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CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1 Product Features; Additional Memory in the First Megabyte; Where to find Additional Information; Product Support 2. Installation 6 Installing 386Max; Default Settings 3. Basic Options 9 When to Use the Basic Options; How to Use Options: List of Basic Options; Examples 4. Memory Use Display 15 LIST Command 5. High DOS Memory Use 17 How High DOS Memory is Used; Loading Programs in High DOS memory; Examples; Notes 6. Memory Mapping 21 Memory Resident Programs; How to Read the Display; EMS Memory usage 7. Memory Swapping 25 SWAP Option 8. Access Times Display 28 Why Swap Memory; Fast and Slow Memory; How to Swap Memory; Notes 9. ROM Locations Display 30 ROM Locations Table; How to Display ROM Locations 10. Enabling and Disabling 386MAX ON, OFF, and AUTO Commands 11. Advanced Options 33 List of Advanced Options; Advanced Examples 12. Common Questions 41 Answers to commonly asked questions Appendix A. Device Driver Option Summary 46 Appendix B. Utility Program Command Summary 48 Appendix C. Messages 50 Installation Messages; Device Driver Option Errors; Critical Error Messages; Utility Program Messages Glossary 59 Index 61 FAST START If you are in a hurry to get started, copy the files 386MAX.SYS and 386MAX.COM onto your hard disk, and place a line similar to the following in your CONFIG.SYS file: Device = 386MAX.SYS where d: refers to any drive letter and path refers to any path on that drive. 386MAX assumes default settings which are just right for most users who want the maximum amount to expanded (EMS) memory. The options, commands, and displays are there if either you or your system consultant need them to customize your system. 386MAX has a great deal of built-in flexibility to accommodate the non-standard world of DOS-based hardware, software, and local area networks. The more technically inclined may want to look over the options available and explore ways to maximize their 386 system. Multitasking and\or Networks If you are using 386MAX in conjunction with a multitasking pro- gram such as Windows 2.0 or DESQview 2.01, be sure to read the description of the INCLUDE option in Chapter 11, "Advanced Options". Do check the README file to see if your system needs special consideration. Users with 386 accelerator cards should read Chapter 7, "Swapping Memory", for maximum performance. --------------------------------------------------------------- p.1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 386MAX is a memory manager for 386-based systems with extended memory. 386MAX makes every byte of memory in the first megabyte available to DOS 3.x programs. You get more fast memory to rum large applications such as spreadsheets, CAD\CAM and network drivers. Product Features Using 386MAX gives you these advantages: *No separate expanded memory board is needed. Your system can be set up to mix extended and expanded memory in any combination. 386max fully emulates the lotus-intel-microsoft (LIM) Expanded Memory Specification (EMS) Version 4.0 using the 386 hardware paging tables and all available extended memory. 386MAX also supports advanced LIM EMS Version 4.0 features such as physical page mapping throughout the first 640 KB of DOS memory allowing multitasking programs to swap your applications in and out. *Valuable low DOS memory is freed-up for direct use by DOS applications. 386MAX does this by loading memory-resident programs above the first 640 KB. Using a utility supplied with 386MAX, memory filled in above the display adapters can be used to run memory-resident programs. *Reduces the time to type a file to the screen with an EGA by up to 40 percent! 386MAX automatically remaps slow ROMs to fast RAM )all EGA ROMs and many BIOS ROMs). This technique is called ROM caching. *Swaps fast memory into the first 640 KB so DOS programs run at their fastest speed. Fast memory is easy to identify. The TIMEMEM utility supplied with 386MAX displays a table of which memory is fast and what memory is slow. *Expands DOS memory to 704 KB )on some systems) and backfills to at least 640 KB on all systems. For example, after installing 386MAX, a 512 KB system with a monochrome display adapter is increased to 704 KB of available, contiguous memory. *Supports the Weitek 1167 Floating Point Accelerator (FPA). *Automatically ensures correct operation of Direct Memory Access (DMA) of remapped memory. *Allows hardware interruption of all EMS and extended memory usage. With this feature, you system runs more smoothly when using background communications and other interrupt-intensive programs. * Uses only about 3 KB of valuable low DOS memory. Other me- mory managers use from 20 to 64 KB. Additional Memory in the First Megabyte In general, 386MAX allows your programs to take advantage of all the first megabyte of memory not used for some other purpose such as display or network adapters. 386MAX also provides access to the memory beyond the first megabyte as either extended or EMS memory or any combination of the two. The ration between EMS and extended memory can be changed at system startup time by the EMS= or the EXT= option without having to change any memory board switches. The following table summarizes the additional low and high DOS memory that 386MAX makes available to DOS. Different system board memory and display adapter configurations are shown. All numbers are shown in kilobytes. ┌───────┬──────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐ │ │ Monochrome │ CGA │ EGA │ Hercules │ │System ├──────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────│ │Board │ Additional │ Additional │ Additional│ Additional │ │Memory │ Low High │ Low High │ Low High │ Low High │ ├───────┼──────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────│ │512 │ 192 240 │ 224 192 │ 128 176 │ 192 192 │ ├───────┼──────────────┼────────────┼────────────┼────────────│ │640 │ 64 240 │ 96 192 │ 0 176 │ 64 192 │ └───────┴──────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘ Additional Low and High Memory available to DOS with 386MAX Note that if EMS memory is used the high memory figures above are reduced by 64 KB. If other special-purpose memory boards or ROMs appear in the address space above the display adapters, 386MAX detects and skips over them automatically and does not assign high DOS memory to that area. What This Manual Contains The remainder of this manual describes how to install, configure, and use 386MAX on your system. The manual has 12 chapter, three appendices, and an index: *Chapter 1, "Introduction", list 386MAX product features and technical specifications, and gives an overview of the contents of this document. *Chapter 2, "Installation", explains how to install 386MAX and the default assumptions that 386MAX makes. *Chapter 3 - 11 each explain a feature of 386MAX. 3. Basic Options - How to customize default settings along with examples. 4. Memory Use Display - How to display DOS and extended memory use. 5. High DOS Memory Use - How to load memory-resident programs in high DOS memory. 6. Memory Mapping - How to display a map of memory-resident programs as well as EMS memory usage. 7. Memory Swapping - How to put the fastest memory where it is most frequently accessed. 8. Access Times Display - How to display memory access times. 9. ROM Locations Display - How to display the location of all ROMs in high DOS memory. 10. Enabling and Disabling 386MAX - How to switch 386MAX on and off so you can run protected mode programs. 11. Advanced Options - How to specify advanced memory management option in 386MAX. *Chapter 12 provides answers to commonly asked questions. *Appendices A-C summarize all 386MAX device driver options, utility program commands, and error messages. Technical Specification 386MAX requires the following hardware and software: *Any 80386-based personal computer; *A minimum of 256 KB extended memory starting at 1 MB or the equivalent amount of recoverable shadow RAM such as found on a COMPAQ Deskpro 386. *PC-DOS or MS-DOS 3.00 or later. 386MAX uses approximately 3 KB of conventional memory and 60 KB or more of extended memory. The actual amount of extended memory used varies depending upon the amount of memory to be managed. 386MAX conforms to the Lotus-Intel-Microsoft (LIM) Expanded Memory Specification (EMS) Version 4.0 or earlier. 386MAX supports up to 32 MB of EMS memory. 386MAX is implemented as a device driver so other device drivers can take advantage of EMS memory. It runs in protected mode at the topmost addresses in extended memory. When 386MAX is active, DOS programs run in a special mode of the 80386 called Virtual 8086 Mode. Where To Find Additional Information For the most current information on enhancements to the product, display the README file found on your distribution diskette. This file describes those features added to 386MAX since this User Guide was printed. Also consult the Glossary in Appendix C for the definitions of some of the terms used in this manual. Product Support Qualitas technical support personnel are happy to help you get the maximum benefit form 386MAX. Our technical support hours are Monday through Friday, except for holidays, 10 am to 5 pm Eastern Time. If you have questions or comments about 386MAX, call us at 301-907-6700, or write to: Qualitas, Inc. 7101 Wisconsin Avenue, #1386 Bethesda, MD 20814 Only registered users are eligible for technical support. We can answer your questions more quickly and efficiently if you jot down the disk serial number (that is, registration number) and version number of 386MAX before calling. The serial number is found on the printed disk label; the version number is found by inserting the distribution diskette in drive A and displaying the disk volume label with VOL A:. ----------------------------------------------------------------- p.6 CHAPTER 2 INSTALLATION Installing 386MAX To install 386MAX, copy both of the files 386MAX.SYS and 386MAX.COM to any directory on your hard disk and include a line similar to the following in your CONFIG.SYS file: Device = 386MAX.SYS options where d: refers to any drive letter, path refers to any path on that drive, and options refers to the options and associated parameters listed in Chapter 3, "Basic Options", and Chapter 11, "Advanced Options". If no options are present on the device driver line, 386MAX assumes default setting which are described in the following section. The placement of the above line in your CONFIG.SYS file is important. Device drivers which manage your hard disk (such as partitioning it into multiple drives) or which provide similar capabilities such as a bootable Bernoulli Box should be installed first. Then 386MAX should be installed. Following that, you may install any device drivers which reference extended memory (some of which is used by 386MAX) or EMS memory (all of which is created by 386MAX) such as VDISK>SYS, disk caches, RAM disks, or the like. Although 386MAX and VDISK are completely compatible, our device driver needs to be installed first to manage the extended memory used by VDISK. Also, be sure to specify how much extended memory to reserve for VDISK by using the EXT=nnnn option see Chapter 3, "Basic Options"). Unless you disable the EMS part of 386MAX by specifying EMS=0, be sure to remove other EMS managers from your CONFIG.SYS file. Such files typically have names which contain the letters EMM. If you choose to use 386MAX in conjunction with the expanded memory manager which came with your EMS adapter, there are two steps you must take. First, tell 386MAX not to provide any EMS memory by placing the option EMS=0 on its device driver line. Second, by sure to place the call to the other EMS manager pre- ceding the call to 386MAX. After modifying your CONFIG>SYS file, be sure to reboot your system to put 386MAX to work for you. When the system starts up, a map of the system's memory usage is displayed similar to the following one. Chapter 4, "Memory Use Display", illustrated how to re-display this map at any other time. ┌──386-to-the-Max───────────────────────────────────────Memory Usage┐ │ The First Megabyte of Address Space │ │ ███████████████████████████████▓▓▓▓▓▓▓≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈■▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░■■■■ │ │ Conventional Memory Low EGA High EMS ROM │ │ │ │ New top of DOS memory = 640 KB █ DOS ≈Video │ │ Added Low Dos memory = 128 KB ▓ Low ■ ROM │ │ Added high Dos memory = 112 KB ▒ High │ │ Available extended me. = 1028 KB Φ Other # Unused │ │ Available expanded me. = 2688 KB in segment E000 ░ EMS │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Default Settings If no options are present on the device driver line in your CONFIG.SYS file, 386MAX assumes the following default settings: *Allocates all of extended memory as EMS memory; *Backfills all memory from the top of system board memory to the bottom of display adapter memory; *Topfills all memory above display adapter memory and tells DOS that if is available for its use; *Swaps all slow ROMs for fast RAM; *Uses the 64 KB segment at E000 as the EMS page frame. These default settings should suffice for most user's needs. However, if your needs differ, Chapter 3, "Basic Options", and Chapter 11, "Advanced Options", provide information on how to customize 386MAX to your preferences. Also, see Chapter 3, "Basic Options", for sample device driver lines. If you are using 386MAX in conjunction with a multitasking program such Windows 2.0 or DESQview 2.01, be sure to read the description of the RAM option in Chapter 11, "Advanced Options". --------------------------------------------------------------- p.9 Chapter 3 BASIC OPTIONS This chapter describes the basic options recognized by the program. More advanced options are described in Chapter 11. When to Use The Basic Options Unless you tell it otherwise, 386MAX automatically provides default setting that make full use of extended memory as EMS memory (see the list of default settings in the previous chapter). You may wish to use some of the device driver options to change the defaults 386MAX has set for you. For example, you may need to recapture some extended memory for VDISK. How to Use the Options To use the device driver options to customize 386MAX to your requirements, first display your CONFIG.SYS file and locate the 386MAX Device =line. It should look similar to Device = 386MAX.SYS options If no options are listed on the device driver line, all default settings are in place. Next, simply edit the device driver line to change or add any of the 386MAX options described below. List of Basic Options While the first two options each tell 386MAX how much extended memory to convert EMS memory, they represent different views of the same question. Use the EMS option if you know exactly how much EMS memory you need (such as for an EMS-based disk cache) and want all the rest used as extended memory. Conversely, use the EXT option if you know exactly how much extended memory you need (such as for a VDISK-based RAM disk) and want the rest used as EMS memory. EMS=nnnn Use nnnn kilobytes of extended memory as EMS memory. If this option is omitted, all extended memory (up to the smaller of either 32 MB or the total extended memory less the EXT=value is used as EMS memory. If nnnn is less than the total amount of extended memory, the remaining extended memory is available for other use (such as VDISK). Enter nnnn in decimal kilobytes; for example, to use 1,024 KB (1 MB) of extended memory as EMS memory, specify EMS=1024. The value must be a multiple of 16 KB. It is rounded down if not. To turn off the EMS memory portion of 386MAX, use EMS=0. EMS= and EXT= may not be used together. EXT=nnnn Leave at least nnnn kilobytes of extended memory as extended memory. The remaining memory is automatically used as EMS memory. If this option is omitted, all extended memory (up to the smaller of either 32 MB or the EMS= value) is used as EMS memory. Enter nnnn in decimal kilobytes; for example, to leave at least 1.024 KB (1MB) of extended memory as extended memory, specify EXT=1024. The actual value used may be up to 12 KB higher than the specified value because EMS memory is allocated in multiples of 16 KB only, and any remainder is left as extended memory. EXT= and EMS= may not be used together. SWAP=nnn Swap the first nnn kilobytes of conventional memory (which presumably is slow) with the same amount of extended memory starting at 1 MB (which presumably is fast). For more details, see Chapter 7. This option is needed only with 386 accelerator cards installed in machines with 16-bit memory on the system board. FRAME=xxxx Use EMS page frame of xxxx. If this option is omitted, 386MAX automatically searches for an available 64 KB window in high DOS memory. The first frame checked is at the highest available address. If this frame isn't available, locations lower in memory on 16 KB boundaries are tested. Enter xxxx in hexadecimal paragraphs; for example, specify FRAME=D000 to use segment D000 as the swapping area. This value must be on a 16 KB boundary (that is, the low-order hex digits must be x000, x400, x800, or xC00). Generally, you should allow 386MAX to select the EMS page frame automatically. If there is no room for a 64 KB EMS page frame, 386MAX will install with a smaller frame. SYS=systype Gives the name of 386 system you are using. Almost always, the type of system doesn't make a difference or 386MAX can figure it out. See the file SYSTYPES on the distribution diskette for a list of values for systype. If your system doesn't appear in this list, you can ignore this command. If it does, place the corresponding key word found in the SYSTYPES files following SYS=on the device driver line. PRO=d:\path\filename.ext Collects into a single separate file any of the options in this Chapter or in Chapter 11. First, create a file anywhere on your hard disk and place the options on separate line sin that file. Then tell 386MAX where to find this file with the PRO= option where: d: is any drive letter path is any path on that drive filename.ext is any valid filename and extension. You may list device driver options on the Device= line in your CONFIG.SYS file or in the file pointed to by this option. However, they may not appear in both places. Examples Next we discuss several common ways in which 386MAX may be configured. The examples below use options which are described in detail in this chapter. In the following examples, assume you have 4 MB of extended memory in your system. The actual division of extended memory into its separate uses varies depending upon your system configuration. For example, extended memory may be used for ROM mapping, for 386MAX program storage (as opposed to the 3 KB used in low DOS memory), for EMS memory, for extended memory, for high DOS memory fill, and finally for low DOS memory fill. On a system with 512 KB memory on the system board and 4 MB of extended memory (and whose EGA and system ROMs are both slower than extended memory), the extended memory use is as follows: ROM mapping region = 80 KB Program storage = 64 KB EMS memory = 3712 KB Remaining ext memory = 0 KB High DOS memory = 112 KB Low DOS memory = 128 KB Total extended memory = 4096 KB 1. Suppose you have copied the 386MAX.SYS file to the root directory of drive C. To invoke 386MAX using all of extended memory as EMS memory, place the following line in you CONFIG.SYS file: Device = 386MAX.SYS 2. If you wish to reserve 1,024 KB (1MB) of extended memory for VDISK and use the remaining 3 MB for EMS memory, program storage, memory fill, etc, use the following line: Device = 386MAX.SYS EXT=1024 The figure in Chapter 4, lists the corresponding division of ex- tended memory for extended memory into its separate uses for the above line. 3. If you wish to disable the EMS memory manager (thus using all of extended memory for extended memory, high and low memory fill, etc.), use the following line: Device = .SYS EMS=0 Although we recommend converting all memory in your system to extended memory and letting 386MAX manage it for you, disabling the EMS part of 386MAX does allow it to co-exist with an EMS memory board already in your system. In this case be sure to include the EMS driver which came with you EMS board in your CONFIG.SYS file preceding the call to 386MAX.SYS. Disabling EMS memory also increases by 64 KB the available high DOS memory in which to load memory-resident programs. 4. To allow only enough EMS memory to handle (say) an EMS- based disk cache program, use the EMS=option. If the disk cache uses 512 KB of EMS memory, use the following line: Device = 386MAX.SYS EMS=512 5. If you are using a 386 accelerator card and have set your system switches to disable all but the first 256 KB of system board memory (presumably the accelerator board is backfilling memory from 256 to 640 KB), use Device = 386MAX.SYS SWAP=256 6. If you are using an Intel Inboard and have 512 KB of system board memory (presumably 386MAX is backfilling memory from 512 to 640 KB), use Device = 386MAX.SYS SWAP=512 SYS=INBOARD 7. If you have collected you basic and advanced option into a profile (in, say, the 386MAX directory on drive c,) use Device = 386MAX.SYS PRO=C:\386MAX\386MAX.PRO ----------------------------------------------------------------- p.33 Chapter 11 ADVANCED OPTIONS In addition to the commonly used device driver options (discussed in Chapter 3, "Basic Options") 386MAX includes several advanced options. These options control how 386MAX manages memory. You may enter these options on the Device= line in your CONFIG.SYS file, or in a profile pointed to by the 386MAX PRO=option. (See Chapter 3, for information on using the PRO=option). List of Advanced Options INCLUDE=nnn or xxxx-yyyy To take greater advantage of multitasking systems such as Windows 2\0 and DESQview 2.01 you might want to increase the size of the swapping region. The default range of this region is between 64 KB and 640 KB. To increase the region size, use the INCLUDE option. The argument to this option can take one of two forms: 1. If you would like 386MAX to select the addresses in high DOS memory to use for swapping, use INCLUDE=nnn where nnn specifies the size of the region. This value must be a multiple of 16 KB and is specified in decimal. For example, to specify an additional 64 of high DOS memory, use INCLUDE=64. This form of the INCLUDE option converts high DOS memory to swapping region, or 2. If you have specific address to use for swapping, use the form INCLUDE=xxxx-yyyy. In this form, xxxx is the starting segment and yyyy is the ending segment. Both parts of the argument are expressed in units of paragraphs in hexadecimal. Both parts must be a multiple of 16 KB (that is, each value must be of the form x000, x400, x800, or xC00). This form of the INCLUDE option allows you convert both high and low DOS memory to swapping region. For example, an EGA can be used to drive either a monochrome or color monitor. If your system has a single display adapter only, you might want to include the region reserved for the display adapter you don't have. Thus if you have a color monitor only, use INCLUDE= B000-C000. If you have a monochrome monitor only, use INCLUDE=B800-C000. Note that these two forms may be used together. For example, INCLUDE=B000-B800, 64 includes the region normally reserved for a monochrome display adapter and requests an additional 64 KB of high DOS memory be used for swapping. The comma- delimited items may be specified in any order. This option may appear multiple times. EXCLUDE=xxxx-yyyy To decrease the size of the swapping region, use the EXCLUDE option. If you don't use programs which take advantage of additional swapping region available in the LIM EMS 4.0, you might see a performance improvement by excluding some or all of the region from 64 KB to 640 KB. To exclude the en- tire region, use EXCLUDE=1000-A000. This option may appear multiple times. NOHIGH Do not fill in memory above the display adapters. By specifying this option, more memory might be available for use as EMS or extended memory, but no additional memory is available for memory allocations by DOS. Moreover, if this option is used, you cannot load memory- resident programs above the display adapters. NOLOW Do not fill in memory between the top of system board memory and the bottom of the display adapters. By specifying this option, more memory might be available for use as EMS or extended memory, but no additional memory is available for direct use by DOS. NOROM Do not swap slow ROMs for fast RAM. Ordinarily, 386MAX times each ROM it finds, and if the ROM proves to be much slower then extended memory, it copies the ROM to the faster memory and uses that instead. 386MAX uses this process to speed up an EGA display by up to 40 percent. If you do not want 386MAX to move ROMs to fast memory, use the NOROM option. You can see which ROMs (if any) 386MAX LIST at the DOS command line. See Chapter 4, for more in- formation. NOWARMBOOT To ensure that we catch system reboot, 386MAX always remaps at least the top 4 KB of system ROM into RAM. Generally, we time all ROMs to see if extended memory is faster than the ROMs (and almost always the ROMs are very slow). If RAM is faster than ROM, we speed up the ROM. However, even if system ROM is as fast as RAM, we still remap the top 4 KB of system ROM so we're sure of properly rebooting the system. If for some reason, this is not a good use of memory on your system, you can disable it by specifying the key word NOWARMBOOT on the device driver line which invokes 386MAX.SYS or in a profile. NOXRAM Do not recover extra RAM on systems which are recognized automatically by 386MAX. Certain system such as the COMPAQ family of 386 computers are recognized by 386MAX without need for you to use a SYS=option. Moreover these systems have some extra RAM which 386MAX automatically recovers and puts to use for you. If you have some other use for this RAM and don't want 386MAX to recover it, use this option. RAM=xxxx-yyyy Mark paragraphs xxxx through yyyy as RAM. Both values are entered in hexadecimal and are in units of 16-byte para- graphs. This option should be used in case there is RAM in your system (such as on a network or high-resolution graphics adapter) which is not found by 386MAX at startup. During installation, 386MAX always checks for all RAM above the display adapters. Use this option in the unlikely case that some RAM isn't found then 386MAX is installed. This can occur because the RAM was not enabled at that time. This option may appear multiple times. RESETKEYB In certain rare cases, you might find that 386MAX installs correctly, but the keyboard is locked. To overcome this, use the key word RESETKEYB. ROM=xxxx-yyyy Mark paragraphs xxxx through yyyy as ROM. Both values are entered in hexadecimal and are in units of 16-byte para- graphs. Use this option if the specified ROM doesn't have the usual signature, or if you wish to disable automatic remapping for some other ROMs but not for this one. If this option is used, the automatic remapping mechanism is disabled for all ROMs. In any case, the specified ROM is not remapped to other memory unless that other memory is somewhat faster then the ROM. To see the ROM addresses currently mapped to fast memory, use the LIST command described in Chapter 4. This option may appear multiple times. SHADOWRAM For those 386 systems which use the Chips and Technologies AT\386 CHIPSet (specifically the 82C302) there is some shadow RAM available for use. To reclaim this memory, use the key word SHADOWRAM. TOP384 For COMPAQ Deskpro 386-compatible systems with an extra 384 KB of extended memory, use the key word TOP384. This option tells 386MAX to reclaim the extra memory for use as EMS memory, etc. Systems which can use this feature in- clude those from Trillian, Micronics, and others. Because the COMPAQ family of computers is recognized automatically be 386MAX, there is no need to use this option on those system. USE=xxxx-yyyy This option overrides reserved high DOS memory which the pro- gram has found and otherwise would skip over. USE tells 386MAX not to reserve paragraphs from xxxx through yyyy but instead use it for high DOS memory. For example, some 386 systems have ROMs which are decoded at multiple addresses, only one of which is actually used. This option may appear multiple times. Both values are entered in hexadecimal and are in units of 16-byte paragraphs. VIDMEM=xxxx-yyyy Normally, 386MAX automatically detects the most commonly used display adapters such as Video Graphics Array (VGA), Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA), Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), Mono- chrome Graphics Adapter (MDA), and Hercules Display Adapter (HDA). This option should be used for your primary display adapter only. If you have a secondary high-resolution graphics adapter and its RAM isn't found by 386MAX at startup, use the RAM option to tell 386MAX to avoid those locations; do not use VIDMEM for this purpose. In the rare case that 386MAX mis-identifies your primary dis- play adapter as starting higher in memory that it actually does, 386MAX might overlap part of the display adapters with low DOS memory. This mis-identification is not fatal; you can detect it if you notice that your programs are not using the full display adapter memory. Typically this means that high-resolution graphics modes in your primary display adapter don't display data correctly. To help 386MAX better identify your display adapter, use the VIDMEM option to specify the starting and ending addresses of your display adapter. For example, some EGA boards when run in monochrome mode don't properly identify themselves as an EGA, and instead appear as a MDA. In this case, use VIDMEM= A000-C000. Before experimenting with this option, you might first specify the NOLOW option (see Chapter 3) to disable low DOS memory fill altogether. If that clears up graphics display problems, then specify a value for VIDMEM. Typical values are A000-C000 (640 KB for a lecan be used to drive either a monochrome or color monitor. If your system has a single display adapter only, you might want to include the region reserved for the display adapter you don't have. Thus if you have a color monitor only, use INCLUDE= B000-C000. If you have a monochrome monitor only, use INCLUDE=B800-C000. Note that these two forms may be used together. For example, INCLUDE=B000-B800, 64 includes the region normally reserved for a monochrome display adapter and requests an additional 64 KB of high DOS memory be used for swapping. The comma- delimited items may be specified in any order. This option may appear multiple times. EXCLUDE=xxxx-yyyy To decrease the size of the swapping region, use the EXCLUDE option. If you don't use programs which take advantage of additional swapping region available in the LIM EMS 4.0, you might see a performance improvement by excluding some or all of the region from 64 KB to 640 KB. To exclude the en- tire region, use EXCLUDE=1000-A000. This option may appear multiple times. NOHIGH Do not fill in memory above the display adapters. By specifying this option, more memory might be available for use as EMS or extended memory, but no additional memory is available for memory allocations by DOS. Moreover, if this option is used, you cannot load memory- resident programs above the display adapters. NOLOW Do not fill in memory between the top of system board memory and the bottom of the display adapters. By specifying this option, more memory might be available for use as EMS or extended memory, but no additional memory is available for direct use by DOS. NOROM Do not swap slow ROMs for fast RAM. Ordinarily, 386MAX times each ROM it finds, and if the ROM proves to be much slower then extended memory, it copies the ROM to the faster memory and uses that instead. 386MAX uses this process to speed up an EGA display by up to 40 percent. If you do not want 386MAX to move ROMs to fast memory, use the NOROM option. You can see which ROMs (if any) 386MAX LIST at the DOS command line. See Chapter 4, for more in- formation. NOWARMBOOT To ensure that we catch system reboot, 386MAX always remaps at least the top 4 KB of system ROM into RAM. Generally, we time all ROMs to see if extended memory is faster than the ROMs (and almost always the ROMs are very slow). If RAM is faster than ROM, we speed up the ROM. However, even if system ROM is as fast as RAM, we still remap the top 4 KB of system ROM so we're sure of properly rebooting the system. If for some reason, this is not a good use of memory on your system, you can disable it by specifying the key word NOWARMBOOT on the device driver line which invokes 386MAX.SYS or in a profile. NOXRAM Do not recover extra RAM on systems which are recognized automatically by 386MAX. Certain system such as the COMPAQ family of 386 computers are recognized by 386MAX without need for you to use a SYS=option. Moreover these systems have some extra RAM which 386MAX automatically recovers and puts to use for you. If you have some other use for this RAM and don't want 386MAX to recover it, use this option. RAM=xxxx-yyyy Mark paragraphs xxxx through yyyy as RAM. Both values are entered in hexadecimal and are in units of 16-byte para- graphs. This option should be used in case there is RAM in your system (such as on a network or high-resolution graphics adapter) which is not found by 386MAX at startup. During installation, 386MAX always checks for all RAM above the display adapters. Use this option in the unlikely case that some RAM isn't found then 386MAX is installed. This can occur because the RAM was not enabled at that time. This option may appear multiple times. RESETKEYB In certain rare cases, you might find that 386MAX installs correctly, but the keyboard is locked. To overcome this, use the key word RESETKEYB. ROM=xxxx-yyyy Mark paragraphs xxxx through yyyy as ROM. Both values are entered in hexadecimal and are in units of 16-byte para- graphs. Use this option if the specified ROM doesn't have the usual signature, or if you wish to disable automatic remapping for some other ROMs but not for this one. If this option is used, the automatic remapping mechanism is disabled for all ROMs. In any case, the specified ROM is not remapped to other memory unless that other memory is somewhat faster then the ROM. To see the ROM addresses currently mapped to fast memory, use the LIST command described in Chapter 4. This option may appear multiple times. SHADOWRAM For those 386 systems which use the Chips and Technologies AT\386 CHIPSet (specifically the 82C302) there is some shadow RAM available for use. To reclaim this memory, use the key word SHADOWRAM. TOP384 For COMPAQ Deskpro 386-compatible systems with an extra 384 KB of extended memory, use the key word TOP384. This option tells 386MAX to reclaim the extra memory for use as EMS memory, etc. Systems which can use this feature in- clude those from Trillian, Micronics, and others. Because the COMPAQ family of computers is recognized automatically be 386MAX, there is no need to use this option on those system. USE=xxxx-yyyy This option overrides reserved high DOS memory which the pro- gram has found and otherwise would skip over. USE tells 386MAX not to reserve paragraphs from xxxx through yyyy but instead use it for high DOS memory. For example, some 386 systems have ROMs which are decoded at multiple addresses, only one of which is actually used. This option may appear multiple times. Both values are entered in hexadecimal and are in units of 16-byte paragraphs. VIDMEM=xxxx-yyyy Normally, 386MAX automatically detects the most commonly used display adapters such as Video Graphics Array (VGA), Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA), Color Graphics Adapter (CGA), Mono- chrome Graphics Adapter (MDA), and Hercules Display Adapter (HDA). This option should be used for your primary display adapter only. If you have a secondary high-resolution graphics adapter and its RAM isn't found by 386MAX at startup, use the RAM option to tell 386MAX to avoid those locations; do not use VIDMEM for this purpose. In the rare case that 386MAX mis-identifies your primary dis- play adapter as starting higher in memory that it actually does, 386MAX might overlap part of the display adapters with low DOS memory. This mis-identification is not fatal; you can detect it if you notice that your programs are not using the full display adapter memory. Typically this means that high-resolution graphics modes in your primary display adapter don't display data correctly. To help 386MAX better identify your display adapter, use the VIDMEM option to specify the starting and ending addresses of your display adapter. For example, some EGA boards when run in monochrome mode don't properly identify themselves as an EGA, and instead appear as a MDA. In this case, use VIDMEM= A000-C000. Before experimenting with this option, you might first specify the NOLOW option (see Chapter 3) to disable low DOS memory fill altogether. If that clears up graphics display problems, then specify a value for VIDMEM. Typical values are A000-C000 (640 KB for a lecan be used to drive either a monochrome or color monitor. If your system has a single display adapter only, you might want to include the region reserved for the display adapter you don't have. Thus if you have a color monitor only, use INCLUDE=