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Ami Pro/Word Pro document | 1990-06-26 | 40.5 KB | 861 lines

[ver] [sty] [files] .G03 .G04 .G05 [prn] PCL / HP LaserJet [lang] [desc] This file discusses in technical terms memory management in Windows. It may help you best configure for Ami Pro. 646422238 613193102 [fopts] [lnopts] Body Text [docopts] [tag] Body Text [fnt] Courier 240 49152 [algn] 481 [spc] 230 100 [brk] [line] [spec] 65535 [nfmt] 280 [frm] 537591808 2313 6572 9270 10516 16777215 1233 6957 [frmlay] 10516 6957 144 144 6716 144 109 28104 2457 9126 [isd] .G03 .sdw 5175 62701 100 256 186 2237 194 2237 202 2237 210 2237 218 2237 226 2237 234 2237 5494 65535 65535 .sdw [frm] 537591808 2656 1080 9845 5470 16777215 1576 7189 [frmlay] 5470 7189 144 144 1224 144 33200 2800 9701 [isd] .G04 .sdw 6896 61439 100 256 186 2237 194 2237 202 2237 210 2237 218 2237 226 2237 234 2237 5494 65535 65535 .sdw [frm] 537591808 2467 1770 9710 5940 16777215 1387 7243 [frmlay] 5940 7243 144 144 1914 144 2611 9566 [isd] .G05 .sdw 6951 61658 100 256 186 2237 194 2237 202 2237 210 2237 218 2237 226 2237 234 2237 5494 65535 65535 .sdw [lay] Standard [rght] 15840 12240 1080 1080 1080 1080 1080 11160 3258 3963 5405 [hrght] [lyfrm] 11200 12240 1080 [frmlay] 1080 12240 1080 1080 1080 11160 2193 2898 4698 [txt] [frght] [lyfrm] 13248 14760 12240 15840 [frmlay] 15840 12240 1440 14760 1440 1440 10800 [txt] @Footer@<+B><:P10,0,> [elay] 35 0 31 4 16384 0 0 230 65535 Standard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 65535 0 0 0 0 0 0 [edoc] <+B>*************************************** <+B>MEMORY.SAM - Ami Professional ver. 1.2b <+B>*************************************** ------------ ------------ If you are using Microsoft Windows Version 3.0 or higher, please refer to the section on "Configuring your System's Memory" in the "Optimizing Windows" chapter in the Microsoft Windows User's Guide. The information below is specific to Microsoft Windows 286 and 386. ------------ Introduction ------------ It's important to understand the way that Microsoft Windows/286 and Microsoft Windows/386 use memory to achieve the best performance from Ami and Ami Professional. This section, compiled with the assistance of Microsoft, will provide you with information and guidelines to best configure your system. Early microprocessors such as the 8088 and 8086 were designed to address 1MB of memory. Subsequent hardware and software developments overcame early memory limitations, but also brought into play questions of compatibility and performance optimization. Memory issues are complex and there are no clear directives for setting up your system to optimize performance. You may need to experiment to find the best way to customize your system to get the most out of Ami Professional. This section will give you an overview of the different kinds of memory and suggest various memory strategies. The following topics will be discussed: * Types of Memory * Expanded Memory * LIMulators * Extended Memory * eXtended Memory Specification(XMS) * RAMdrive and SMARTDrive * Windows Specific Memory Issues * Optimizing Ami and Ami Professional ------------------------------- Overview--Three Types of Memory ------------------------------- Your PC may have three types of memory available: Conventional, Expanded, and Extended. * Conventional memory is the first 1MB of an 8086/8088/286/386 based computer. It was the only kind of memory available when IBM introduced the PC. When you execute a program, it must execute in the first 640K of conventional memory. The remaining 384K is used for hardware devices. * Expanded memory is added to the system and is not part of the memory addressed directly by the processor. This memory is accessed and managed through a special hardware/software subsystem. * Extended memory is memory that "extends" above 1 MB and is accessed by an 80286 or 80386 processor running in protected mode. Note that most computer programs that run under DOS are real mode applications and cannot take advantage of extended memory. The 80286 and 80386 are "backward" compatible and can run real mode applications as well. The following two sections will discuss in greater detail the way Windows and others applications use expanded and extended memory. ---------- Expanded Memory ---------- Expanded Memory gives the processor access to more memory than would otherwise be available under the DOS 640K-byte limit. It cannot be managed by DOS directly so it uses an Expanded Memory Manager (EMM) which is typically loaded through the config.sys file. The EMM tries to find an unused portion of memory in the 384K between 640K and 1MB. This portion of memory is called the page frame and is typically 64K in size. The page frame is divided into four 16K pages which are used as vehicles to "move" information between conventional memory and expanded memory. After the EMM finds the page frame, it can begin to "swap" memory between the 16K pages in the page frame with other 16K pages in expanded memory. There are a number of hardware devices which occupy the 384K between 640K and 1MB, and hence place a bigger burden on the EMM to find an available page frame. These devices include network adapters, video adapters, and ROM BIOS. All of them take away memory that could otherwise be used by the EMM. Expanded memory is the most flexible type of memory that a PC can have. Along with being the most flexible, it is also the most complex. Since there are a number of system related factors that change or restrict the way the EMS can be utilized, it must be fully understood before attempting optimization. Some of the factors that determine how EMS will be used include: * which expanded memory specification an application is using for storing program code or data * how large an area it can claim for memory manipulation * what kind of adapter cards or memory resident programs are installed in the system. Installing expanded memory is actually installing a closely integrated hardware/software subsystem. The hardware includes a specially designed memory board and the software includes the EMM device driver which is loaded through the CONFIG.SYS file. The hardware and software operate together to give the user access to more memory than would otherwise be available. Expanded memory has characteristics of both a normal memory board and a peripheral device. It has memory chips, but the PC accesses it as though it were an I/O port (like a parallel port). It is because of the way that EMS operates that users may have a difficult time envisioning how it works. Refer to the following illustration for a graphical display of how EMS memory looks to the processor.<:A0> ------------------------------------ How Programs Address Expanded Memory ------------------------------------ Expanded memory is divided into physical pages and logical pages. The physical pages are located in the page frame area between 640K and 1MB. The logical pages are located outside the 1 MB address space on the EMS memory board. The EMM utilizes a bank switching technique which makes the physical pages "point" to the logical pages. The EMM quickly switches where the physical pages point so that you can gain access to more expanded memory than just the 64K page frame. Here is an example of how an application might use expanded memory. When an application starts, it checks to see if any expanded memory is available. If the EMM is active, it will tell the program how much memory is available and where the page frame is located. The application then tells the EMM to allocate a certain amount of this memory for the application to use. The EMM in turn allocates the memory and provides the application with a "handle." "Handles" are used by the application to access the expanded memory allocated to it. The application can now tell the EMM to put a certain portion of data or code into the memory area referred to by the "handle." There are a number of standards which define the exact specifications of the functions performed by the memory manager. It will be useful to explain how these work before we discuss some of the Windows specific issues. ---------- LIM EMS 3.2 ---------- In 1985, in an attempt to allow users to create very large spreadsheets, Lotus and Intel, and later Microsoft, teamed up to produce the Lotus-Intel-Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification, or LIM EMS 3.2. This standard, like the two following standards, allocated a section of memory within the physical address range which could reference additional memory located in expanded memory. Specifications for EMS 3.2 are: * a 64K block of memory for the page frame * the 64K page frame must be contiguous the page frame is divided into four 16K pages * the page frame must be located in the upper 384K of the first 1MB of memory * supports up to 8MB of expanded memory LIM EMS 3.2 is suitable for accessing large amounts of program data, but not large amounts of code. This is due to the limited size of the page frame and because the amount of memory allocated is fixed; once an application allocates memory, there is no way to change the size of the chunk. Since it is cumbersome for an application to manage separate chunks of memory, the net effect is that an EMS-aware application, such as Microsoft Excel, is likely to pre-allocate as large a chunk of memory as it might ever use. This will tie up memory which cannot be used by other EMS-aware applications or by Windows if LIM EMS 4.0 is present. All Windows applications use LIM EMS 3.2. The implications of this will be explored in the section on Windows strategies. ---------- ---------- Because of the page frame size limitations which limited the use of expanded memory for storing program code in RAM, AST Research developed the Enhanced Expanded Memory Specification, EEMS. This standard was a superset of EMS 3.2, but required different hardware. The only software to fully exploit its capabilities was the multitasking program DESQview. Specifications for EEMS differed from EMS 3.2 in two respects: * the page frame could be larger than four pages * the page frame could be located anywhere in the first 1MB. ---------- LIM EMS 4.0 ---------- In 1987, Lotus, Intel, Microsoft and AST combined EEMS and EMS 3.2 and called it EMS 4.0, which is now the only expanded memory specification. Specifications for EMS 4.0 are: * page frame of any size up to 1MB * the page frame need not be contiguous * the page frame can be located anywhere within the 1MB address space * can access up to 32MB of expanded memory * is suitable for accessing large amounts of program code as well as data because of the larger page frame size * the amount of memory allocated is flexible; once an application allocates memory, the application can change the amount. The advances of LIM EMS 4.0 enable environments such as Windows to support multiple large applications in memory simultaneously. Now that we have discussed what the differences are between the various EMS standards, we'll take a moment to examine some of the specific things that EMS 4.0 provides. -------------------------------- Bankable vs. Non-Bankable Memory -------------------------------- Applications which use expanded memory categorize the usable memory under 1 MB into two categories: bankable and non-bankable, depending on whether or not the memory can be used as a page frame or not. ---------- Bankable ---------- Bankable space is another term used for describing the page frame from which Windows and other EMS-aware applications access expanded memory. When a Windows application such as Microsoft Excel is loading, the application's program code is loaded into a large page frame which resides in conventional memory. A portion of the program is also loaded below the page frame (in non-bankable space) in conventional memory. When the user opens another Windows application such as Ami Professional, a "context switch" occurs. The Microsoft Excel large page frame is banked out to EMS memory (the small non-bankable portion of Excel is still loaded below the large page frame and stays resident until Excel is exited), and the Ami Professional program code is loaded into the, now empty, large page frame area. The net effect is that during context switches the application is banked in from the expanded memory instead of being swapped in from disk (as it would normally be without expanded memory) and multiple large applications can be used at the same time with virtually no performance degradation. ---------- Non-Bankable ---------- Some things are never placed into expanded memory page frames, and thus use non-bankable memory; MS-DOS, device drivers, TSRs (Terminate and Stay Resident Programs), network software, most of Windows itself, video adapter memory, and System ROM all use non-bankable memory. The more programs that are loaded into non-bankable memory, the smaller the bankable area becomes. For example, parts of each application running under Windows cannot be placed in expanded memory so these portions of programs further reduce the possible bankable space. Since the bankable area is used for the EMS page frame, when the bankable area becomes too small, applications will not be able to operate at optimal efficiency. ------------------------------------- Large Page Frame vs. Small Page Frame ------------------------------------- Knowing what bankable and non-bankable space are, we now need to examine more closely the way that Windows utilizes these areas. When Windows is loaded, it checks to see if any LIM EMS 4.0 memory is available. If it is, Windows will check to see how much bankable space is available and allocate as much as possible to the EMS page frame. Depending on how much bankable memory is available, Windows may choose to run in Large Page Frame mode or Small Page Frame mode. ---------- Large Page Frame Mode ---------- Large Page Frame (LPF) mode designates a large amount(200K+) of the bankable area to be set aside for the EMS page frame. In this mode, Windows will load one application into the large page frame and when another application is started, the first application will be banked out to EMS memory and the new application will be loaded into the LPF. This way, when a context switch occurs, Windows can quickly bank the application back into conventional memory to continue execution. There is one drawback to using Large Page Frame mode: when the bankable area(EMS large page frame) becomes too small to support an application, it will give you an out of memory message, even if there are megabytes of free EMS memory. The extra code and resources that Windows needs to perform Large Page Frame operation and the resident portion of the active Windows applications occupy non-bankable space and reduce the size of the Large Page Frame. This in turn reduces efficiency and may disable a number of an application's features. Some of the Windows features that must reside in conventional/Non-bankable memory include the clipboard and DDE conversations, so if you receive a message that there is not enough memory for a clipboard transfer, it's because the large page frame has reduced the amount of free non-bankable memory to a point where the clipboard cannot hold that much data. Why go to all this trouble to access applications residing in expanded memory? Performance. Large Page Frame mode offers a way to retain more applications in memory (RAM) than would normally be possible; that is, you will not have to retrieve an application from disk every time you want to use it. The net result is that you will have faster access to more applications than you would ordinarily. Anytime you can reduce disk access requirements and thus retrieval time, you will see performance benefits. Large Page Frame mode will typically only cause problems when an EMS-aware Windows application such as Excel has been run prior to Ami or Ami Professional and memory has run out. If Excel has allocated a specific amount of memory, there may not be enough memory to load Ami Professional. ---------- Small Page Frame Mode ---------- Small page frame mode only swaps smaller portions of the data and code from applications, and hence doesn't experience the same difficulties as Large Page Frame mode. Depending on a number of system factors, Windows may not utilize expanded memory as efficiently as it could. Because Windows is competing with other Windows applications for this expanded memory, you may find that you will experience an out of memory condition when trying to perform a function. SAMNA recommends starting Windows in small page frame mode for optimal performance. You can use the /N switch to start Windows in Small Page Frame mode. At the C:\>> prompt, type WIN /N AMIPRO or WIN386 /N AMIPRO or AMIPRO /N depending upon what version of Windows you have. The recommended way to setup Windows is to load the HIMEM.SYS(XMS) driver and start Windows with the /N switch. You can also use the /L switch to put Windows into small page frame mode. The /L switch is used to reserve more memory in the non-bankable area. This also means that you are decreasing the size of the bankable (large page frame) area. When the size of the LPF is reduced to a certain size, Windows won't have enough memory to run in large page frame mode. The /L switch is much more dependant on system factors than /N. If you wish to use large page frame mode, but find that you need more reserved memory for clipboard transfers or screen fonts, you may want to experiment with the /L switch. /L + 75 is where you should start when you begin to optimize your system. Typically, you'll use a value between 20 and 100, but it is completely system dependent.<:A1> ---------- LIMulators ---------- Expanded memory is typically added to a system by installing a board and its software device driver. There have been attempts to emulate expanded memory in software on 80286's (ATs). Most of these "LIMulators" attempt to emulate expanded memory using extended memory or hard disk space. Because of the hardware components of the EMS standard, LIMulators for 286's sometimes have compatibility problems. The 80386, by contrast, has memory management capabilities that permit programmers to write special (protected mode) device drivers that essentially change all or a portion of extended memory into expanded memory. These device drivers emulate LIM 3.2 or LIM 4.0 and are typically about as efficient as expanded memory requiring special hardware on the AT. There is a LIMulator built into Windows/386 which changes all of the extended memory into expanded memory. Note that some LIMulators are not compatible with HIMEM.SYS (XMS) or Windows/386. --------------- Extended Memory --------------- Extended memory is memory above 1MB. This can only be accessed through the protected mode of the 80286 and 80386 microprocessors. The most important distinguishing characteristic between expanded and extended memory is that programs that run in real mode cannot directly access extended memory. Protected Mode. Protected mode is used by the 80286 and 80386 and allows access to more memory and functions. When the processor is switched to protected mode, the system can control the operation of multiple programs in memory and shift more easily from one task to another. These processors can also run the same programs as the 8088 and 8086 processors if they run in real mode. The primary benefit of having extended memory on a PC running in the real mode of DOS is its use as a "RAM DRIVE" or in the case of Windows, for SMARTDrive. A RAM drive is a portion of extended/expanded memory that acts just as if it were a disk and SMARTDrive is an "intelligent" disk caching utility. See the RAMDrive and SMARTDrive section. ----------------------------------- eXtended Memory Specification (XMS) ----------------------------------- One of the first programs to access extended memory under DOS was the RAM disk device driver included with DOS, VDISK.SYS. Note that the XMS scheme described below is incompatible with VDISK.SYS. The eXtended Memory Specification(XMS) defines a software interface for the 80286 and 80386 that allows real mode application programs to use extended memory. The first implementation of the XMS standard is HIMEM.SYS with Windows 2.1. Running under DOS, the AT(80286) and the 80386 can actually address the first 64K of extended memory past 1 megabyte. This area is known as the High Memory Area, HMA. When Windows 2.1/2.11 loads part of itself into the HMA region, it leaves about 45K more memory for Windows applications and/or the Windows "bankable area." When you install Windows/286 and specify that you have extended memory, a special version of Windows loads to the hard disk. If you ever see the message, "Your memory configuration has changed..." when you start Windows, this means that at one time you had the XMS support version installed and then deleted HIMEM.SYS or removed it from the CONFIG.SYS file. To correct this, you must reinstall Windows or put the DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS line back in the CONFIG.SYS file. You may also get the "memory configuration changed" message if you have a RAMDrive or LIMulator that is not compatible with XMS. One such driver is the RAM disk device driver, VDISK.SYS as noted above.<:A2> ----------------------- RAMDrive and SMARTDrive ----------------------- Disk cache and RAM disk software are designed to reduce time consuming disk access. Windows includes approved software utilities for enabling a disk cache or a ram drive: SMARTDRV.SYS for disk caching and RAMDRIVE.SYS for RAM disks. ---------- RAM Drives ---------- RAMDrive is a program that creates a disk in memory. Since memory is much faster than a hard drive, using a ram drive to hold a program or a portion of a program will significantly decrease the time it takes for that program to load additional pieces of its code. You reference files on a RAM disk just like any other disk. The most practical use for a RAMDrive is to store temporary files. Temporary files are used by some applications such as Ami Professional and Windows itself to hold information that can not be stored in memory. These temporary files are typically deleted from your drive as soon as Windows is exited. The RAMDRIVE.SYS driver include with Windows specifically meets the unique requirements of the Windows environment. RAMDRIVE.SYS is compatible with the XMS standard and hence is the only RAM disk driver that you should use with Windows. You need to remember three things if you use RAMDrive. First, you must store Ami Professional documents to disk, not in the RAM drive. Information written to disk is permanent; information written to RAM lasts only as long as the system has power. If you lose power or need to reboot, the information is lost. Second, if you load an application into the RAM drive with a batch file at startup, you must know what application to load for a particular user. If you don't load an application into the RAM drive, you will see no particular performance benefits. Third, the area set aside for a RAM drive is finite. You can only load as many applications as you have room for. Setting up a RAM drive. If you want to set up a RAM drive on your system, you must include a line for the RAMDRIVE.SYS file in your CONFIG.SYS file. The command would begin by telling DOS that you wish to load a device driver. Begin the command with: Device= Then tell DOS exactly where to load RAMDRIVE.SYS followed by the size(Kilobytes) followed by the sector size (use 512K) followed by the maximum number of directory entries (use 64) and finally the type of memory(expanded or extended). A sample command would look like: device=c:\dos\ramdrive.sys 1152 512 64 /a This command line tells RAMDrive to create a 1152 KB RAM disk in expanded memory, if you want to use extended memory use /e. If you use expanded memory you must load the EMM driver before RAMDRIVE.SYS. To setup RAMDRIVE for use with temporary files Setup RAMDRIVE.SYS as specified above, and then add the following line to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file: TEMP = {Drive letter created by RAMDRIVE}:\ ---------- SMARTDrive ---------- Windows provides an answer to the disadvantages of RAM drives with a utility called SMARTDrive. SMARTDrive is an intelligent "disk caching" utility. SMARTDrive, like RAMDrive, uses a portion of memory(expanded or extended) to improve disk access performance. Unlike RAMDrive, SMARTDrive requires no action (such as specifying which applications will use SMARTDrive) on your part to obtain improved performance. Whenever a Windows application, such as Ami Professional reads or writes information to disk, that information also gets stored into the memory set aside for SMARTDrive. Rather than automatically going to the disk the next time the application requires information, it looks at SMARTDrive to see if the information is there. If the information is there, SMARTDrive provides it. If not, it looks to disk. Typically, programs access the same information repeatedly, so chances are very good that the information is resident in SMARTDrive. When the application performs a write operation, it writes information to both the SMARTDrive cache and the physical disk. SMARTDrive offers the same basic performance benefits as a RAM drive, but does not require advance knowledge of what applications you want to run. Also, since SMARTDrive will discard contents that haven't been used for a while to make room for new information, this resource is not finite like a RAM drive. Installing SMARTDrive. To install SMARTDrive, you must add a line to your CONFIG.SYS. You would begin the command by telling DOS that you wish to install a device driver. Begin the command line with: device= Then tell DOS where to load SMARTDRV.SYS and how many kilobytes to allocate in expanded or extended memory. A sample command would look like: device=c:\SMARTDRV.SYS 512 /a This command tells SMARTDrive to allocate 512k in expanded memory, if you want to use extended memory, don't include the /a. The directory and path, c:\ indicate that SMARTDrive file will be stored in the root directory. If you use expanded memory, you must load the EMM driver first, and it is recommended that you set buffers to 10 in the CONFIG.SYS file. If Windows is running low on memory, it can also dynamically re-allocate the area of memory reserved by SMARTDrive. The way Windows applications use memory allows them to be larger than the available conventional memory area. Different program segments can be loaded and reloaded on top of each other as they are needed. The main EXE file, for example, AMIPRO.EXE, is composed of modules which retain their separate identity. Even though these modules are linked, they can be loaded in memory independently. The advantage is that any part of the program not needed can reside on disk until it is requested. Since the separate modules of the program are swapped so frequently, it is easy to see why the use SMARTDrive can substantially improve performance. ------------------------------ Windows Specific Memory Issues ------------------------------ ---------- Windows on the 386 ---------- Deciding how to set up Windows with the 80386 has a lot to do with the kind of applications you will be running. ---------- Virtual Mode and DOS Applications ---------- The 80386 allows multi-tasking for both standard DOS applications and Windows applications. However, these multitasking capabilities are achieved differently for DOS applications and Windows applications. The 386 microprocessor provides a special mode of operation called "the virtual 8086" mode. The virtual mode allows a single 80386 machine to contain as many DOS sessions as memory will allow, each of which runs in its own "Virtual Machine," or VM. Windows/386 takes advantage of the "virtual 8086" mode of the 80386 microprocessor and provides you with an environment which will allow you to switch between DOS applications. You will be able to work with several "virtual machines" which can each run a separate DOS program. Windows/386 runs each old application (i.e. Lotus 1-2-3, dBase III, SAMNA Word IV, etc...) in its own VM. By contrast, Windows and Windows applications automatically run in the same virtual machine meaning that they all must fit into the same 640K as all other Windows applications. Thanks to EMS 4.0 and the way Windows applications are segmented this isn't as big a problem as it sounds--the main drawback is still that there's only one Windows shareable area. Windows/386 emulates EMS (expanded memory specification) by turning extended memory into expanded memory. It has a built-in EMS 4.0 LIMulator that is compatible with the XMS standard. The overhead of the virtual machine manager extracts about a 5% performance penalty on both Windows and non-Windows applications. It also requires about 200K of extended memory when you start Windows. -------------------------- Strategies for Windows/386 -------------------------- There are a few things you need to consider when you use Windows/386. * You must have at least 2 MB of RAM and preferably 4 or more to run Windows/386. * Windows/386 will co-exist with other expanded memory systems and will be available for applications to use outside the 386 environment as well. However, separately controlled EMS will not be used by Windows/386. * If you already have an EMS board, set up the board to use extended memory if you want to enhance the performance of Windows/386. * The LIMulator in Windows/386 is incompatible with all other LIMulators except for CEMM.SYS from Compaq. If you use another LIMulator you must edit your CONFIG.SYS file and reboot before you use Windows/386, and repeat the process after you leave Windows/386. * Use the SMARTDrive software which comes with Windows/386. --------------------------- Windows/286 vs. Windows/386 --------------------------- You may find that you would be better off using Windows/286 with your 80386 machine. The choice between Windows/286 and Windows/386 should depend on your application and usage requirements. Windows/386 is best for running multiple DOS applications. If you need to run multiple large Windows applications, especially when your memory configuration is tight due to network drivers, TSRs, etc. Windows/286 in conjunction with a LIMulator such as 386Max from Qualitas may provide the best environment. You can prevent Windows/386 from using large page frame mode and thus make more memory available under the 640K line by starting Windows/386 with the command WIN386 /N AMIPRO. ------------------------------ Memory Optimization Strategies ------------------------------ ---------- General Rules ---------- There are a number general rules which will help you optimize your Windows setup. These include setting up SMARTDrive and RAMDRIVE, loading HIMEM.SYS, and configuring the WIN.INI file for optimal performance. Of course, all of these points do require that you have some type of Expanded or Extended memory available. Below is a list of the basic rules: * If Extended memory is available, load HIMEM.SYS. This will enable you to have an extra 45-50K free in the conventional memory area. * Memory permitting, use up to 1MB for SMARTDrive. Use Expanded memory if Expanded and Extended are both available. Expanded memory is much faster than Extended memory. * If you have enough RAM, use 2MB(or more) for a Ram Drive, and set it up so that it can store temporary files (see the RAMDrive section.) A 2MB Ram Drive is realistically the minimum that should be allocated for temporary space. With less than 2MB to hold temporary files, you could get the message "Not enough space on temp drive." This means that there is not enough space available for an operation and will require that you exit Windows before attempting the operation again. Those are the basics of optimizing Windows. There are a number of other factors which will affect the speed at which Windows runs. These include: Video Adapter Type(the lower the resolution and fewer colors available, the faster the video adapter will operate), hard disk access time(Windows and Ami Professional are both disk intensive), CPU speed(the faster the clock rate of the PC, the faster any application will run), and finally, memory setup(Expanded memory is much faster than Extended memory.) Below are some tips for the various versions of Windows: ---------- Single Application (SAE) Windows ---------- Optimizing your Ami or Ami Professional package is similar no matter what version of Windows you are running. The only note for SAE users is to start Windows in small page frame mode. Since you won't be using multiple applications, using small page frame mode will reserve all available memory for Ami Professional. Type AMIPRO /N to start SAE Windows in small page frame mode. ---------- Windows/286 and Multiple Applications ---------- Setting up Windows/286 for multiple applications is a little different than setting it up for one application. You may need to use the /L switch so that more memory is allocated for Windows functions such as the clipboard and DDE conversations.(See Small Page Frame section) The following points are where you should start in optimizing your setup. * Use up to 1MB for SMARTDrive, use extended memory if expanded and extended are both available. Although Expanded memory is faster, use the extended memory first. Since LIM EMS 4.0 expanded memory is used by Windows to swap applications, the more expanded memory that is available (both in EMS and in the bankable area) the more applications you can run at one time. * Remove as many device drivers and TSR's(ram resident applications) as possible so that Windows will have the largest possible bankable area. * Leave all remaining EMS memory for application swapping. ---------- Windows/386 ---------- Windows/386 is a very special case when attempting to optimize the Windows environment. Since Windows/386 runs only on 80386 based PCs with at least 2MB of RAM, just setting up the options as we did above, would not take full advantage of the power of Windows/386. SAMNA does recommend setting up an area of memory for SMARTDrive: between 512K and 1MB depending on your exact memory configuration. There isn't a HIMEM.SYS driver for Windows/386 since it uses extended memory anyway, however, there are a few options to start Windows/386 that may have very profound effects on the way Ami and Ami Professional operate. ----------------- Large Page Frames ----------------- Windows/386 will attempt to use what is called a large page frame if there is enough bankable memory available. Page frame mode looks for bankable space to electronically reposition expanded memory into the microprocessor address range. The expanded memory is divided into blocks called pages and these are swapped into or out of an area of main storage called the page frame. This page frame effectively becomes a window that can look into various blocks of expanded memory. However, there are some constraints on which determine whether Windows uses large page frame mode. They are: * A bank area in the bankable memory region must be at least 48 KB in size. * The entire availability of memory in the bank region must be at least 280 KB in size. Large page frame mode lets Windows/386 bank out larger applications or larger portions of applications than small page frame mode. ------------------ Real Multi-Tasking ------------------ There are two ways to start Windows/386. The first is the normal way which enables the "Virtual 8086 Mode" of the 80386 chip and provides real multi-tasking between applications. This method is achieved by typing WIN386 to start Windows/386. The second way starts Windows/386 running as a 286. This method requires that you type WIN86 to start it. There are advantages and disadvantages to each mode: WIN386--Starts Windows/386 in "Virtual 8086" mode, supports real multi-tasking. This is suggested for use with "old apps." WIN86--Starts Windows/386 in 286 mode, runs faster than Windows/386 in native mode, does not support real multi-tasking, suggested for use with Windows applications. The only other setup option that affects Windows/386 is the /N switch. This switch starts Windows/386 in small page frame mode. SAMNA recommends that you start Windows/386 in this mode. ---------- Conclusion ---------- We hope that this document has helped shed some light on the topic of memory and it's usage. As you can see from reading this text, optimizing your memory setup may require some testing with your current hardware. If you should have any further questions regarding how memory works and what first steps you should take to optimize your configuration, please contact SAMNA Customer Support at (404) 256-2272.