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1 VRAM/386 Version 1.0 User's Guide 2 Copyright This VRAM/386 documentation and the software are copyrighted with all rights reserved. Under the copyright laws, neither the documentation nor the software may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Biologic, except in the manner described in this manual. The unregistered version of VRAM/386 and accompanying documentation may be freely copied and distributed. Copyright (C) Biologic 1990. All rights reserved. First edition printed 1990. Printed in the United States. Software License Notice Your license agreement with Biologic, which is included with the product, specifies the permitted and prohibited uses of the product. Any unauthorized duplication or use of VRAM/386 in whole or in part, in print, or in any other storage and retrieval system is forbidden. Licenses and Trademarks Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony are registered trademarks of Lotus Corporation. MS-DOS, Excel, and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Quattro is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc. VRAM/386 and HRAM are trademarks of Biologic. Biologic POB 1267 Manassas VA 22110 USA 3 Contents License Agreement and Disclaimer of Warranty 4 Introduction 5 Notes on memory and memory addresses 8 Condensed Instructions 11 Installation 12 Examples 14 Command Reference 15 Notes 18 Error Messages 19 Site License 20 Your Turn 21 4 License Agreement and Disclaimer of Warranty License agreement Disclaimer of warranty License agreement The terms of this license agreement apply to you and to any subsequent licensee of this VRAM/386 software. Biologic retains the ownership of this copy of VRAM/386 software. This copy is licensed to you for use under the following conditions. You may use the VRAM/386 software on any compatible computer, provided the VRAM/386 software is used on only one computer and by one user at a time. You may not provide use of the software in a computer service business, network, timesharing, multiple CPU or multiple user arrangement to users who are not individually licensed by Biologic, except that you may designate any employee to use such products on a one employee per license basis. You may not disassemble or decompile the VRAM/386 software. Disclaimer of warranty Biologic excludes any and all implied warranties, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Biologic does not make any warranty of representation, either express or implied, with respect to this software program, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. Biologic shall not have any liability for special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of or resulting from the use of this program. 5 Introduction Description Overview VRAM/386 and HRAM Highlights Requirements Contents of the VRAM/386 disk Description VRAM/386 is a powerful memory management program for 80386 and 80486 PCs. It enhances the utilization of extended memory (memory above 1 megabyte) and high memory (memory between 640K and 1024K) by providing up to 32 megabytes of EMS version 4.0 expanded memory and 944K of conventional memory for use by MS-DOS programs. Overview VRAM/386 is an enhanced version of our VRAM software, designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the 80386 and 80486 processors. VRAM/386: converts extended memory into EMS version 4.0 expanded memory by using the special paging capability of the 80386 processor. VRAM/386 enables you to run programs that can utilize expanded memory, such as Microsoft Windows, Lotus 1- 2-3 (version 2.2 and 3.0), dbase IV, and Paradox 3, more efficiently, without having to buy additional hardware. manages your PC's high memory area between 640K and 1024K. VRAM/386, when used in conjunction with HRAM, fills unused memory addresses in high memory with expanded memory, creating up to 944K of DOS memory. Depending on the hardware configuration of your PC, VRAM/386 can create up to 96K of additional low DOS memory, and up to 208K of high DOS memory for use by TSRs and device drivers (such as network drivers). VRAM/386 consists of a single program, vram386.sys, that is loaded as a device driver when your PC is turned on or restarted. Optional command line parameters let you fine tune the program, allowing you to specify the amount of expanded memory to create-- or the amount of extended memory to leave free--and what areas of conventional memory are mappable. A utility program, Chkmem, is included in the package and provides information about the status of memory in your PC. VRAM/386 and HRAM The VRAM/386 and HRAM programs are designed to be completely compatible with one another. Although both will function alone--VRAM/386 creates EMS 4.0 expanded memory and HRAM converts expanded memory into high DOS memory--together they provide a complete memory enhancement package for 80386 PCs. 6 Highlights Compatible with all programs that support any version of the Lotus/Intel/Microsoft expanded memory specification. Allows the creation of very large worksheets in Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, Quattro, Excel, and other software. Supports the Expanded Memory Specification version 4.0. All functions are supported, not just a subset. Supports physcial page mapping of conventional memory (0- 640K) which allows multitasking programs to swap applications. Fully supports the Virtual Control Program Interface version 1.0 which allows DOS extenders, multitaskers, and memory managers to coexist on a PC. Uses the paging capability of the 80386 processor for maximum speed. VRAM/386 is much faster than expanded memory managers designed to run on both 286 and 386 PCs. Requirements A PC with a 80386 or 80486 microprocessor. IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System (PC-DOS) or Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) version 3.0 or greater. Minimum 256K of extended memory. 7 Contents of the VRAM/386 disk The following files are included in the root directory of the distribution disk. vram386.sys chkmem.exe read.me There may also be a \freeware directory which contains unregistered versions of our other software products. 8 Notes on Memory and Memory Addresses Conventional Memory Expanded Memory Extended Memory Memory Addresses Conventional Memory Conventional memory is located between 0K and 1024K and is the maximum amount of memory that can be addressed by the 8088 microprocessor on which the IBM PC is based.1 The designers of the original PC divided conventional memory space into a 640K block of memory to be used by MS-DOS programs (low DOS memory) and a 384K block of high memory for system hardware and ROM. The term, conventional memory, is sometimes used to refer just to memory from 0 to 640K. Expanded Memory Expanded memory is "paged" memory that can exist in 8088, 80286, and 80386 based PCs. As the memory requirements of programs grew, expanded memory was developed to support up to 32M of memory by swapping small blocks or "pages" of extra memory into the 1M address space of the 8088 processor so that only a few pages are addressable at a time. Memory pages that are not in use are stored as deactivated pages on an expanded memory board. The original expanded memory specification, EMS version 3.2, was developed jointly by Lotus, Intel, and Microsoft. Soon after, AST and Ashton-Tate developed a similar, but enhanced, specification called EEMS. These two specifications were replaced by EMS version 4.0, which incorporated features of both specifications. Below is a summary of a few important features: An expanded memory page is 16K in size. Expanded memory that conforms to the version 3.2 specification can be mapped only into a 64K region in high memory called the page frame. EMS version 4.0 supports the mapping of expanded memory into any location in conventional memory. A software control program, called an expanded memory manager, manages the placement of memory pages, and is typically loaded by the config.sys file when your PC is turned on or restarted. ____________________ 11K equals 1,024 bytes. 1024K equals 1,048,576 bytes or 1 megabyte. 9 Extended Memory Intel's newer processors, starting with the 80286, are capable of addressing memory above 1M--extended memory. Unfortunately, this memory is not addressable when these processors are in a processor state called real mode (a mode designed to maintain compatibility with the 8088) and cannot be fully utilized when using a real mode operating system such as MS-DOS. The problem of accessing extended memory while running MS-DOS has spawned several solutions: On PCs that support extended memory, a feature of the ROM BIOS allows programs to copy data between conventional and extended memory. Although programs cannot execute in extended memory, they can use it as storage space. Programs that take advantage of this feature include RAM disks, print spoolers, and 80286 expanded memory simulators. Protected mode run-time environments which allow an application program to execute in protected mode under MS- DOS. 80386 memory managers, like VRAM/386, that use the page mapping capability of the 80386 processor to convert extended memory into expanded memory and provide additional conventional memory for use by MS-DOS. Memory Addresses Memory addresses and ranges are typically specified using hexadecimal (hex) numbers. Hex numbers include the digits 0-9 and the letters A-F, giving 16 possible values for each hex digit. Conventional memory can be divided into 64 pages of 16K each. These pages can be referred to as page 0, page 1, page 2, and so on, or, as is the case in this manual, by their hexadecimal segment addresses. Using this notation, page 0 is at segment 0, page 1 is at segment 0400, page 2 is at segment 0800, etc. The following table lists some page numbers and their corresponding segment address and linear address: Segment Linear Page Address Address ________________________________ 0 0000 0K 1 0400 16K 2 0800 32K 3 0c00 48K 4 1000 64K 5 1400 80K 8 2000 128K 12 3000 196K 10 40 a000 640K 44 b000 704K 63 fc00 1,008K The first 40 pages (640K) of conventional memory are used by MS- DOS and the other 24 pages are reserved for system hardware and ROM. The exact usage of the upper 384K of conventional memory depends on the hardware configuration of your machine; typically, several blocks of this area are not used and are simply empty space. The table below lists the memory map of a typical PC: Address Range Description ________________________________________ 0000-a000 low DOS memory (640K) a000-c000 VGA display adapter (128K) c000-c800 hard disk controller (32K) c800-d000 unused address space (32K) d000-e000 expanded memory page frame (64K) e000-f000 unused address space (64K) f000- ROM 11 Condensed Instructions The following instructions briefly describe the installation and use of VRAM/386. If you are a knowledgeable computer user, you should be able to get VRAM/386 working by following these steps. More detailed information can be found in the sections, "Installation", "Examples", and "Command Reference". 1. Copy the file, vram386.sys, to the root directory of drive C. Copy the file, chkmem.exe, to your directory for utility programs. 2. Add a line to your config.sys file that loads vram386.sys as a device driver: device=vram386.sys The location of this line in your config.sys file is important. It should be located after any device drivers that control your hard drive and before any drivers that use expanded or extended memory. If you are loading the Microsoft driver, himem.sys, vram386.sys should be loaded after it. 3. If you are using VRAM/386 with HRAM, include the /h option on the vram386.sys command line. 4. By default, VRAM/386 turns all extended memory, except aproximately 64K, into expanded memory. To specify a different amount, use the /s option. For example, 1024K (1 megabyte) of expanded memory would be specified by: device=vram386.sys /s1024 5. Restart your PC and use the command [chkmem /e] to verify that VRAM/386 has been successfully installed. 12 Installation Preparing a boot disk Copying files vram386.sys Chkmem read.me Preparing a boot disk While installing VRAM/386, and determining your optimum configuration, there is a chance it will conflict with a hardware device and "lock up" your PC during the boot process. For this reason, we recommend that you prepare a bootable floppy disk before installing VRAM/386, so that you can boot from drive A if necessary. To prepare a disk, format it with the /s option, so that it contains a copy of the MS-DOS operating system: [format a: /s]. Also, be sure to copy to the disk any required device drivers, such as a driver needed to control your hard disk, and create a config.sys file that loads the drivers. Verify that the disk boots properly before experimenting with VRAM/386. Copying files The file, vram386.sys, should be copied to the root directory of drive C. The file, chkmem.exe, should be copied to the directory on your hard disk you use for utility programs. You should have a command in your autoexec.bat file which includes this directory in your Path so that your utility programs, including Chkmem, can be executed from any directory on your hard drive.2 The following installation procedure assumes you have a directory called \util in the root directory of drive C. 1. Insert the distribution disk in drive A. 2. Type [copy a:vram386.sys c:\] (don't type the brackets). 3. Type [copy a:chkmem.exe c:\util]. vram386.sys The vram386.sys program is installed as a device driver by adding the following line to your config.sys file and restarting your PC: device=vram386.sys When your PC is turned on or restarted, each [device=] line in your config.sys file loads a particular device driver. Since vram386.sys is loaded as a driver, expanded memory is available to drivers that are loaded after it. The line that loads ____________________ 2Read about the Path command in your DOS manual. 13 vram386.sys should be located after any device drivers that control your hard disk and before any drivers that use expanded or extended memory. If you are loading the Microsoft driver, himem.sys, vram386.sys should be loaded after it. Several options, which are described in the section "Command Reference", can be included in the VRAM/386 command line to change its default configuration. The most frequently used options are listed below: The /s option specifies the size of expanded memory. If this option is omitted, VRAM/386 turns all extended memory, except approximately 64K, into expanded memory. The /h option instructs VRAM/386 to search for unused memory areas in high memory and consider them mappable. This option must be specified when using VRAM/386 with HRAM. Some hardware devices, such as network adapters, may not be detected by VRAM/386. If you specify the /h option, you may have to exclude a range of memory in use by a particular device with the /x (exclude range) option. Chkmem The Chkmem program is a utility program that reports the status of memory in your PC. After VRAM/386 has been loaded, the command [chkmem] should show that expanded memory is present. The command [chkmem /e] will display detailed information about your expanded memory. read.me Corrections to this user's guide and information about program enhancements are in the read.me file on the distribution disk. You can view this file by putting the disk in drive A and entering: [type a:read.me]. 14 Examples The following line installs VRAM/386 with its default settings. All extended memory is turned into expanded memory and no high memory, except the page frame, is mappable. device=vram386.sys The following line turns all extended memory into expanded memory and maps all unused areas of high memory: device=vram386.sys /h The following line creates 1024K of expanded memory and maps all unused areas of high memory, except the range c800 to d000 (hex): device=vram386.sys /s1024 /h /xc800-d000 The following line turns all extended memory into expanded, except 512K (which could be used by a RAM disk). The page frame is located at d000 (hex); other areas of high memory are not be mappable. device=vram386.sys /e512 /fd000 15 Command Reference Format Options Default settings Format The format of the VRAM/386 command is device=d:\path\vram386.sys [options] where [options] specifies the optional VRAM/386 parameters described in the following section. Options The following parameters can appear in the VRAM/386 command. /3 Simulate lim 3.2. With this option, VRAM/386 supports version 3.2 of the Lotus/Intel/ Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification instead of version 4.0. /e<kbytes> Amount of extended memory to leave available. This option ensures that the specified amount of extended memory in kilobytes will be available after VRAM/386 is loaded. This amount of extended memory will not be converted into expanded memory. For example, to leave 512K of extended memory free, use [/e512]. /f<segment> Page frame base address. <segment> specifies the hexadecimal segment address of the start of the page frame. The page frame is a 64K area into which expanded memory pages are swapped. If you omit this parameter, VRAM/386 puts the page frame in the highest 64K block of unused memory. /h Search for unused areas in high memory and consider them mappable. This option instructs VRAM/386 to allow the mapping of expanded memory pages to any area of high memory that is not in use by a hardware device. If this option is omitted, VRAM/386 will not map pages to any high memory areas outside the page frame except those specified by the /i (include range) option. This option must be specified when using VRAM/386 with HRAM. Some devices, such as network adapters, cannot be detected 16 when VRAM/386 searches for unused high memory. If your system does not work properly when using /h, VRAM/386 is incorrectly identifying an unused memory area. This block of memory must be excluded from mappable memory using the /x (exclude range) option. The [chkmem /e] command will list the memory segments VRAM/386 considers mappable. You must ensure that none of the segments listed by this command are in use by a device in your PC.3 /i<addressrange> Include address range. The range of addresses specified by <addressrange> will be mapped by VRAM/386. <addressrange> is specified with hexidecimal segment addresses which must be multiples of 16K (0000, 0400, 0800, 0c00, 1000, 1400, ...). For example, to include the range from segment 0000 to segment 1000 use the parameter [/i0000-1000]. Multiple include ranges should be separated by commas. For example, [/i0000-1000,a000-b000]. /s<kbytes> Expanded memory size. This parameter specifies the size of expanded memory in 1K increments. For example, 1024K of expanded memory would be specified by [/s1024]. /x<addressrange> Exclude address range. This option prevents VRAM/386 from mapping a particular range of addresses. <addressrange> is specified with hexidecimal segment addresses which must be multiples of 16K. For example, to exclude the range from segment 0000 to segment 4000 use the parameter [/x0000- 4000]. Multiple exclude ranges should be separated by commas. For example, [/x0000-4000,a000-b000]. This option is particularly important if you have a hardware device, such as a network adapter, that cannot be detected by VRAM/386. You must use the /x option to exclude the range of memory in use by the device. For example, if a network adapter in your PC uses 16K of memory at d000 (hex), you must exclude this area with the option [/xd000-d400]. Default settings The default settings of VRAM/386 which can be overridden with the options described above are: All extended memory, except approximately 64K, is converted ____________________ 3The Chkmem command lists all mappable memory segments only if vram386.sys has been loaded and hramdev.sys (included in the HRAM package) has not been loaded. hramdev.sys will decrease the number of mappable segments listed. 17 to expanded memory. The page frame is located at the highest 64K area of free memory. In addition to the page frame, the memory range 1000-A000 (hex) (64K-640K) is mappable. 18 Notes If your PC "locks up", it is most likely due to a conflict in high memory between VRAM/386 and a hardware device. The [chkmem /e] command lists the memory segments VRAM/386 considers mappable.4 You must ensure that none of the segments listed by this command are in use by a device in your PC. If such a conflict exists, use the /x (exclude range) option to remove this range from mappable memory. For the reason noted above, do not use the /i (include option) to include a range of high memory, unless you are certain the range is not used by a hardware device. ____________________ 4The Chkmem command lists all mappable memory segments only if vram386.sys has been loaded and hramdev.sys (included in the HRAM package) has not been loaded. hramdev.sys will decrease the number of mappable segments listed. 19 Error Messages can't enable a20 line VRAM/386 was unable to enable the a20 address line which allows access to extended memory. VRAM/386 is not compatible with your PC. can't install VRAM/386 can't be installed on your system. free block not available for page frame (64K) VRAM/386 reports this error if it cannot find a free 64K block in high memory, which it requires for the page frame. This usually occurs when the hardware devices in your PC are located so that your memory is fragmented into blocks of less then 64K. You must relocate one or more of your devices (such as a network adapter) so that a contiguous block of 64K is free. invalid expanded memory size Expanded memory size is specified in 1K increments and must be between 64 and 32768. For example, two megabytes of expanded memory would be specified by [device=vram386.sys /s2048]. invalid parameter At least one of the parameters on the command line is invalid. Read the section, "Command Reference". not enough extended memory There is not enough extended memory to simulate the amount of expanded memory requested. VRAM/386 requires approximately 50K of extended memory for its own use. Either specify less expanded memory or omit the /s option. processor not 80386/80486 Your PC does not have an 80386 or an 80486 processor which is a requirement of VRAM/386. vram is already installed VRAM/386 is already installed. Modify your config.sys file so that VRAM/386 is only loaded once. 20 Site License VRAM/386 can be licensed on a per location basis which allows a company to use it on a network or use multiple copies of VRAM/386 without purchasing them individually. Pricing is dependent on the number of copies and is very reasonable. Please contact Biologic for further information. 21 Your Turn We value you opinions. Please let us know what you like and dislike about the VRAM/386 program and documentation. We're dedicated to developing the most innovative and useful software available- and selling it at reasonable prices. Your support helps make this possible. Please send all comments and suggestions to Biologic POB 1267 Manassas VA 22110 USA THANK YOU. 22 23 24