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- ID:CT QRAM and C&T NEAT Chip Set
- Quarterdeck Technical Note #146
- by Daniel Travison
-
- This technical note discusses a very specific configuration, systems
- implementing the NEAT Chip Set and an EMS driver that does not provide
- mappable areas other than the page frame. Typically, QRAM is placed in
- your CONFIG.SYS file on a line AFTER your EMS driver. When the system is
- rebooted, QRAM reports "Nothing useful to do." On a system that contains
- the NEAT Chip set, QRAM can use the system's shadow RAM feature to provide
- High Ram. The objective is to allow QRAM to use the Shadow RAM provided by
- the NEAT Chip Set while allowing the EMS driver to provide expanded memory
- with a page frame. The key to making this setup work is to have QRAM
- exclude the area the EMS driver uses for the page frame and also load QRAM
- BEFORE the EMS driver.
-
- STEP 1: Boot your system with your EMS driver in your CONFIG.SYS file.
-
- STEP 2: Run Manifest (MFT.EXE) and display the First-Meg/Overview screen.
- You will see something similar to the following map:
-
- Memory Area Size Description
-
- 0000 - 003F 1K Interrupt Area
- 0040 - 004F 0.3K BIOS Data Area
- 0050 - 006F 0.5K System Data
- 0070 - 0B7C 44K DOS
- 0B7D - 21AF 88K Program Area
- 21B0 - 9FFF 506K [Available]
- ═══Conventional memory ends at 640K════
- A000 - AFFF 64K VGA Graphics
- B000 - B7FF 32K Unused
- B800 - BFFF 32K VGA Text
- C000 - C7FF 32K Video ROM
- C800 - D000 32K Unused
- --->D000 - DFFF 64K Page Frame <--- Page Frame address
- E000 - EFFF 64k Unused
- F000 - FFFF 64K System ROM
-
- NOTE: Manifest is located in the directory where QRAM is installed.
- Manifest is started by typing MFT.
-
- STEP 3: Locate the entry for the page frame. If you do not see it, you may
- not have your EMS driver installed in your system. Refer to the
- documentation that came with the system for information on installing the
- EMS driver. Most EMS drivers have the letters EMM or EMS in their file
- name.
-
- STEP 4: Record the starting and ending address of the page frame. For
- example: The memory map above shows the page frame starting at D000 and
- ending at DFFF. Your system may have the page frame using some other
- address range. This is the address range you will need to have QRAM
- exclude.
-
- STEP 5: This step involves editing your CONFIG.SYS file. You can use any
- editor of your choice as long as it is capable of saving files in an ASCII
- format. Many word processors also have this capability. The documentation
- may refer to them as TEXT, ASCII, or NON-DOCUMENT files. If you are not
- sure, or do not have an editor or word processor, read the chapter in your
- DOS manual on using EDLIN. This editor is provided with DOS and can be
- used to edit the CONFIG.SYS file. Your CONFIG.SYS file will be located in
- the root directory of the drive the system boots from.
-
- a: Determine where the QRAM.SYS file is located. The install program
- will place it in the C:\QRAM unless you specified something else.
-
- b: Add a device statement for QRAM in your CONFIG.SYS file. This must
- be placed on a line BEFORE your EMS driver. The device statement
- will need an EXCLUDE parameter to tell QRAM not to use the area the
- EMS driver needs for the page frame. (refer to your Manifest
- First-Meg/Overview screen for the page frame addresses).
-
- For example: if QRAM is installed in the C:\QRAM subdirectory and
- the page frame is using the address range D000-DFFF as shown above,
- your vice statement for QRAM will look like the following:
- DEVICE=C:\QRAM\QRAM.SYS EXCLUDE=D000-DFFF
-
- c: Reboot the computer and watch for the QRAM sign-on display. If
- QRAM is successful, it will report the areas of High RAM it
- creates. You may now run OPTIMIZE to get your resident programs
- and drivers loaded into the high RAM.
-
- NOTES: This may also be useful for systems with the NEAT Chip Set and EMS
- drivers that DO provide mappable areas other than the page frame. To
- determine if you will benefit, perform the steps above and run Manifest
- when complete. You may find this approach allows QRAM to create more High
- RAM areas using shadow ram.
-
- Copyright (C) 1991 by Quarterdeck Office Systems
- * * * E N D O F F I L E * * *