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- ID:LH LOADHI.SYS and LOADHI.COM
- Quarterdeck Technical Note #138
- by Joe Wilder
-
- This Technical Note was written before QEMM 5.0 was released. QEMM
- 5 has new features such as OPTIMIZE that make this information less
- necessary. OPTIMIZE will LOADHI TSR's and Device Drivers in the
- most "Optimal" way, sometimes testing millions of different
- scenarios. In addition, the new LOADHI programs are more powerful
- than the old, have new parameters for determining the size of a
- particular TSR or Device Driver, and can locate these items in
- "High Memory" with greater specificity. Nevertheless, the
- information that follows can certainly be of use in helping to
- understand QEMM's LOADHI systems.
-
- The LOADHI programs are used to run resident programs and drivers
- in the memory area between 640K and 1024K. This area is normally
- reserved for hardware devices such as video cards, system ROM and
- Network Adapters. The more devices you have, i.e. the more
- reserved memory you have used, the less there will be available for
- using LOADHI to load programs.
-
- LOADHI comes in two forms:
-
- 1-LOADHI.COM is used to load resident programs high in the
- AUTOEXEC.BAT or from the DOS prompt. For example to load MOUSE.COM
- high you would enter "LOADHI MOUSE.COM" from the DOS prompt or in
- the AUTOEXEC.BAT.
-
- 2-LOADHI.SYS is used to load programs high from the CONFIG.SYS.
- For example to load ANSI.SYS high you would put a line in the
- CONFIG.SYS that says "DEVICE=LOADHI.SYS ANSI.SYS".
-
- Many new DESQview users assume that LOADHI can load TSR's and
- device drivers into extended or expanded memory. This is not the
- case. The only place these programs can be loaded is in free and
- contiguous areas in the memory area from 640K to 1024K. Since a
- 64K page frame also must be installed somewhere in this area, the
- available reserved is usually fragmented into several segments.
-
- All programs must be loaded into contiguous memory. Because of
- this, you will probably have more luck loading smaller TSR's than
- large ones. This varies from computer to computer and also depends
- on the devices installed on the particular computer. The LOADHI
- program always uses the largest area available first. For network
- drivers this may not be desirable. For instance, Novell, which
- uses two programs, likes to have its smaller program loaded first.
- To load the smaller program first into the smaller of two areas use
- LOADHI redundantly. Example; "LOADHI LOADHI IPX". The first copy
- of LOADHI loads another copy of LOADHI into the first (and larger)
- memory area available. The second copy of LOADHI then loads IPX
- into the next largest area available. Each time LOADHI gets used
- it erases itself from memory. At this point IPX is loaded into the
- smaller of the two areas. The larger is now again fully available.
- Using a single LOADHI to load NET3 (the second and the larger of
- the Novell programs) will put it in the larger memory area. Typing
- LOADHI at the DOS prompt reveals areas available for loading high.
-
- The RAM parameter to QEMM.SYS must be invoked in order to use
- LOADHI programs. This attaches some expanded memory to the unused
- addresses in the reserved memory area. Once the RAM is available,
- programs can be loaded there with LOADHI. Using the RAM parameter
- to QEMM.SYS prevents QEMM from being turned off.
-
- When using QEMM386 with DESQview there is one other thing to
- consider. DESQview has the capability of running most of its own
- code in the reserved memory area. You don't have to use the RAM
- parameter with QEMM to get this feature. XDV will map expanded
- memory onto the available addresses all by itself. It will then
- run DESQview in that memory.
-
- DESQview can use as much as 140K of reserved memory. Loading high
- too many resident programs and drivers before going into DESQview
- may cause DESQview to load more of itself into the lower 640K,
- resulting in no gain for the largest available window size in
- DESQview. If you are running DESQview, it is therefore a good idea
- to avoid loading "Pop-up" type TSR's before DESQview at all (using
- LOADHI or not) and install them instead in DESQview windows, where
- their overhead to lower memory can be completely overcome.
-
- Copyright (C) 1991 by Quarterdeck Office Systems
- * * * E N D O F F I L E * * *