New Star Software Collection/NSS_Collection.iso/3-069 qemm 603/1.ima/QEMM-MAN/CH4.QEM

Text File | 1991-10-07 | 18.7 KB | 458 lines

Chapter 4

The QEMM.COM Program

 This chapter describes the features of the QEMM.COM program. The
program  has two purposes. You use QEMM.COM to change the mode
(state) of QEMM to ON, OFF or AUTO. You also use QEMM.COM to
report status information about QEMM and report information about
your first megabyte of memory. QEMM.COM displays first meg
information in either map or list format. The information
displayed by QEMM.COM is the same as that displayed by
Quarterdeck's Manifest program for the QEMM-386 category.

QEMM.COM commands consist of QEMM followed by a command line
parameter. If the command line parameter has a long name, you can
enter an abbreviation instead of the name. This abbreviation is
shown in parentheses following the parameter name.

There are two command line parameters that will help you use
QEMM.COM:

~Item~ ?  lists all the names and abbreviations of all QEMM.COM
command line parameters.

~Item~ Help displays the option name and a one line description.

To enter these commands:

~Step~ Type QEMM ? and press <Enter>, or

~Step~ Type QEMM HELP and press <Enter>.

The information requested is displayed on the screen.

Two command line parameters control the display of messages from
QEMM.COM. These are:

~Item~ NOPAUSEONERROR (NOPE) instructs QEMM.COM not to display
the message, "Press any key to continue, ESC to abort". This
message is normally displayed when you enter a wrong QEMM.COM
command line parameter.

~Item~ PAUSE instructs QEMM.COM to pause for a key before
executing a command.

One command line parameter controls QEMM.COM's report formats:

~Item~ MAP instructs QEMM.COM to display its report in a map
format.

The default report format is a list.

This modifier changes the report format to a map. For example, to
display the QEMM.COM Accessed report as a map:

~Step~ Type QEMM ACCESSED MAP and press <Enter>.

QEMM-386 watches what memory is accessed by programs~dash~so that
QEMM.COM can at any time display a report about what memory has
been accessed and what has not. QEMM.COM also can perform an
analysis to find any additional memory you can use to load TSRs,
drivers, and DOS resources into high memory.

To give you control over when QEMM.COM begins watching memory to
determine what memory is accessed, QEMM.COM has a command line
parameter called RESET.

~Item~ RESET resets the state of memory to unaccessed.

RESET is useful to use before running a program, so that you can
determine which areas of memory are accessed by a specific
program.

~Subhead~ Changing QEMM's Mode

There may be times when you wish to change the current mode of
QEMM. The mode controls whether QEMM puts the system into virtual
8086 mode and how expanded memory should be handled. You can set
the current mode to AUTO, ON, or OFF.

~Item~ AUTO (AU) specifies that QEMM should turn ON when a
program needs expanded memory.

~Item~ ON specifies that expanded memory is available and the
processor is in virtual 8086 mode.

~Item~ OFF specifices that expanded memory is not available and
the processor is in real mode.

The mode is forced ON if conventional or video memory is filled,
high RAM or ROMs are mapped, conventional memory is sorted, or
expanded memory is in use.

To change the current mode to ON:

~Step~ Type QEMM ON and press <Enter>.

The mode is then changed. You can change the mode to OFF or AUTO
in the same way you changed the mode to ON, provided there are no
conditions which have forced the mode ON.


~Subhead~ QEMM.COM Reports

 QEMM.COM has five reports which give you information you may use
to optimize your memory configuration. If you have no parameters
on the QEMM line, you will get the Summary report followed by the
Type report. These five reports are as follows:

~Item~ Summary: This report displays the current mode of QEMM,
the expanded memory currently available, and the page frame
address.

~Item~ Type: This report displays what types of memory exist in
your first megabyte of address space.

~Item~ Accessed: This report indicates the areas of memory that
have and have not been accessed from the time QEMM started
running (or you did a QEMM RESET) until the time of the display.

~Item~ Analysis: This report gives a cross-reference of the
information in the Accessed and Type reports. Based upon what
memory has been specified and how QEMM.SYS is currently
configured, Analysis suggests command line parameters that could
be given to QEMM.SYS to more efficiently use high memory. You
should follow these recommendations only if you  follow the
analysis procedure discussed on page 31.

~Item~ Memory: This report gives you an accounting of the memory
in your PC (conventional, high RAM, extended, and expanded) both
before and after QEMM.SYS has configured this memory.

 You can display three reports, (Type, Accessed, and Analysis)
either in list or map format.


~Subhead~ QEMM .COM Summary

 QEMM.COM Summary presents you with the summary status
information about QEMM.SYS.

 Mode refers to the current state of QEMM.SYS. When there is high
RAM, ROM mapping, memory back-filling, or video filling, QEMM's
mode is ON and may not be turned OFF. Otherwise, QEMM's mode is
typically either AUTO/ON or AUTO/OFF, depending upon whether
expanded memory is in use. If QEMM's mode is OFF (without the
AUTO) then expanded memory is not accessible until you change the
mode.

 Expanded Memory Available reflects the amount of memory
available to programs which support EMS.

 Page Frame gives the address of the page frame. This entry
indicates "none" if there is no page frame allocated and
supported.



~Subhead~ QEMM.COM Type


 QEMM.COM Type presents you with two views of the  first megabyte
of memory as seen by QEMM-386. The default view is a
list~dash~giving memory area, size of the area in K, and how it
is being used (see below). To get a visual picture of how your
memory is configured:

~Step~ Type QEMM Type Map and press <Enter>.

 In the map, each row of the map contains 16 characters
representing 64K of memory. Each character (+ * F H M X V A R /)
represents 4K of memory~dash~and has a special meaning, as
described. Base addresses are indicated in the left column (0n00
at the top through Fn00 at the bottom). To determine a particular
4K area replace the value "n" with the character listed at the
top of the screen.

 You use these reports to determine the effect of QEMM-386's
management of memory in your PC.

 Key terms used in QEMM.COM Type are as follows:

~Item~ Mappable (+): areas of memory which can be mapped using
EMS function calls. These areas must be 16K in size and aligned
on 16K boundaries. Areas of high memory that are marked as
Mappable can also be converted to high RAM by adding the RAM
switch to the QEMM.SYS command line.

~Item~ Rammable (*): areas of memory which can be mapped by
QEMM-386 but are too small to be accessed by EMS function calls.
You must add the RAM switch to the QEMM.SYS command line to fill
the area with memory for use as high RAM.

~Item~ Page Frame (F): a mappable area, 64K in size, which is the
place that EMS 3.2 programs use for expanded memory access. Other
mappable regions are only used by programs written specifically
for EMS 4.0 or EEMS.

~Item~ High RAM (H): areas above conventional memory which have
been filled with RAM by QEMM-386. Any areas above conventional
memory marked as Mappable (+) or Rammable (*) may be converted to
high RAM (H) by adding the RAM switch to the QEMM.SYS command
line. Once it has been added and the system re-booted, high RAM
areas may be used by QEMM's programs to load TSRs and device
drivers.

~Item~ Mapped ROM (M): addresses of Read Only Memory which have
been copied to RAM, and then mapped into the original addresses
by QEMM's ROM switch. Mapping ROMs lets ROM code run in fast
memory. QEMM automatically maps one page of the system ROM from
F000-FF00 to detect reboots.

~Item~ Excluded (X): areas of memory which have been explicitly
excluded from use by the Exclude switch. QEMM-386 automatically
excludes the addresses from 0000 to 0FFF. If your adapter card
fails to identify itself properly, QEMM may try to use all or
part of the memory addresses used by the adapter as either high
RAM or Mappable memory. You must explicitly exclude the
conflicting memory areas from QEMM or problems will occur.

~Item~ Video (V): addresses reserved for video display memory.

~Item~ Adapter RAM (A):  regions of memory which have RAM mapped
into them by other adapter cards.

~Item~ ROM (R): regions of Read Only Memory which have not been
re-mapped by the QEMM.SYS ROM switch.

~Item~ Split ROM (/): addresses which QEMM.SYS has detected as
having ROM which occupies only a portion of the 4K area. Such
areas cannot be re-mapped by the QEMM.SYS ROM switch.

~Subhead~ QEMM.COM Accessed


 QEMM.COM Accessed presents you with two views of the first
megabyte of memory~dash~indicating the 4K regions of memory that
have and have not been accessed from the time QEMM started (or
you did a QEMM RESET) until the time of the display. This
information is only valid if QEMM has been ON.

 The first view is a list of this information. The second view is
a map.

 QEMM.COM uses the term Unaccessed (U) to refer to the areas of
memory which have not been read or written by a program.
Potentially, those areas above 640K may be usable for mapping
high RAM.

 QEMM.COM also distinguishes between areas of memory that have
been read by a program~dash~Accessed (A), and areas of memory
which have had data written to them by a program, Written (W),
when the map format is used.


You can use the Accessed report to determine how big a program is
(i.e. how much conventional memory it accesses and writes into)
and whether a program accesses or writes into an area of high
memory.

 Inaccuracy of Accessed Map for Mappable Regions: The information
displayed may not be accurate for mappable regions. When the
computer maps memory into a mappable area, the process of mapping
clears the state of the region, and makes it appear to be
unaccessed. This clearing occurs often in the conventional areas
of memory in DESQview by virtue of multitasking. Active use of
the Page Frame for mapping will also clear these indicators.
Other areas are not so frequently mapped.


~Subhead~ QEMM.COM Analysis


 QEMM.COM Analysis presents you with two views of your PC's first
megabyte of memory~dash~indicating QEMM.COM's assessment of what
memory is OK to use, what memory should be excluded and what
should be included. This assessment is based upon you having had
QEMM.COM watch what memory was accessed by your programs. This
enables you to better optimize the use of your memory.

 The default view is in list form. The alternate view of this
information is in map format. You use the map to see what memory
can be used. However, the list gives you the memory addresses
that you may instruct QEMM.SYS to include or exclude.

 WARNING: The steps you must follow in order for the QEMM-386
Analysis screen to be accurate are described later in this
section. If you do not follow this procedure, the information in
these screens may not be valid, and any and all changes you make
based on these reports may be inappropriate.


There are three terms used in this report:

~Item~ OK (O): areas of memory that have been properly specified
to QEMM.

~Item~ Exclude (X): areas of memory that have been used by a
program, but QEMM did not expect it to. You should use the
EXCLUDE switch to QEMM to prevent QEMM from using these areas.

~Item~ Include (I): areas of high memory that have not been used
by a program, but have been reserved by QEMM. You may use the
INCLUDE switch to QEMM to allow QEMM to use these areas.


~Subhead~ Analysis Procedure

 The Benefit of QEMM.COM Analysis: As you run your programs, QEMM
is recording the memory accessed by these programs. QEMM then
analyzes the memory accessed and recommends how to best configure
QEMM.SYS for optimum use of memory. The end result of analyzing
your memory is that more of your high memory may become usable
for memory resident programs, device drivers, and DOS
resources~dash~resulting in more conventional memory for your
programs.

 However, for QEMM to accurately determine what high memory
addresses are used requires several sequential steps, all of
which must be performed before accurate results will be obtained.

~Item~ Modify the QEMM.SYS command line in CONFIG.SYS so it
specifies only the ON and MAPS=0 parameters.

~Item~ Save your CONFIG.SYS file and re-boot your PC.

~Item~ Run all of your programs and perform all of their
functions. If you use DESQview, you should start it, select any
options other than summary programs and quit out.

~Item~ Access all of the hardware in your computer. If you have
two monitors connected to your computer, display information on
each of them. Access all of your disk drives. Format a diskette.
Print a document. If you have a network adapter card, a 3270 card
or the like, connect to it.

~Item~ Do not run utilities other than QEMM or Manifest which
check the functioning of your computer's hardware, especially
those that check memory.

~Item~ After you have run every program you use, display
QEMM.COM's Analysis report.

~Item~ Examine the Analysis and note the suggestions. Update the
QEMM.SYS command line in CONFIG.SYS to include or exclude memory
areas specified in the Analysis List and to remove the ON and
MAPS=0 parameter you added earlier.

 Verify Your QEMM Configuration: If you want to verify that
you've optimized the use of your memory, repeat the Analysis
process and display the Analysis List. You should see " 0000 -
FFFF  1024K   OK". If you see additional Exclude (X) areas, you
may want to use them. If you see additional Include (I) areas,
ignore them unless you have followed the complete procedure.

~Subhead~ QEMM.COM Memory

 QEMM.COM Memory gives you an accounting of the memory in your PC
(conventional, high RAM, extended, and expanded) before and after
QEMM-386 has configured this memory.

 On some computers there will be a fifth category, either Top
Memory (as seen on Compaqs) or shadow RAM (as seen only on
machines using the Chips & Technologies chip set).

 You use this report to:

~Item~ see a summary of how QEMM has made use of your memory,

~Item~ quickly learn if QEMM can detect the shadow RAM on your
PC,

~Item~ find out how much memory is in your PC, and how it is
being used.

 The Initial column shows the totals of each type of memory when
you turn on your PC. The Expanded and high RAM categories always
start at 0K (zero K). The total of this column should equal the
amount of memory in your PC.

 The Unavailable to QEMM column indicates memory which has been
made unavailable to QEMM before QEMM gets a chance to use it.
Drivers loaded before QEMM which use extended memory make that
memory unavailable to QEMM. Also, machines with shadow RAM make
some of it unavailable for QEMM to use.

 The Converted by QEMM column shows what QEMM does to your
memory. It converts Extended memory (and Shadow RAM or Top Memory
if you have any) into Expanded Memory and High RAM. Thus, the
column shows some memory being "used" (subtracting from the
available and some being "created" (adding to the available).
QEMM can fill in missing conventional memory, so you might see it
creating more conventional memory. The total of this column
indicates how much memory QEMM keeps for its own use and for
mapping your ROMs.

 The Leaving column shows how much memory is left over once QEMM
is through initializing itself. These numbers are very important.
The remaining conventional memory, usually 640K, indicates how
much contiguous memory is accessible for your DOS programs. The
remaining Extended memory, usually 0K, indicates how much
Extended memory is left over for other programs to use. Note that
if your programs can access memory through the EMS, XMS or VCPI
interfaces, then they don't need any Extended memory left for
them by QEMM. The remaining Expanded memory is how much memory is
available to programs which support EMS, XMS or VCPI. The
remaining High RAM indicates the memory available for loading DOS
resources, TSRs, & device drivers into high memory.

 The box at the bottom of the screen details how QEMM uses
memory. The first number, the total amount of memory, is the same
as the total of the third column from the top box. The next
numbers indicate the size of QEMM's code and data, the memory
reserved for QEMM tasks, the memory reserved for a DMA buffer,
the memory reserved for real alternate maps, the memory for
mapping ROMs, and finally a small amount of memory (usually less
than 16K) which was unused for various reasons. These numbers can
be changed depending on the set up of your computer and your use
of some command line parameters to QEMM.SYS.

 At the bottom of the screen is a number showing how much of your
conventional memory area is being used by QEMM. This number is
always very small.

 If You Think There Is More Memory in Your PC Than Is Shown:
Check that your PC's CMOS is set up properly, and that there are
no defective (or loose) memory chips.

 Why QEMM May Not Be Able to Use All of Your shadow RAM: Shadow
RAM which overlaps ROM or installed adapter memory cannot be used
by QEMM. Thus, shadow RAM which overlaps the system ROM, the
video adapter ROM, the video display RAM and any other adapters
you have will not be affected by the presence of QEMM.

 Let QEMM Allocate Extended Memory: We suggest that you not load
device drivers that use extended memory before QEMM. Instead,
reserve extended memory for later use by using QEMM's
EXTMEM=command line switch. However, if your extended memory
program can get its memory through XMS, you don't need to reserve
extended memory for it.

 Using Maps: If you are not using a multitasking environment,
such as DESQview, specify the MAPS=0 parameter on the QEMM.SYS
command line to gain an additional 32K of expanded memory. If you
are using DESQview you should have one map plus two map for each
DESQview window you use.

 Unassigned: The Unassigned category of this screen represents
that memory which QEMM-386 controls but which has not been given
any function. After QEMM-386 has set up its data and high RAM and
other resources, whatever is left of memory is made expanded
memory. Since expanded memory is allocated 16K at a time, any
memory that is less than 16K or is fragmented is left as
Unassigned. Some of the QEMM-386 parameters can be altered (RAM,
MAPS, ROM, primarily) to increase or decrease the amount of
Unassigned memory, to either use it for these new purposes or to
increase it until it becomes more expanded memory.