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- ANESTHESIA v1.01x Page 1
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- Authored By: Psycho Bob & Helix Dread.
- Of: B-Ware Software Authors.
- "The Software Gods"
-
- Command Line Syntax:
-
- C:\>ANESTZIA xxxx ═════>Where 'xxxx' is an integer between 0-999 and is the
- ╚══════════>delay (in milliseconds) between memory refreshes.
- ╔══╗
- ║OR║
- ╚══╝
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- C:\>ANESTZIA ═══════>To use interactive version in determining optimum
- memory refresh rate before putting command-line
- ANESTZIA xxxx in AUTOEXEC.BAT.
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- Pages 2-5 contain background information on program theory and proper
- setup procedures to make ANESTZIA a users best friend.
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- ANESTHESIA v1.01x Page 2
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- "Let us not forget our shareware obligations;
- That Microsoft shalt not haveth Monopoly."
- - The Book of Bob
-
-
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- ANESTHESIA is distributed under the 'Shareware Concept', if you enjoy
- the performance benfits (especially in software disk cacheing transfer rate)
- this program offers or if this program has allowed a computer with those
- pesky "Parity Errors" to function reliably, B-Ware Software asks that a
- check, Money Order, or Cash price of whatever you feel comfortable with (No
- donation is too large) be forwarded to the following address to assure that
- B-Ware Software will continue their line of utilities and Door Games:
-
-
- B-Ware Software
- 123F Loblolly Ct.
- Oldsmar, FL 34677
-
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- Make Checks and M.O.'s payable to Brian Isles.
-
-
- If you do not think this utility is helpful to you, or just plain don't
- want to pay, you are still encouraged to give copies of this program (in
- whole) to anyone who could use it and upload it to a BBS or three.
-
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- Thank You for Using Our Product!!!!
-
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- If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to drop us a
- letter or postcard whether you have registered the product or not.
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- Startlingly,
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- Helix Dread & Psycho Bob
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- ANESTHESIA v1.01x Page 3
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- THEORY AND SCOPE:
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- As you probably know, much of a computer's time is spent "housekeeping".
- In fact, entirely too much time for impatient (read normal) computer users.
- Basically, more computing speed is something everyone is after, and ANES-
- THESIA will help you reduce housekeeping to a bare minimum. Although IBM
- clones vary greatly, every 15 milliseconds (15ms.) a chip known as the memory
- refresh timer/controller re-writes your computers memory because the memory
- chips "forget" what was written to them every 800 or so milleseconds. As you
- can see, the refresh rate is extremely conservative. Although the delay time
- between refreshes is hardware controlled, whether by discrete logic or chip
- set (NEAT,ZyMOS,C&T,etc.) writing directly to certain hardware registers will
- change the refresh rate until the next warm boot.
-
- The reason this utility was named "ANESTHESIA" is because when the
- refresh delay period is set too long, vital areas of your RAM will "forget"
- what values were held. "Vital" Areas include the heap, DOS stack(s),
- Interrupt Vector Table, DOS Kernel, etc..ad infinitum. The only way to
- determine an optimum (fast and safe) refresh rate is through trial and error.
- You will need the program "ANESTZIA.COM" in addition to some kind of bench-
- mark test. Reccommended benchmarks are CPU.EXE, Landmark CPU Speed Test, PC
- Labs Benchmarks, and Norton Si. The biggest improvements show up in a soft-
- ware disk cacheing program such as PC-KWIK or PC-CACHE. A utility such as
- the Core Hard Disk Test's transfer rate test will bear this out. Screen
- display speed will also benefit, but not as much as cacheing or memory to
- memory operations.
-
- Usual gains (again stressing that both extremes abound) appear to be at
- least a gain of .4 on Norton SI, 35% on PC-Tools System Info XT Speed
- comparison, 2-6 XT MHz on CPU.EXE, and .6 AT MHz on the Landmark rating. The
- faster computers (>10 MHz) will show more improvement than slower computers.
- ANESTHESIA will still improve reliable performance on a 4.77 MHz XT.
- ANESTHESIA will run on all "100%" or "nearly 100%" XT, AT, 80386, and 80486
- computers, it is not a TSR, and no memory overhead is required.
-
- No matter what machines we own, we all (once again, normal people) feel
- that more speed never hurts unless it decreases reliability. Even if
- performance gains are not "visible" or don't amount to much, the fact is
- (after proper installation of ANESTHESIA) that your machine is now faster
- than it was. The faster your computer already is, the more performance you
- stand to gain.
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- ANESTHESIA v1.01x Page 4
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- PROPER INSTALLATION:
-
- ANESTHESIA is a two part utillity. The non command line mode of oppera-
- tion should be used as detailed in the following:
-
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- Select a Bench-mark test that you feel comfortable with.
-
- Execute the Bench-mark and record results pertaining to system speed in mhz
- or percentages against a fixed refernce.
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- With the machine ready at the DOS prompt and "ANESTZIA.COM" in the current
- directory or on the path ,type "ANESTZIA".
-
- Change refresh rate to 30 and strike the enter key.
- The utillity will termanate and tell you that the current refresh rate is
- 30ms.
-
- Re-execute the same Bench-mark usen in step one, if no parity errors occur
- and if gains in performance are not visible re- execute "ANESTZIA" and raise
- the refresh rate by 30 ms.
-
- After a certain delay value is reached the system will exhibit memory parity
- errors and or system crashes. The memory chips in your computer CANNOT be
- harmed by this utility. There will be a certain 'plateau' where raise
- the delay value will cease to bring about a performance increase. Find a
- value below the point of memory parity errors which is as large as possible.
-
- When an optimum value has been found to be both safe,enter the following line
- in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
-
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- ANESTZIA xxx
-
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- Where xxx is the optimum value and the program ANESTZIA.COM is in the current
- sub-directory or in the path.
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- ANESTHESIA v1.01x Page 5
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- AS A REAMDY FOR DEFECTIVE MEMORY CHIPS:
-
- Perhaps ANESTHESIA'S most usefull feature is that it will allow oper-
- ation of a computer with failing memory chips whithout the system halting
- because of memory parity errors.
-
- What is happing in these cases is that the chips are "forgeting" what is
- stored on them before the 15ms standered refresh delay. To alleviate this
- problem, the refresh delay time souhld be lowered to a value between 7 and 12
- Which will cause the chips to be refreshed before any stored values are
- "forgotten" assuming the problem is not so severe as to preclude loading the
- utility.
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-
- Credits:
-
- Brian Isles IS Psycho Bob
- Emmanuel Koutsourais IS Helix Dread
-
- PC-Kwik is a Trademark of Multisoft, Inc.
- Norton and SI are Trademarks of Norton Computing, Inc.
- Landmark is a registered Trademark of Landmark Computing.
- XT/AT and PC-DOS are Trademarks of IBM.
- Coretest is a trademark of CORE International.
- PC-Shell and PC-TOOLS are trademarks of Central Point Software.
- PC-Labs Benchmarks are Distributed By PC-Magazine Labs.
-
- Long Live John Dvorak.