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Tame Release 2.6 Multi-tasking Enhancement Software (C) 1988-1991 by PowerSoft, Inc. and David G. Thomas Table of Contents Tame Users Guide .............................................. 1 Abstract ................................................... 1 Shareware Notice: .......................................... 1 Disclaimer ................................................. 1 Why do you need Tame? ...................................... 2 How does Tame work? ........................................ 2 Applications that definitely NEED Tame ..................... 3 Seeing if your applications need Tame ...................... 3 Running Tame ............................................... 4 If your program runs slower with Tame ...................... 5 If your program is not being Tamed ......................... 6 Placing Tame in a batch file ............................... 6 Using Tame with other multi-taskers ........................ 6 Advanced Tame concepts ..................................... 7 Setting the frequency value ................................ 9 Setting default options .................................... 10 Applications that are DESQview-aware ....................... 10 The Tame status ............................................ 12 Tame Command Reference ........................................ 14 Task switching options ..................................... 14 Fine tuning for an application ............................. 16 Other options .............................................. 20 Multi-tasking Specifics ....................................... 22 DESQview ................................................... 22 Double Dos ................................................. 22 Omniview ................................................... 22 Topview .................................................... 22 VM/386 ..................................................... 22 Windows 3.0 and Windows/386 ................................ 22 Application Specifics ......................................... 23 Installing Tame Upgrades ...................................... 25 Appendix ...................................................... 26 Appendix A Common Questions ............................... 26 Tame Users Guide Release 2.6 Copyright 1988-1991 by PowerSoft, Inc. and David G. Thomas Abstract If you run programs under a multi-tasking environment, such as DESQview, you may have noticed that some programs slow down the whole system, even when they seem to be doing nothing but waiting for you to type something. When I first encountered this, I accepted it as a part of the price of multi-tasking. TAME proves that you need not pay that price. TAME reduces significantly the overhead of many programs without hindering their performance. Tame works in any MS-DOS based multi-tasking environment. It contains special hooks for use under DESQview, Double Dos, Omniview, VM/386 and Windows 3.0. It may work with other multi-taskers as well. If you use it with another multi-tasker, please let me know whether it helps. Shareware Notice: This copyrighted material may be distributed freely for evaluation. It is not free, however. The decision to keep the program after an evaluation period of 30 days is a decision to buy the program for $20.00 from the author. For that registration fee you will receive a registered copy of the latest version of the program with some more features enabled, a printed manual, and a right to use all future versions of TAME. Please send payment to: David G. Thomas c/o PowerSoft, Inc. P.O. Box 956338 Duluth, GA 30136 You may address questions and comments to the author at the PowerSoft BBS, (404) 928-9294. The latest release of Tame is posted there. Registered users may register each new version of Tame using a utility program provided with the registration kit. Disclaimer As with all shareware, you use TAME at your own risk. Neither PowerSoft, Inc. nor David G. Thomas makes any warranties, express or implied with respect to TAME's merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose, nor is either liable for any harm which may come from the use of TAME. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 1 Why do you need Tame? Tame Users Guide ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Why do you need Tame? A PC-based application is designed to run under DOS. The application acts as if it is the only program that is running in the computer. It spends most of its time waiting on you to tell it what to do next (i.e. it is waiting for you to press a key or move the mouse), and relatively little time carrying out your instructions. While it is waiting on your input, it spends its time checking the various devices that you may use to provide that input. It checks if you have pressed a key. If you are using a mouse, it checks to see if the mouse has been moved. Then it checks again for a key, and the cycle continues. This is called polling, and it continues until you actually do something it is waiting for. In just a few seconds between pressing keys, the application may poll the keyboard hundreds of times. All this activity uses a lot of processing time, but it is really not wasteful under plain old DOS. After all, there is only one program in memory, and the central processing unit (CPU) has nothing better to do anyway. But when you are multi-tasking, keyboard polling wastes processing cycles. The CPU could be more usefully applied to other tasks that are actively working (printing, spell-checking, etc...). This is especially true if a program is polling the keyboard in the background while you are trying to work in the foreground. The system feels (and is) much slower than if the background program were not there. This is where Tame can help. If your background program were Tamed, it would not be allowed to affect your performance while polling the keyboard. Tame detects that it is polling, and instructs the multi-tasker to move on to other tasks that may be more actively working. You may configure Tame to go so far as to instruct the multi-tasker not to waste any more time on a background task until it is brought into the foreground. Other Tame options may be used to help it correctly identify and deal with programs that are wasting your CPU by polling the keyboard. How does Tame work? Tame works by monitoring what a program does. When the program is not doing anything except polling the keyboard, Tame notices. After enough polls, Tame can see that the program is wasting time and tells the multi-tasker to move on to the next task. Eventually, the multi-tasker will come back to this task. At this point, Tame will be less patient than before, and switch tasks as soon as the program starts polling again. When the program does something active, like processing keyboard input, performing disk I/O or changing the video screen, Tame takes ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 2 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Users Guide Applications that definitely NEED Tame ---------------------------------------------------------------------- note that it is active, and boosts its priority for about a tenth of a second. This will prevent Tame from causing a task switch during that period of time. Applications that definitely NEED Tame The following applications will continually poll the keyboard, waiting for you to press a key. Tame has been proven to significantly reduce the overhead on all these applications. For each application listed here, there are probably 100 more that need Tame! See the end of this document for special options that may be desirable with these programs. Brief, by solution Systems EM4105 Epsilon Harvard Graphics Kedit, by Mansfield Computing Lucid 3D, by PCSG Lotus 123, by Lotus Development Corp. Lotus Agenda, by Lotus Development Corp. Lotus Manuscript, by Lotus Development Corp. Microsoft editor, by Microsoft Norton Commander, by Peter Norton Computing PCBOARD, by Clark Development Company, Inc. Plan Perfect by Word Perfect Corp. Sidetalk, by Lattice Telix by Exis Inc. Tornado Notes by Micro Logic Corp Wildcat BBS Systems Word Perfect, by Word Perfect Corp. Word Perfect File Manager ZCOMM, by Omen Technology Seeing if your applications need Tame Any program that uses CPU cycles looking for keyboard input needs Tame. The best way to see if a program does this is to run a simple test. You should test all your favorite programs that you spend time entering data with. This includes programs such as word processors, spreadsheets, editors, and DOS shells. One way to see if a program needs tame is to use Tame to run the program, and see what happens. You may evaluate whether or not Tame is effective by looking at statistics generated with the Tame command, or you may use one of the many standard CPU benchmarks to test its effectiveness. To test a program with Tame, be sure you are in DESQview or another supported multi-tasking system, and type the following command line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 3 Running Tame Tame Users Guide ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TAME-RES Now, run your program, and work in the program for a little while, then exit normally. Type the following command line to obtain a summary of Tame activity. TAME /STATUS The displayed totals include the number of keyboard polls that the program performed. If this number small or zero, then Tame may not be needed with the application. With some extremely keyboard-hungry programs, the number of keyboard polls can number into the thousands. A second, and more direct way to test the effectiveness of Tame is to run the application without Tame, and simultaneously run tame with the /Geiger option in another task. This is done with the following command. TAME-RES TAME /GEIGER You will hear ticks that indicate how loaded the CPU is. If the ticks slow considerably when you are in the application, it probably needs Tame. If this is the case, run TAME-RES, and re-run the application. The ticks probably do not slow nearly as much as before. This is because Tame keeps your background tasks running at nearly full speed, at least while you are not actively needing the CPU. If you don't trust the Geiger counter that is built into Tame (you may think that I have "loaded the dice"), try a more standard CPU benchmark, such as Norton's System Information (SI) program. To do this, load Tame in one task, then execute your program in that same task. Wait until the application is idle, and waiting for keyboard input. Your program is now being Tamed. Now, switch to another task and run the benchmark program. Try this again without Taming the first program (Either type TAME /OFF or TAME /Uninstall). If the benchmark indicates that the CPU is faster with Tame, then you know it is helping. Also, experiment with which program is in the foreground and which is in the background. This experiment is necessary if you have set the DESQview background task priority to a very low number. In any event, it is informative, since it indicates the amount of processing time that the background can get while you are using that application. Running Tame Tame is run inside a task while running a multi-tasker. Do not run Tame before running the multi-tasker. While no harm will come if you do, it also will not be effective. Tame must be run for each task that is to be tamed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 4 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Users Guide If your program runs slower with Tame ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tame is composed of a resident (TSR) program, and also a controlling program. The resident portion of Tame must be loaded before running the main Tame program. This is done with the TAME-RES command. For example, the following command lines will run Lotus 123 with Tame active. TAME-RES LOTUS If you always want Tame to be used, you may create a batch file (possibly named RUNLOTUS.BAT), with the following command lines. TAME-RES LOTUS A general purpose variation of this batch file comes with Tame, and is named TAME-RUN.BAT. Using the batch file, the following command line will do the same thing as the previous examples. TAME-RUN LOTUS If you normally execute the program with the DESQview "Open Window" menu, you will need to modify the definition of the window. To do this, use the "CP" (for Change Program) option of the "Open Window" menu, and change the Program to TAME-RUN (or your custom batch file) and add what was previously the Program to the beginning of the command line parameters. The TAME-RES command has some of the functionality of the TAME-RUN command built into it, with a few restrictions. It must run a .COM or .EXE file, and the full path name of the program must be specified. For example, the following will Tame Lotus without using a batch file. TAME-RES C:\123\LOTUS.COM A variation of this syntax is available when a "cloned" TAME-RES is being used. In this case, you may preset the Tame options that work best with LOTUS, and automatically invoke LOTUS whenever the cloned copy of TAME-RES is run. If your program runs slower with Tame In some cases, the program may initially run slower (or "feel" choppy) with Tame installed. This is frequently corrected by a few steps that will tune Tame for the application. First, try specifying the /Frequency parameter (described below) to increase the number of polls allowed before Tame tries to switch tasks. Try /Frequency without a value to let Tame estimate its a good value based on the speed of your system. In some cases, changing /Frequency will have little effect if /KeyIdle is also specified. This is the case with most well-behaved programs that issue the keyboard idle interrupt. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 5 If your program is not being Tamed Tame Users Guide ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If the program prints very slowly, try the /PARallel option. This allows Tame to watch the parallel port, and will not invoke a task switch while the port is being used. For example, the following command lines should be used to run Word Perfect. TAME-RES TAME /PARALLEL WP If your program is not being Tamed Sometimes, adding Tame has little or no affect. In most cases, a little tuning can help. Try /Boost:0 to tell tame to not disable itself when it sees activity. If this works, you may also want to try /Boost:2,0. In a few cases, Tame is not capable of helping. But these situations are rare, and if you run into one, please let me know. I will most likely be able to tweak Tame to make it work. Placing Tame in a batch file If you run your application with a batch file, you may like to add Tame to that batch file. The only problem here is the fact that different programs like different Tame options, and also some programs will run other programs using a DOS Shell. Tame has special options for dealing with this situation. The following batch file will run Lotus 123, and will restore the original Tame parameters before exiting. :* It is assumed that TAME-RES :* has already been loaded :* TAME /GETALL:TAME_123 /ON /MAX:3,0 123 TAME %TAME_123% SET TAME_123= Using Tame with other multi-taskers Tame has special hooks to work very effectively with DESQview, Windows, Omniview, VM/386, Double Dos and Topview compatibles. Tame may be used with other multi-tasking environments, but may not be quite as effective. Also, you may need to include a command line option to specify the method that Tame should use to give idle time to the other tasks. The /KeySwitch method will be effective with programs that are polling the keyboard, and are not polling any other devices. It may not be compatible with some applications such as communications programs. The /HaltSwitch option is compatible with most programs, but may not be effective, depending upon the multi-tasking software being used. In either case, run Tame as ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 6 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Users Guide Advanced Tame concepts ---------------------------------------------------------------------- normal, and Tame will default to the /HaltSwitch task switching option. The following command will run Lotus 123 in an environment that is not directly supported. TAME-RES LOTUS If you use a multi-tasker that Tame is not effective with, I would like you to contact me. I need to know some technical data regarding how to detect and control the multi-tasker. If it is feasible, I will add direct support for that multi-tasker to the Tame product. Advanced Tame concepts Tame works by detecting when a program is continually polling the keyboard, and does its best to allow the multi-tasking software to switch to another task. It detects that a program is polling the keyboard after 3 successive keyboard polls that occur within 1/18 of a second, and during that time, the program does not write to the screen or issue any DOS requests. When the application polls the keyboard a fourth consecutive time, Tame checks one last time for a key-press, and if a key was not pressed, it tries to switch the task. This threshold may be increased or decreased using the /FREQUENCY:n,m option, where n is the main threshold. The n parameter specifies how many consecutive polls that may occur in a single PC clock tick before Tame switches tasks. There are 18.2 clock ticks per second, so the "true" frequency is actually 18.2 times the value of n. If n is too low, then Tame will switch tasks while the application really is working. If it is too high then Tame may never switch tasks. Unfortunately, a "one size fits all" value of n is not possible, since it depends largely on the speed of the machine, as well as the software that is being used. A reasonable value for n will be computed by Tame if you specify /Frequency with no parameters. This is done using a very crude formula based on the speed of the CPU. Since the CPU speed measurement can take a few seconds, it is recommended that this feature be used only one time, and an actual value is specified on subsequent runs. The /FREQUENCY option restricts the time period that Tame is allowed to count keyboard polls. This allows Tame to measure the amount of real work that the application is doing, where more polls per clock tick are associated with less actual work being done by the application. In some instances, it may not be appropriate to watch the clock while accumulating keyboard polls. This is the method that Tame used prior to release 2.2, and is very effective in many instances. It also happens to be much more easily tuned, since the values do not normally ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 7 Advanced Tame concepts Tame Users Guide ---------------------------------------------------------------------- depend on the speed of the machine. This may be done by specifying /MAX:n,m option, where n is the main threshold. If n or m is much too low, then Tame will switch tasks while the application really is working. If it is too high then Tame will not switch tasks until long after the program has settled into a polling pattern, reducing the effectiveness of Tame for a brief period after each key is pressed. Since most programs are capable of polling 100 to 300 times per second, these parameters indirectly correspond to an "idle time limit" that is enforced by Tame. After Tame detects excessive keyboard polling, a second threshold is used. This threshold is normally much smaller than the initial threshold, and defaults to 2. In effect, Tame will allow 3 keyboard polls, switch tasks, and then switch tasks on every third successive keyboard poll until a key is pressed, or the program does something besides poll the keyboard. This allows the first threshold to be raised to a high number to accommodate some programs, without significantly sacrificing the effectiveness of Tame. In most cases, the default of 2 for the second threshold is adequate, but it can be lowered all the way to zero if desired. It may be changed by specifying a second parameter of the /Max or /Frequency option. Some applications will grab the timer interrupt that always occurs 18.2 times per second. In many cases, this interrupt takes a lot of processing time, but really provides very little utility. To avoid wasting processing time servicing the timer interrupt, you may prevent the application from controlling the timer interrupt by specifying the /NOTIMER option. In many cases, the timer interrupt may be used to keep a clock running on the screen. This clock may not be worth much to you when you consider the amount of processing time it uses. For example, the following commands will run the Brief editor, (as long as the auto-save feature of Brief is disabled), and will gain a significant amount of processor time for background processes. TAME-RES TAME /NOTIMER B Some applications spend a lot of time polling the system clock, normally for the purpose of an maintaining an on-screen clock while it is waiting for other devices to have a character ready. The /TIMEPOLL option instructs Tame to treat the date and time query in a manner similar to the keyboard poll, and yield the time slice after successive date or time queries. The following commands run PCBOARD, which keeps an on-screen clock while waiting for the communications port. TAME-RES TAME /TIMEPOLL PCBOARD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 8 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Users Guide Setting the frequency value ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Most applications will also benefit by specifying /NoBackGround. This option is only available with DESQview, and should not be used with communications programs. When this option is set, Tame will set the task to not run in the background when it is polling. This will completely shut down the task until it is brought into the foreground. When the task becomes active again, Tame will restore the task status, to again allow it to run in the background. This automatic mode switching is extremely effective with most application programs. Setting the frequency value Tame will compute a nominal value for the frequency threshold when you specify /Frequency with no parameters. This is done using a very crude formula based primarily on the speed of the CPU. In many cases, this number is adequate. However, when computing this number, Tame does not factor in any special characteristics of a specific application program. To tune the frequency for a specific application, some real measurements are needed. To do this, you may use a program called TAME-ANL that watches the program run, and generates a more detailed summary. In its report file, you will see a tick-by-tick count of key polls. Since you can see the actual poll rate, it should be easy to set the frequency. See the TAME-ANL.DOC file for more details in running this program. A more traditional approach is also possible. Start by closing all tasks except a single task that is at the DOS prompt. There is a batch file named TAMETUNE.BAT that comes with the Tame distribution archive. Run this batch file and supply the name of the application as an argument. This batch file will simply clear Tame totals, and then run the application. Run the batch file, and bring the application to its normal input state as soon as is possible. Let it remain idle for at least ten seconds. During this time, Tame is counting actual keyboard polls. After waiting ten seconds, exit the program as quickly as possible. Tame will display a total number of polls per clock tick that occurred while you were in the application. Since you know that you were idle during most of that time, this number represents that rate which the application is capable of polling the keyboard. A good value to specify for the frequency parameter is between ¼ to ½ of the measured poll rate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 9 Setting default options Tame Users Guide ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Setting default options A special version of TAME-RES with custom options may easily be created. This is done by specifying the default options, and then using the /CLONE option. This creates a new program that may be used in place of the TAME-RES and TAME command combination. The following example creates TAME-123.COM which defaults to the /NoBG and /FREQ:20,2 options. TAME-RES TAME /NoBG /FREQ:20,2 TAME /CLONE:TAME-123 Later, to load Tame resident and run Lotus 123, the following commands could be used. TAME-123 123 Alternatively, the following command could be used. TAME-123 C:\123\123.EXE Since this cloned version of Tame is set up with options specifically tuned for 123, then we may wish to place the 123 command into the new COM file. This is very convenient since it allows the Tamed version of 123 to be run with a simple command. This may be done using the following commands. TAME-RES TAME /NoBG /FREQ:20,2 TAME /CLONE:123T 'C:\123\123.EXE' Note that this creates a modified version of TAME-RES.COM that will automatically run the 123 command - it does not modify the 123.EXE file in any way. Later, to run Tame and Lotus 123, the following command may be used. 123T The /Clone command does not save the multi-tasker into the cloned command file. This allows the same command to be used with many different multi-taskers, but when Tame has difficulty detecting your multi-tasker, you may wish to clone it into the program. To do this, simply specify the multi-tasker on the command line before /Clone. The following example will create a file named TAME-OV.COM which may only be run with Omniview. TAME /OMNIVIEW /CLONE:TAME-OV Applications that are DESQview-aware Most sophisticated programs poll the keyboard. A few of these programs have made themselves DESQview-aware, meaning that they ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 10 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Users Guide Applications that are DESQview-aware ---------------------------------------------------------------------- recognize and work with DESQview. Most are sufficiently DESQview aware to run in a window, but still hog the CPU (e.g. Brief by Solution Systems). These programs need Tame as much as ones that are not DESQview-aware. To be fully DESQview-aware, the application must release its time slice while it is polling the keyboard. Tame is not needed when one of these fully-aware programs are used in DESQview. Unfortunately, very few programs are fully DESQview-aware. In fact, I only know of two programs that seem to be. Hopefully more programs will follow. When they do, Tame can transfer their DESQview-awareness into Windows-awareness, or awareness of any other supported multi-tasker. This is done by specifying the /DVAWARE option. When all programs that are run in a specific window will be DESQview-aware, you may turn off the options that cause automatic recognition of polling programs. The following command line tells Tame that all the programs will be DESQview-aware. TAME /DVAWARE /NKP /NKI /NTP It is possible that a program uses DESQview/Topview functions that are not supported with Tame. Tame can fool these programs into thinking they are in DESQview, but if they try unsupported functions, they may crash the system. If this happens, please let me know. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 11 The Tame status Tame Users Guide ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Tame status The /Status option prints many statistics that Tame accumulates while running. These statistics are interesting to see, and they may also be useful for tuning Tame and the multi-tasker. This is a sample status report. TAME release 6.50 (Non-Registered version) Copyright 1988-1990 by PowerSoft, Inc and David G. Thomas Tame Totals - Running in DESQview Task #2 Key Polls = 21,575 Time polls = 21,262 Task switches = 10,658 NoBG requests = 1,043 Elapsed Time = 4,172 seconds (Active=7 Polling=29 Input=0 Yielded=4,137 Boost=3) Poll rate = 10 polls per second 1 polls per tick 66 polls per running tick Options: /ON /NoBackGround:10 /NoTimer /TimePoll /KeyPoll /NoSerial /NoParallel /NoKeyIdle /NoDVAware /Freq:20,2 /Boost:2,2 The following measurements are included in the report. Key Polls The total number of times the program polled to see if a key has been pressed. Time Polls The total number of times the program called DOS requesting the current date or time. Task Switches The number of times that Tame has forced a task switch. NoBG Requests The number of times that Tame instructed DESQview run this program only when it is in the foreground, not in the background. This number can sometimes get very high because Tame has no way to know if the program is currently in the foreground, and, if it is, DESQview will ignore the request. Elapsed Time The total time that Tame has been running. This time is measured in seconds. Tame does its best to break the time down into useful categories which are shown on the next line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 12 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Users Guide The Tame status ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Active The amount of time the task was active doing real work. Due to limitations in the measurement capabilities of Tame, this may also include some time that was actually spent in other tasks. This can happen when the multi-tasker switches tasks before Tame sees a need to, which is the normal case when the task is working very hard. The measurement will be fairly accurate except times when this task is working hard and other tasks are also working very hard at the same time. Polling The amount of CPU time this task spent polling the keyboard. Input The amount of time this task spent waiting for input. This is different than polling because the task specifically requested to not receive control until a key has been pressed. This is the normal case when waiting at the DOS prompt, unless Tame or another program is monitoring the idle interrupt (INT 28h). Yielded The amount of time that Tame has yielded to other tasks. It is a measure of the time difference between when Tame switches tasks, and when control is returned to tame. Presumably, each other task has had a time slice during this time. Poll Rate This is the ratio of total polls (Key-polls plus Time-polls) that has occurred per second, per tick and per running tick. A tick is a measure that is internal to the PC, and there are 18.21 ticks per second. The total number of running ticks is a sum of active time plus polling time, multiplied by 18.21 ticks per second. The polls per running-tick is an indicator as to how fast the program normally polls. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 13 Task switching options Tame Command Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tame Command Reference Task switching options The main purpose of Tame is to switch to another task when it detects that the application is wasting time polling the keyboard. With DESQview, Windows, Omniview, Topview, VM/386 and Double Dos, the native pause function is used to switch tasks. Since Tame does not have specific support for other multi-taskers, you need to set the task switching method for these other multi-taskers. The following options specify the method that Tame should use in order to switch tasks. ........ /DESQVIEW Use the native DESQview task switching method. ........ /DOUBLEDOS Use the native Double DOS task switching method. ........ /HaltSwitch The /HaltSwitch option specifies that Tame should execute a HLT instruction when polling is detected. This instruction has been found to cause some multi-taskers to immediately switch to another task. This is the default task switching method when Tame does not recognize the multi-tasker. ........ /KeySwitch The /KeySwitch option specifies that when the program polls the keyboard, Tame should tell a white lie and say that a key has been pressed. Most applications will immediately read the key that Tame claimed was already pressed. Since it really was not pressed, DOS will wait for a key to be pressed. Most multi-taskers use this wait for a key press as a queue to switch tasks. The /KeySwitch option could be the most effective task switching method in Tame, but it will not work with some applications. Specifically, it will not work with any applications that poll devices other than the keyboard, or with programs that occasionally flush the keyboard buffer. It is also not effective in Windows/386. ........ /DVAware This switch helps Tame work with programs that are DESQview-aware (or Topview-aware) but are not necessarily aware of other environments such as Windows. Using this option instructs Tame to recognize and emulate a few of the critical DESQview/Topview system functions in another environment. If you know ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 14 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Command Reference Task switching options ---------------------------------------------------------------------- that the program is DESQview-aware, you may also turn off automatic taming by specifying /NoKeyPoll and /NoTimePoll. ........ /OMNIVIEW Use the native Omniview task switching method. This requires that Omniview is set up to be Topview compatible. ........ /TOPVIEW Use the native Topview task switching method. ........ /VM386 Use the native VM/386 task switching method which happens to be the same as /HaltSwitch. ........ /WINdows Use the native Windows task switching method. This is effective with Windows 3.0 and Windows/386. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 15 Fine tuning for an application Tame Command Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Fine tuning for an application The default Tame options will work well with most programs. However, portions of some programs will run slower with Tame. With other programs, Tame may not reduce the CPU overhead, even though the program polls the keyboard. The following options may be specified in order to adjust the effects of Tame on a specific application program. ........ /Boost:n,m This option is intended to prevent Tame from slowing the application. It will boost the priority of the task for n clock ticks after each key press, and m clock ticks after each DOS or video action. Both values default to 2. You may need to decrease the second value to zero if Tame does not seem to be effective. ........ /INT15 This option improves the effectiveness of Tame with some programs, but it does not work on all computer systems. In fact, with some machines, it will lock up the system. This option may be turned off by specifying /NoINT15. ........ /NoBG:n This option can be very effective with DESQview, and /FGonly:n will be ignored if another multi-tasking system is being used. When this option is specified, Tame will patiently do a normal task switch n times. If no activity is detected, then it will instruct DESQview to temporarily run this program only while it is in the foreground. As soon as this program is brought to the foreground, Tame will instruct DESQview to again allow it to execute in the background. This option is extremely effective in preventing idle background processes from slowing performance of working processes. However, since its net effect is to completely stop the task (if it is in the background), it is very sensitive to how well the /Frequency or /Max parameters are tuned. It also will not be effective with background tasks which may remain idle for a period of time, and become active based on external events (e.g. communications program). This option may be turned off by specifying /NoFGonly or /BackGround. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 16 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Command Reference Fine tuning for an application ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ........ /Freq:n,m This option may need to be used in order to fine-tune Tame. It sets n as the number of consecutive keyboard polls per clock tick that are acceptable before Tame decides that the program is doing no other work except polling the keyboard. This number defaults to 3. If this number is too low, then Tame may switch tasks while the program is really working. Specifying /Frequency with no parameters will allow Tame to compute a reasonable value based on the speed of the CPU. Since some application programs poll the keyboard at a high rate (even while they are working), so this option does not always provide advantages over /Max. ........ /KeyIdle:n This option works well with many programs that are gracious enough to inform DOS that it is somewhat idle while it polls the keyboard. When Tame detects this idle situation, it will temporarily lower the /Max or /Frequency threshold to n. This seems to work especially well with programs that always inform DOS when it is idle, and the standard threshold can be set to -1, telling Tame to never switch tasks unless the application confirms that it is really idle. Beginning with DESQview release 2.26, this option is not recommended for tasks that spend a lot of time at the DOS prompt. This is because DESQview detects the fact that Tame is watching the idle interrupt, and when at the DOS prompt, DESQview goes out of its way to make sure the idle interrupt is called, wasting some processing time unnecessarily. This option is still very effective inside some programs, and the problem only occurs at the DOS prompt. This option may be turned off by specifying /NoKeyIdle. ........ /NoKeyPoll This option instructs Tame to not look at keyboard polls. This may be useful with some programs that poll the keyboard whether they are working or not, but they poll the date or time only during keyboard input. In this case, it may be best to switch tasks based on the /TimePoll switch, and ignore all key polls. This option may be reversed with /KeyPoll. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 17 Fine tuning for an application Tame Command Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ........ /Max:n,m This option may need to be used if the application seems to run slower with Tame. It sets n as the number of consecutive polls that are acceptable before Tame decides that the program is simply polling while waiting for input. If this number is too low, then Tame may switch tasks while the program is really working. If you suspect that the program (or a particular aspect of the program) is slower with Tame, raise this number. Parameters as high as a few thousand may be needed in some cases. Note that the /Frequency parameter may be used in place of /Max, and /Frequency is generally more effective. The second number may optionally be specified in order to change the number of consecutive polls that Tame uses to switch tasks after it has already determined that the program is in a polling mode. Either n or m may be -1, which indicates that Tame should not cause a task switch based upon polling alone. This is effective with programs that issue the keyboard idle interrupt while they are polling the keyboard, and will prevent Tame from switching tasks from intermittent keyboard polls. In some cases, changing /Max will have no apparent effect when /KeyIdle is also specified. This is the case with most well-behaved programs that issue the keyboard idle interrupt. ........ /NoTimer This option prevents the application from processing the timer interrupt that is normally issued by the PC 18.2 times per second. This option may disable some features of the program, and should be used with caution. It is very useful with programs that use a lot of CPU processing the timer interrupt, and accomplish little. This option works by intercepting the programs request to be called by the timer interrupt. The program assumes it will be called on a regular basis by the timer interrupt, but, since Tame did not pass this request on to DOS, the program will never be called by the interrupt. This option may be turned off by specifying /Timer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 18 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Command Reference Fine tuning for an application ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ........ /PARallel This option instructs Tame to watch BIOS level parallel port accesses, and if the port is frequently being used, do not allow a task switch. This option is not normally needed except with programs that bypass DOS in accessing the printer. It should be used only when it is really needed. ........ /SERial This option instructs Tame to watch BIOS level serial port accesses, and if the port is frequently being used, do not allow a task switch. This option is not normally needed except with programs that use the serial port (e.g. comm programs, bulletin boards, etc...). It should be used only when it is really needed. ........ /TimePoll This option instructs Tame to consider a request for the current time to be similar to a keyboard poll. This works well with programs that constantly update an on-screen clock. This option may have no effect when /KeySwitch is specified. It is recommended that the second /Max or /Frequency parameter have a minimum value of 2 when /TimePoll is specified. This option may be turned off by specifying /NoTimePoll. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 19 Other options Tame Command Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other options ........ /CLeaR Zero the totals that Tame displays on the status report. ........ /CLONE:file This command will make a special version of TAME-RES.COM that has customized default parameters. The currently active defaults will be placed into the cloned program. In all cases, the /CLONE option should be the only command line option that is specified. The cloned program is specified with the file value, and should be named TAME-xxx where xxx is an abbreviation for the application name. The new TAME-xxx.COM may be run in place of the TAME-RES.COM and TAME.EXE duo that is frequently needed when starting up a new task. ........ /CLONE:f,c This command will make a special version of TAME-RES.COM that has customized default parameters, and also will automatically run a specific command. The currently active defaults will be placed into the cloned program. In all cases, the /CLONE option should be the only command line option that is specified. The new COM may be run in place of the TAME-RES.COM, TAME.EXE and program combination that is frequently needed when starting up a new task. Note that f is the name of the new COM file (without the .COM suffix), and c is the full path name of the EXE or COM style command that is to be run. ........ /Geiger:p,t,f, This option starts up a sound that is similar to a h Geiger counter. This sound speeds up when the system is idle, and slows as other tasks demand CPU resources. It is a very useful tool for monitoring the effectiveness of Tame, since it allows you to monitor the amount of CPU that an application will use with and without Tame. There are three optional parameters that may be specified. The p parameter sets amount of time between each Geiger tick. The default value is based on the speed of the CPU. You can set the geiger to use very little CPU as long as Tame is loaded and tuned. This allows the geiger to monitor total system CPU usage, but is not very useful for tuning Tame. This is done by specifying a negative value for p to set the real time between each tick in ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 20 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Tame Command Reference Other options ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/18 second increments. Setting it to -1 will make a tick each 1/18 of a second. Its only value in tuning Tame is in the fact that it will simulate a heavy keyboard poller, and may help you adjust the settings. Setting p to zero will give a tick each time this task gets a time slice, but the zero setting requires TAME-RES to be loaded. The t parameter sets the amount of time each tick takes. The default is based on the speed of the CPU. When t is zero, a faint tick may still be heard. The f parameter sets the frequency of the ticks, in Hertz. The h parameter can turn on an on-screen hickey that visually supplements the sounds. The h parameter specifies how often to move the hickey relative to the tick sounds, where 1 means move it on each tick, two for every other tick, etc. ........ /GETALL:var Get the current Tame parameters, and place them into an environment variable named var. This option is designed for use in a batch file, in order to restore the Tame parameters after running a program. This option has been tested with DOS versions 3.1 and 3.3, but it will not work with DOS 3.2. I hope to correct this problem with a future release. If you are running a multi-tasker with DOS 2.0, I strongly recommend you upgrade to DOS 3.x so you can take advantage of the protections provided with the SHARE command. ........ /OFF Temporarily disable Tame, but leave it in memory for later use. ........ /ON Enable Tame task switching. Tame is on by default. ........ /Status Display a summary report. The summary includes the number of task switches that were initiated by Tame, the total number of keyboard calls that the application made, and also a summary of the current options. ........ /Uninstall Remove the resident portion of Tame from memory. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 21 DESQview Multi-tasking Specifics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Multi-tasking Specifics DESQview Tame will automatically detect the presence of DESQview, and will use its native task switching method. Tame has been tested with DESQview versions 2.01 through 2.31, and appears to work well with all versions. If you set the /Frequency parameter correctly, the /NoBackGround option is strongly recommended with most application programs. It will prevent idle background programs from affecting performance. Tame is most effective with DESQview when QEMM and DESQview are combined on an 80386 based PC. Tame will also be effective on a machine with an 8088 or 80286 and should be used with many programs that do not have special DESQview loaders. Double Dos Tame will automatically detect the presence of Double Dos, and will use its native task switching method. Omniview Omniview should be set up to be 'Topview compatible'. Tame cannot tell the difference between Omniview and other Topview compatibles. After loading TAME-RES, run TAME with the /OMNIVIEW option. I recently obtained the Omniview developers toolkit, and may be adding native Omniview support in the near future. Topview After loading TAME-RES, run TAME with the /TOPVIEW option. VM/386 Tame does not specifically detect VM/386. After loading TAME-RES, you should run TAME with the /VM386 option. Windows 3.0 and Windows/386 Tame will automatically detect the presence of Windows, and will use its native task switching method. When the /FREQ option is used, the optimal value may vary drastically from the value used with other multi-taskers. Tame can be much more effective than the idle detection that is built into Windows. When using Tame, it is best to disable Windows idle detection for each window that uses Tame. Also, if you had previously set a window to run with a low background priority, you may wish to raise it and let Tame decide when it really needs the CPU. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 22 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Application Specifics Application Specifics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Application Specifics Most applications may be run with Tame without any special parameters. However, for best results, certain command line parameters may be desirable for some applications. The following table represents the benefits and effects of recommended command line parameters for each program when run under DESQview. In most cases, tuning Tame so that /FREQuency and /NoBackGround may be used is strongly recommended. Results may vary with other multi-taskers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 23 Application Program Application Specifics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Application Recommended Results & Program options Side effects Brief (use defaults) About 75% of the CPU overhead is eliminated. Brief /NoTimer /KeyIdle Nearly all the CPU overhead is eliminated. On screen clock and auto-save feature are disabled. Info Select /NoKeyPoll Nearly all the CPU overhead is /TimePoll eliminated Kedit (use defaults) Nearly all of the CPU overhead is eliminated. Lotus 123 (use defaults) Nearly all the CPU overhead is eliminated. Lotus Agenda (use defaults) Nearly all the CPU overhead is eliminated. Lotus /NoTimer /Max:-1 Nearly all the CPU overhead is Manuscript /KeyIdle eliminated. Lucid 3D (use defaults) Nearly all the CPU overhead is eliminated. Microsoft (use defaults) Nearly all the CPU overhead is Editor eliminated. Norton (use defaults) Nearly all the CPU overhead is Commander eliminated. Tame will also cover programs that are run by the shell. PCBOARD /TimePoll About 75% of the CPU overhead is eliminated. Quick C /NoTimer Nearly all of the CPU overhead is eliminated. Side effects (if any) of /NoTimer have not been determined. Sidetalk (use defaults) About 75% of the CPU overhead is eliminated. Tornado Notes /NoKeyPoll Nearly all the CPU overhead is /TimePoll eliminated Word Perfect /Parallel About 75% of the CPU overhead is eliminated. ZCOMM /Serial About 75% of the CPU overhead is eliminated. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 24 February, 1991 Release 2.6 Installing Tame Installing Tame Upgrades Upgrades ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Installing Tame Upgrades The latest release of Tame will be continuously posted on the PowerSoft bulletin board system at (404) 928-9294. Also, since Tame is distributed as a shareware program, the latest release will normally be available on a local bulletin board. If you are a registered user, you have paid for a perpetual license, and may register each new version of Tame using a utility program that is provided with your registration kit. This utility may be run completely from the command line. For example, the following command line will register Fred Smith if the password of ABCD is correct. TAME-REG "Fred Smith" ABCD If you prefer, the registration program may be run without specifying any arguments, and you will be prompted for the information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Release 2.6 February, 1991 Page 25 Common Questions Appendix ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix Appendix A Common Questions 1. What can I do to speed up the system while transferring files over a modem in the background? While one task is uploading or downloading, it requires attention from the CPU at very regular intervals. In fact, it needs the CPU 240 times per second at 2400 baud. DESQview cannot task switch much faster than that, so as soon as the multi-tasker is switched away from the task, another character needs to be serviced and it needs to switch back again. The system doesn't have much free time to get other things done during the file transfer. This explains the problem, and there are some solutions. Using a NS16550AFN chip in place of the NS16450 that is on your com board can help some, as long as your software supports it. You may wish to set its threshold to 8. This means that the CPU will need to service the file transfer only about 30 (240 / 8) times per second at 2400 baud. This can reasonably be done on most systems. It will also help to use a modem that has an internal buffer (e.g. Multitech 224e) and connect to the modem to the computer at 19,200 baud, even though the connection is at a lower (e.g. 2400) baud rate. In this scheme, the CPU may send and get bursts to/from the modem, freeing the CPU for other tasks between bursts. While the CPU is actively sending/receiving with the modem, the CPU will be almost entirely dedicated to that transfer. Limiting the transfer to bursts at a high transfer rate will slow the rest of the system much less than a continuous slow-speed burst. 2. A program is DESQview-aware. Does that mean I don't need Tame? Many programs are DV aware - but that only means that they recognize that DV is there and they do what is necessary to run in a window on non-386 machines. It does not mean that they are DV "polite" and do what they can to efficiently share the limited resources. The bottom line is that most (nearly all??) DV-aware programs need Tame as much as ones that are not DV-aware. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 26 February, 1991 Release 2.6