY ---------------------- No warranty is expressed or implied. Use this software at your own risk. However, if you encounter problems, or if you have suggestions for improvement, we would like to hear from you. WHO ARE WE? ----------- Burton Systems Software is a commercial software development company located in Raleigh, North Carolina. We specialize in systems software and software development tools for programmers. We are best known for our TLIB (tm) Version Control System for MS-DOS (and soon for OS/2). TLIB is the fastest, most powerful, and easiest to use version control software available for PCs. It elegantly solves many of the headaches attendant to software development. But don't take our word for it - give us a call, and we'll gladly send you more information, including a long list of quotes from enthusiastic magazine reviewers. Or try it out - TLIB comes with a full 90 day warranty (unlike CTMAP!). Our telephone number is (919) 233-8128. BONUS! ------ When you register CTMAP, you'll receive a coupon worth $30 off the price of a TLIB Version Control System. You may also receive an updated version of CTMAP (at our option), if we have improved it significantly since 19-Feb-91. Note to TLIB customers: if you got CTMAP with TLIB, you can register for free - sort of a pre-redeemed coupon. Just mention your TLIB serial number in a letter which says "I'm using CTMAP; please register me."