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1993-09-30
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IBM-PC executable notes for POV-Ray Ver 2.00
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please read thru this file *completely*, it contains several hints & tips for
getting POV-Ray running smoothly on various systems.
See IBMPC.DOC for IBM-PC specific command line options and file conversion
information.
Please note that this doc file is specific to the POV-Ray executable compiled
with Intels "Code Builder" 32bit extended DOS compiler. Exectables compiled
with other "C" compilers will *** NOT *** run or behave as described in this
document. POVMOD is also a utility that is specifically for the "Code Builder"
compile.
----------------------------
General Notes
----------------------------
This is a 32 bit protected mode version of POV-Ray. It has been compiled for
32 bit protected mode with Intels 386/486 Code Builder Kit.
Please Note: It *ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES* the following:
80386SX, 80386DX, 80486DX/SX or Pentium Based machine. This version will
run on any machine with, or without, a CoProcessor. If no CoProcessor is
detected a protected mode 387 emulator will be loaded and used. If a
CoProcessor is detected the emulator will not be loaded and the CoProcessor
will be utilized. (See OS/2 & Windows notes below for further info on
CoProcessors & those environments.)
An 80387SX, 80387DX or a 80487SX will give a *significant* boost in speed.
It can be as much as 10x faster, even more in some cases.
For those that are curious about the speed difference between CoProcessor
and no CoProcessor you can force the use of the floating point emulator
linked into POV-Ray by typing: SET NO87=NO COPROCESSOR <enter> at the
DOS command line. The CoProcessor in your machine will not be used for
traces while this is set. After enough torture you can re-enable the
CoProcessor by typing SET NO87= <enter> at the DOS command line.
(With <enter> being the "ENTER" or "RETURN" key on your keyboard.)
AT LEAST 2 Megs of RAM is required, *preferably*, & strongly urged, is 4 Megs.
(The more the better though, POV-Ray will use all that is available. )
(Note: Some machines may require more than 2 megs of RAM to run the
program.)
A Hard Disk is preferred. Since a Virtual Memory Manager is linked into the
program the disk can be used as swap space much like what Windows 3.x (TM)
does to add additional "memory". (See POVMOD.DOC for notes on how to modify
the amount of hard disk space that will be used by the Virtual Memory
Manager. This is *NOT* dynamic and must be adjusted according to your
individual systems available resources.)
The program *WILL NOT RUN* on 8088, 8086, 80186 or 80286 based systems!
If you get a large message at start-up about an incompatible extended program
in operation and recommending reboot, *REBOOT* your machine IMMEDIATELY,
--- Don't continue! (Push RESET)
File corruption can result if you continue. (This according to Intel
Doc's) Then restart with a "bare" system, I.E. no TSR's & no memory
managers. You can usually track down the offending program by REMing
out all programs and then adding them back into your autoexec.bat &/or
config.sys files one at a time.
This version of POV-Ray was compiled with Intel's "Code Builder Kit" version
1.1ax. There have been several enhancements to the compiler since version 1.0.
The most important being that POV-Ray will now run with most XMS/EMS memory
managers loaded. In most cases it will run with QEMM, 386^MAX, EMM386, HIMEM
as well as DOS 5.0's DOS=HIGH.
Being a 32 bit protected mode program, this compile of POV-Ray will
sometimes expose problems with systems that wont show up under normal
DOS usage. One common problem is machine lockups or stopping with
a "parity error" or "NO ROM BASIC" message. This is most often caused
by defective or marginal RAM in the "extended" portion of memory. DOS
normally doesn't use this area and will often work fine, even though
some of your machines RAM is bad.
There are several memory testing utilities on the market that will
test RAM quite well. ------ Generally the commercial programs will
be more effective in ID'ing bad RAM than shareware. Sometimes the
problem can also be that the RAM CMOS setup "wait states" are set
too low for the access speed of the RAM used. Occasionally it can
be something as simple as oxidation on the connection pads of a
couple SIMM units that may cause problems.
Some VCPI applications may still be incompatible with this compile of
POV-Ray. It will not run directly under DesqView, DV/X. DesqView/QEMM
supports VCPI applications & requires that it have access to the CPU
control registers which is not allowed (directly) in a DPMI environment.
This compile of POV-Ray supports the DPMI 0.9 spec. QEMM in combination
with it's DPMI host accessory, QDPMI, may give a boost in performance on
some machines. Make sure that your swap file defined for QDPMI is large
enough to supply any memory requests POV-Ray might make. Generally it is
a good idea to set the swap size equal to or larger than the region size
specified with the POVMOD utility. (3072K as distributed.) See POVMOD.DOC
for more information on configuring the region size to suit your machines
available resources.
-----------------------------------
User Reported Problems
-----------------------------------
Problems have been reported by some individuals using file deletion tracking
TSR's. (For recovering deleted/erased files) Since POV-Ray uses a "random
access" swap file and reconfigures many of the ways things are done by the
CPU it's self, it is probably a *very* good idea to DISABLE these types of
programs prior to running POV-Ray. Also, it is prudent to make sure your
swap file is placed on an UNCOMPRESSED drive. (I.E. don't use Stacker,
SuperStor, DoubleSpace etc. on the partition your swap file is in. POV-Ray
will locate it's swap file in the root directory of your C: drive by default.
See POVMOD.DOC for instructions on how to change the location that POV-Ray
will use for it's swap file.)
Some individuals have experienced problems running under DR DOS 6.0 with it's
PC-KWIK cache active. You may have to disable the caching when using PC-KWIK
(under any operating system) with POV-Ray.
From PC-KWIK corporation document, 'PC-KWIK Technical Issues "Summer '92"':
PC-KWIK is unable to recognize memory requests from programs
using VCPI or DPMI protocols ... For programs [that use VCPI
or DPMI] it is necessary to reduce the size of the cache and
disable lending.
Since POV-Ray is a DPMI client program it may have problems with PC-KWIK.
PC-KWIK's feature that allows memory to be loaned from the cache memory
to other applications is what may cause problems. PC-KWIK [the program]
does not track any memory allocated or used by a DPMI host, and may
loan this memory, possibly causing corruption of the DPMI driver,
resulting in a system crash or reboot. This problem seems to exist thru
version 5.01. PC-KWIK Corp is reported to be aware of the problem.
When using PC-KWIK with POV-Ray you should either make sure that you have
enough memory in your computer so that lending will not occur, reduce the
size of your cache, (both difficult since POV-Ray will use different amounts
of memory, depending on the image) OR, (best) completely disable PC-KWIK's
lending feature or remove PC-KWIK it's self when using POV-Ray.
Some individuals have reported problems running version 1.0 of POV-Ray on
newer 80486DX2/66 based machines with Vesa Local Buss'. (Lockups etc.)
In these cases running the program under a DPMI server such as OS/2 2.x,
Win 3.1, or, for straight DOS use, QEMM-386 with it's QDPMI add-on installed
seems to eliminate the problems. POV-Ray 2.0 was compiled with a version
of the compiler that is 2 revisions newer & may or may not exhibit this
problem. The problem seems to be re