home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
- DESQview/X: MAXIMIZING WINDOW SIZE
-
- This QEMM 7 technote is an abridged version of a technical
- bulletin that is available through our standard support channels.
- The information contained in this version pertains ONLY to QEMM
- version 7.0. If you need information relating to earlier versions
- of QEMM you can obtain the unabridged version from the following
- sources:
-
- Quarterdeck Technical Support BBS: MAXWINDO.TEC
- CompuServe: MAXWIN.TEC
- Q/FAX: #252
-
-
- Subject: How to get more conventional memory for each DV/X window.
-
-
- HOW CAN I DETERMINE HOW MUCH MEMORY IS AVAILABLE TO EACH OF MY
- DV/X WINDOWS?
-
- Run the Memory Status program in DESQview/X. If you have not
- customized your menus extensively, you should find Memory Status
- on your Open Window menu under Toolbox. "Largest Available
- Expanded Memory" will tell you the largest window you can open in
- DESQview/X.
- Total Total Largest
- Memory Available Available
-
- Common Memory 30720 17836 17768
- Conventional Memory 594K 91K 88K
- Expanded Memory 2704K 2464K --> 528K <--
-
- The biggest window size for the above example is 528K. This
- technote will point out ways in which you can increase the size
- of your DV/X windows. After trying each suggestion, open the
- Memory Status program and see if this figure has changed.
-
- HOW CAN I GET BIGGER WINDOW SIZES IN DESQVIEW/X?
-
- DESQview/X uses 160K to 300K of the first megabyte of memory when
- it loads, depending on your specific configuration. DESQview/X
- can load over 63K of its code into the HMA (High Memory Area, the
- first 64K of extended memory) if this area is available. It can
- also load its data into unused areas of High RAM between 640K and
- 1024K. The remaining portion of DESQview/X's code will load into
- conventional memory. Regardless of the amount of RAM on your
- system, DESQview/X can ONLY load into these three areas. It is
- important that you find the best ways of utilizing the HMA and
- areas of High RAM if you are to maximize your DV/X windows.
-
- It should be mentioned that some systems contain hardware devices
- which use upper memory addresses, reducing the amount of High RAM
- available on those machines. Also, PS/2's have 128K of System
- ROM instead of the more typical 64K, limiting the amount of High
- RAM that can be created on these machines.
-
- 1. USING STEALTH ROM TO FREE CONVENTIONAL MEMORY.
-
- By using QEMM's Stealth ROM technology, you can reclaim some of
- the upper memory addresses used by ROMs. This can result in
- nearly 100K of additional High RAM. If you are using Stealth
- ROM, the QEMM device line in your CONFIG.SYS file will contain
- either the ST:M or ST:F parameter. If you do not have one of
- these parameters on the QEMM line, you can enable Stealth ROM by
- typing the following command at the DOS prompt:
-
- OPTIMIZE /ST
-
- This command runs QEMM's Optimize program and instructs it to
- test your system for Stealth ROM compatibility. Stealth ROM can
- do more to increase the size of your DESQview/X windows than any
- other suggestion in this technote.
-
- If you notice anything unusual about the way your system
- functions after enabling Stealth ROM, refer to our technical
- bulletin STEALTH.TEC for troubleshooting suggestions. If you
- have DESQview/X 1.1, you can find a copy of STEALTH.TEC in your
- \DVX directory. A copy was also installed in your QEMM\TECHNOTE
- directory when you installed QEMM 7.
-
- 2. USING QEMM's ANALYSIS PROGRAM TO INCREASE AREAS OF HIGH RAM.
-
- Before loading into conventional memory DESQview/X will fill up
- all available areas of High RAM. It is to your advantage,
- therefore, to configure QEMM to give you the most High RAM
- possible. One way to gain additional High RAM is by performing
- an ANALYSIS. With this procedure QEMM determines what areas of
- upper memory are not currently being accessed by your hardware
- and software and suggests ranges of address space you can try
- "INCLUDING" for QEMM's use. In order for the results of ANALYSIS
- to be accurate, you must follow the instructions precisely. For
- complete details, refer to your QEMM or Manifest manual or read
- our technical bulletin EXCLUDE.TEC. This technote was installed
- in your \QEMM\TECHNOTE directory along with QEMM 7.
-
- 3. USING ST-DBL TO STEALTH DOUBLESPACE.
-
- If you are using DoubleSpace (the disk compression program
- included with MS-DOS 6.0), you can use ST-DBL.SYS to free even
- more conventional memory in DESQview/X. Normally, DoubleSpace
- uses 43K of your first megabyte of memory. This can heavily tax
- your window sizes in DESQview/X. The new ST-DBL technology will
- "stealth" (move) the DoubleSpace driver into expanded memory
- (outside your first megabyte of address space.) ST-DBL uses 2K of
- memory for itself and can be loaded high for a net savings of
- 41K.
-
- In order to use "ST-DBL" you must have QEMM configured to use
- expanded memory through the use of a 64K EMS page frame.
-
- If you are using DoubleSpace at the time you install QEMM, ST-
- DBL.SYS will be installed automatically. If you add DoubleSpace
- after installing QEMM and wish to load ST-DBL, run QEMM's QSETUP
- (by typing QSETUP from the DOS prompt.) QSETUP with replace
- DBLSPACE.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS with the following line:
-
- DEVICE=C:\QEMM\ST-DBL.SYS
-
- 4. GETTING DESQVIEW/X TO USE THE HMA.
-
- DESQview/X is able to load 63K of its data into the HMA (High
- Memory Area, the first 64K of your extended memory.) Only one
- program can use the HMA, however, so DESQview/X cannot use it if
- another program is already using it. If you have DOS 5 or 6, you
- might have a line in your config.sys file that says "DOS=HIGH."
- This line instructs DOS to load part of itself into the HMA. DOS
- normally uses only 35K to 45K of the HMA, so most DESQview/X
- users find they can obtain larger windows if they remove the
- DOS=HIGH line and allow DV/X to load into this area.
-
- In some cases it may be to your advantage to use the DOS=HIGH
- line in your CONFIG.SYS file rather than letting DESQview/X load
- into the HMA. Try it both ways and then determine which gives
- you more memory by running Optimize, then checking "Largest
- Available Expanded Memory" in Memory Status from within
- DESQview/X. Use the configuration that gives you the best
- results.
-
- If you are using DR-DOS 6, you may get bigger window sizes in
- DESQview/X by loading the DOS kernel into High RAM. This can be
- done by loading "HIDOS=ON", "HIDOS.SYS /BDOS=AUTO " and
- "SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /P /MU" in the CONFIG.SYS file.
-
- Example:
- SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /P /MU
- HIDOS=ON
- DEVICE=C:\DRDOS\HIDOS.SYS /BDOS=AUTO
-
- Another thing you can try if you have DR-DOS 6 is loading the DOS
- kernel into the HMA. This can be done by loading "HIDOS=ON",
- "HIDOS.SYS /BDOS=FFFF" and "SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /P /MH".
-
- Example:
- SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /P /MH
- HIDOS=ON
- DEVICE=C:\DRDOS\HIDOS.SYS /BDOS=FFFF
-
- 5. REMOVING UNNECESSARY DEVICE DRIVERS AND TSRs.
-
- The number of device drivers and TSRs you load during bootup
- directly impacts your maximum window size. Many TSRs (like
- DOSKEY or Sidekick) can be removed from your AUTOEXEC.BAT and
- loaded in a DESQview/X window as needed. Programs and drivers
- loaded in this manner do not detract from the size of EACH window
- but, rather, affect ONLY the size of the window in which they are
- run.
-
- Device drivers such as disk caches or ramdrives also use memory
- in the first megabyte. Try removing such drivers one at a time
- in order to judge any performance gain resulting from their use.
- You may decide the performance gain is not worth the memory it
- costs you. Because memory is a finite resource, you must make
- decisions as to how you use it.
-
- Certain network drivers have replacements that can save memory.
- As an example, Novell's NETX.COM can be replaced with EMSNETX.COM
- which uses expanded memory and, as a result, uses much less
- conventional memory or High RAM. Contact your network
- administrator for more information on alternative network
- drivers.
-
- 6. 8514 VIDEO CARDS
-
- If you have an 8514 video card you can use VIDRAM and gain an
- additional 64K-96K of conventional memory. If your 8514 card
- requires a driver, then it is not hardware compatible and this
- process may not work.
-
- First, add the VREMS to the QEMM386.SYS line in the CONFIG.SYS
- file.
-
- DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS RAM VREMS
-
- Next, add the following line to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to activate
- VIDRAM:
-
- C:\QEMM\VIDRAM ON
-
- This line will activate VIDRAM and extend conventional memory.
- When you start DESQview/X, it will report "GRFVGA.DVR does not
- find the correct video adapter". You can safely ignore this
- message; DESQview/X should function properly.
-
- 7. CONFIGURING DESQVIEW/X TO USE LESS MEMORY IN THE FIRST
- MEGABYTE.
-
- The DESQview/X Setup program includes a number of options which
- can be adjusted to save memory. To alter these settings, type
- SETUP from the DVX directory, select "Advanced Options", then
- select "Tune Performance".
-
- Common Memory 30K
- DOS I/O Buffer 8K
- Network Buffer 20K (Only if using Network Support)
-
- Changing these settings may not have any immediate effect because
- expanded memory is mapped in 16K increments. Decreasing the
- Common Memory by 1K, for instance, will not make any difference
- unless your memory usage is on the 16K threshold. These numbers
- can be decreased until the amount saved goes up 16K.
-
- Common Memory:
-
- COMMON MEMORY is used by DESQview/X to manage its windows, and
- the amount you need is dependent upon the number of windows you
- open. The default value is 30K; users who open only a few
- windows at a time may be able to lower this figure to 25K.
-
- DOS I/O Buffer:
-
- DOS I/O BUFFER refers to memory used by DESQview/X to manage file
- operations into expanded memory. The value of this field can
- affect the speed of disk access, but rarely will a value higher
- than 10K or 15K prove worthwhile. Any user who can set this to
- "0" and obtain satisfactory results should do so.
-
- Network Buffer:
-
- On the NETWORK option you may disable the network support.
- Network support is ONLY needed for certain network-specific
- programs. It is NOT required for most normal DOS applications
- that are merely being run from a network hard drive. The amount
- of memory you save by disabling network support is about 5K plus
- the size of the buffer. Unless you are certain that you need
- this service, try running without it. (NOTE: If you are running
- the IPX/NetBIOS Network Manager you CANNOT disable network
- virtualization.) If you encounter a problem when network support
- is disabled that you DO NOT encounter with such support, simply
- run DESQview/X Setup and change the settings back as they were.
-
- The memory allocated to the Network Buffer does not come from
- conventional memory. Decreasing the size of the buffer would
- affect the size of your expanded memory pool but not your window
- size.
-
- Font Cache:
-
- The Font Cache is not taken from conventional memory and
- decreasing the value will not affect the size of your DV/X
- windows.
-
- 8. HOW DO THE CUSTOMIZE MENU SETTINGS AFFECT THE WINDOW SIZE?
-
- Some settings in the DESQview/X Program Information Files
- (.DVP's) can affect the window size. For the lowest memory
- overhead, set "System Memory (in K)" to "0" and set "Text Pages"
- to "1".
-
- System Memory (in K) - This field will shrink the window size in
- K by the value in this field.
-
- Text Pages - Each additional Text Page will use 4K more.
-
- 9. GETTING QEMM TO BACKFILL MORE MEMORY.
-
- By default QEMM backfills (maps expanded memory into) only 576k
- of conventional memory on 80386 systems. (This is NOT true of
- 80486 or higher processors.) The first 64K of conventional memory
- is not backfilled, allowing a maximum of 576K of conventional
- memory in a DESQview/X window. You can try to reclaim some of
- this memory by using I=0C00-0FFF or I=0800-0FFF on the
- QEMM386.SYS line in the CONFIG.SYS.
-
- Including 0C00-0FFF reclaims 32K of conventional memory. On some
- systems these addresses are used for such things as I/O
- addresses. If your computer does not function normally after
- adding this include statement, try reducing the range by using
- the I=0800-0FFF parameter.
-
- One of these two include statements will work for most systems.
- If you experience a problem that is not resolved by using the
- second, smaller, include statement, you should remove the include
- statement altogether.
-
- *****************************************************************
- Trademarks are property of their respective owners.
- This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long
- as it is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed
- for profit. Copyright (C) 1992-3 by Quarterdeck Office Systems
- ******************** E N D O F F I L E **********************