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README.RAM
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1990-05-09
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RAMIT Notes and Ramblings...
This ZIP represents RAMIT! Version 1.66. Please distribute it under the name
RAMIT166.ZIP. This will keep things consistent overall.
RAMIT! is a TSR which can improve disk transfer speed on 16 bit machines
which are forced for one reason or another to use an 8 bit disk controller
card and use the on-card ROM BIOS.
This ARC contains the following programs.
README.RAM What you're looking at right now.
RAMIT.EXE The RAMIT! program.
RAMIT.DOC Detailed documentation for RAMIT!.
This ARC also contains the following programs which were grabbed from
the HDSPNTST.ARC file on my local BBS. I am including them here because
they are so useful for installing RAMIT!
HDSPNTST.DOC Steve Givson's SPINTEST/SPINTIME documentation.
SPINTEST.COM A useful utility to determine interleave values.
SPINTIME.COM Another SG utility.
Other files of use for tuning a RAMIT! system available on most BBSs:
OPTIM Program which claims to compute best interleave.
OPTIMISE I haven't tested this one yet. It seems to use INT 13
so if RAMIT! were installed first it would benefit from
any such performance improvement.
CORExx The CORETEST utility reports on transfer rate.
PCTJxxxx PC Tech Journal AT benchmarks. The ATDISK utility
reports on transfer rate along with seek times.
Version 1.51 of RAMIT has been tested in the following configurations
PC Controller Old Best New Best New Transfer Rate
Interleave Interleave (KB/sec)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
AT&T PC6300 WD (Old BIOS) 6 4 130
(Note 1) Invoke: RAMIT
(Note 2) Perstor 180 AT ? ? ???
Invoke: RAMIT
(Note 2) Perstor 180 PC ? ? ???
Invoke: RAMIT
AT&T PC6300 Seagate ST10 6 4 130
Invoke: RAMIT
AT&T PC6300 OMTI (BIOS-7) 4 3 189
Invoke: RAMIT /E1 /4c:a79 /64:9a8
AT&T PC6300 WD (Super BIOS) 6 4 130
Invoke: RAMIT /E2 /4c:31a /64:26d
IBM AT CLONE WD RLL (Super BIOS) 5 5 156
(10 MHz) Invoke: RAMIT /E2 /4c:31a /64:26d
IBM AT CLONE WD RLL (Super BIOS) 5 4 195
(12 MHz) Invoke: RAMIT /E2 /4c:31a /64:26d
(Note 2) Adaptec RLL BIOS ? ? ???
Invoke: RAMIT
IBM AT CLONE Seagate ST11 (2.0.0) ? ? ???
Invoke: RAMIT
IBM AT CLONE Seagate ST11R (1.7) ? ? ???
Invoke: RAMIT /S:20
Note 1: RAMIT! is unnecessary on an AT&T PC6300 if you're running
out of ROM. This includes those with a native AT&T disk controller
board, or those running ROM 1.43 with the INTERNAL option.
Note 2: RAMIT! will install scan these controller ROMs properly and
install itself. I have not yet heard the performance results
from those poor volunteers.
If RAMIT! cannot install your disk's ROM BIOS, use the RAMIT /W option to
make a disk copy of the BIOS and send it to me. I can't promise I'll be able
to do anything, but I guarantee that I'll look at it and write you back.
PLEASE let me know which version you're running... There may already be
a newer one which fixes your problem!
New for RAMIT! 1.1 ....
The OMTI universal BIOS is supported. New options allow the knowledgable
(dangerous) user to specify the addresses which the BIOS normally stuffs in
vector locations 4C and 64. This makes the automatic disassembly unnecessary.
The /E1 option is required to alter C800 constants to refer to the RAM
segment where the BIOS was relocated rather than the original C800 segment.
In particular, the OMTI drive had too many conditional jumps to trace
vectors 4C and 64 automatically. So I just eyeballed the code & now specify
the addresses on the command line.
New for RAMIT! 1.2 ....
This was a test version and didn't implement the WD Super BIOS perfectly.
If you come across one, ignore it.
New for RAMIT! 1.3 & 1.4 ....
The WD Super-BIOS is supported. You must specify /4C: and /64:. In addition,
the /E2 option will 'patch' the BIOS to run from a RAM segment. This ROM
code is 'too smart' for its own good: it looks at its CS to decide whether
it is running as the primary (C800, 32x) or alternate (CA00, 36x) addresses.
New for RAMIT! 1.50 ....
The dis-assembler has been beefed up enormously. It recognizes almost all
non-conditional jump statements. This means that those ADAPTEC owners who
had previously needed /4C: and /64: options may be able to forget about them.
In addition, if there's not BIOS message at C800:0008, then RAMIT! will
scan for something containing a '(c)' or '(C)' and print that as the
OEM BIOS message.
New for RAMIT! 1.51 ....
Well, we're not quite perfect... The disassembler didn't recognize a version
of the Perstor controller BIOS and had to be installed manually. This
stupid and careless oversight is fixed in this version.
New for RAMIT! 1.60 ....
RAMIT! now tries to identify the BIOS by calculating a CRC and looking it up
in an internal table. If found, the table will provide all the command line
options necessary to instal RAMIT!.
New for RAMIT! 1.66 ....
RAMIT! should recognize Seagate ST11 controllers automatically now. Also,
the RLL version, ST11R, is one of the wierdest mothers I've seen yet. It
lies about its size, so you have to override the ROM size from the command
line: RAMIT /S:20
The /S: option is new. It takes the number of 512 byte blocks as its
parameter (in hex). RAMIT! uses this in lieu of the BIOS size stored
in the ROM.
I'd like to thank all the 'volunteers' who offered to test RAMIT on their
own PCs or who sent me copies of ROM code for examination.
Please register your copy of RAMIT! for $25 if you use it. That's a small
price to pay for improved disk performance and guaranteed updates.
Christopher Smith
Hanover Systems
19 Tunnell Road
Newtown, CT 06470
(203) 426-0024