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-
- MS-DOS 6 and Quarterdeck Products
-
-
- 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: MSDOS6.TEC
- CompuServe: MSDOS6.ZIP
- Q/FAX: #166
-
-
- Subject: A discussion of MS-DOS version 6.0 and Quarterdeck
- products.
-
-
- 1. IS MS-DOS 6 COMPATIBLE WITH MY QUARTERDECK PRODUCTS?
-
- Absolutely! The Microsoft DOS 6 README.TXT file states, in
- Section 6.10: "Quarterdeck's QEMM memory manager is compatible
- with MS-DOS 6." In addition, there are no known incompatibilities
- between MS DOS 6.0 and Quarterdeck's DESQview or DESQview/X
- multitaskers.
-
- 2. AS A QEMM USER, WHAT INFORMATION DO I NEED TO INSTALL DOS 6?
-
- As a QEMM user, the most important information that you can take
- with you in the installation and configuration of Microsoft DOS 6
- is the knowledge that you are already running the most effective
- memory management system available for the IBM-compatible
- computer. So, if you are already using QEMM:
-
- a. Run the SETUP program from the DOS 6 installation diskette and
- follow the instructions on the screen.
-
- b. Install any of the new DOS 6 utilities that you desire. DOS 6
- provides you the opportunity to add virus protection and other
- utilities to your system. Remember: the default installation of
- DOS 6 installs only the MS Windows versions of these utilities;
- you have to tell it to install the DOS versions as well. This is
- done on the Utilities screen of the SETUP process.
-
- c. Run QEMM's OPTIMIZE to load those drivers into Upper Memory.
-
- If you should desire to experiment with Microsoft DOS 6's
- MemMaker (the program that attempts to provide more memory), we
- can recommend a couple of safeguards. MemMaker will remove ALL
- the QEMM commands from your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files
- (with the exception of DOSDATA.SYS and DOS-UP.SYS, which you
- would have to remove manually.) We are confident that you will
- want to return to Quarterdeck's QEMM, so we urge you to save a
- copy of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. Before you begin
- to experiment, copy these files from the root directory to some
- other directory or to floppy diskette. This will allow you to
- restore them easily.
-
- Next, be aware that even if you save the configuration created by
- MemMaker, you can usually reverse its changes by running MEMMAKER
- /UNDO. If the final screen of the MemMaker process is NOT a
- numerical breakdown of how MemMaker got you more memory (and
- every test that we have run says it will not be), select the
- default exit by pressing the <ENTER> key. Do NOT press F3 to
- save the current MemMaker configuration.
-
- It may also be helpful to know that MemMaker does NOT handle
- CALLed batch files. A CALLed batch file is executed with the DOS
- keyword "CALL" which tells DOS to execute the commands in the
- "CALLed" batch file and then resume executing the remaining
- commands in the current batch file (the AUTOEXEC.BAT in this
- case). The significance of this is that Quarterdeck's Optimize
- process DOES handle CALLed batch files, loading any TSR's in
- those batch files into Upper Memory instead of just ignoring
- them. This means that when MemMaker deletes the QEMM commands
- from the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, it leaves them in the
- Optimized, CALLed batch files. These would have to be removed by
- editing the CALLed batch files and deleting the LOADHI
- information. If NO changes have been made since the last time
- that you Optimized your system, you could also run UNOPT.BAT.
- UNOPT is a batch file, created by Optimize, that returns your
- system to the condition it was in before the most recent
- Optimize. If you have Optimized more than once, this may not
- remove the LOADHI information.
-
- It is obvious that with the greater selection of features in QEMM
- and Optimize MemMaker does not stand a chance of creating more
- Upper Memory. QEMM's Stealth ROM feature adds 96K of Upper
- Memory, 64K more than MemMaker's best attempt to find unused
- space in your System BIOS. Optimize has the ability, through
- Quarterdeck's Squeeze technology, to "shoe-horn" TSR's and device
- drivers into areas that are large enough for them to reside, but
- too small for them to initialize. (It is common for drivers and
- resident programs to require larger areas during initialization
- than they need once they have loaded.) Optimize has a "What-If"
- feature that lets you see the effect that rearranging the loading
- order of your programs and drivers will have on your memory usage
- WITHOUT making any changes to your configuration. None of this
- is possible with MemMaker.
-
- 3. ARE ANY OF MY QUARTERDECK PRODUCTS AFFECTED BY DOUBLESPACE?
-
- The most talked-about feature of Microsoft DOS 6 is DoubleSpace.
- DoubleSpace was designed to be compatible with QEMM's Stealth ROM
- feature. Disk compression utilities, including Stacker,
- XtraDrive, and now DoubleSpace, have gone to great lengths to be
- compatible with Stealth ROM as well as Optimize.
-
- DBLSPACE.BIN is a driver that allows your system to recognize
- your DoubleSpace drive. It is loaded by IO.SYS during boot time,
- BEFORE DOS has even thought about loading QEMM. DBLSPACE.BIN
- uses about 43K of your memory, and when the CONFIG.SYS has
- completed, the memory used by the resident portion of
- DBLSPACE.BIN appears to be added to the memory used by the LAST
- driver loaded in the CONFIG.SYS. In other words, the last driver
- loaded appears to be 43K larger than it actually is. When you
- install DoubleSpace, the following line is added to your
- CONFIG.SYS file:
-
- DEVICE=C:\DOS\DBLSPACE.SYS /MOVE
-
- DBLSPACE.SYS has only one purpose, and that is to make
- DBLSPACE.BIN appear as a "real" driver, separate in memory.
- DoubleSpace REQUIRES that DBLSPACE.SYS be loaded in order for any
- memory manager to load DBLSPACE.BIN into upper memory.
-
- QEMM includes a feature called "Stealth DoubleSpace" which moves
- the DoubleSpace driver out of conventional or upper memory and
- maps it into the expanded memory Page Frame whenever it is
- needed. By using Stealth DoubleSpace you save approximately 41K
- of memory. If DoubleSpace is installed on your system when you
- install QEMM 7 the following line will be added to your
- CONFIG.SYS file:
-
- DEVICE=C:\QEMM\ST-DBL.SYS
-
- If you install DoubleSpace AFTER installing QEMM 7, you should
- run QEMM's QSETUP program (by typing QSETUP at the DOS prompt.)
- QSETUP will remove the DBLSPACE.SYS line in your CONFIG.SYS and
- replace it with the ST-DBL.SYS line shown above.
-
- The Stealth DoubleSpace feature, like the Stealth ROM feature,
- requires the EMS page frame to work. If you have used
- QEMM386.SYS's FRAME=NONE; FRAMELENGTH=0, 1, 2 or 3; or EMS:N
- parameter to eliminate the page frame, the ST-DBL.SYS program
- will act exactly like the DOS 6 driver DBLSPACE.SYS with its
- /MOVE parameter: in other words, it will move DBLSPACE.BIN from
- the top of conventional memory to low conventional memory. If
- you choose to leave ST-DBL.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file without a
- page frame, you can use Optimize to load the DoubleSpace driver
- into High RAM, just as you could with DBLSPACE.SYS /MOVE.
-
- DESQview or DESQview/X users should be aware that the
- DBLSPACE.EXE program cannot be run from inside of DESQview or
- DESQview/X. DBLSPACE.EXE detects the presence of DESQview and
- refuses to run. This program is used mainly for the creation and
- maintenance of DoubleSpace drives.
-
- Quarterdeck has a program called NODESQ.COM that can be run in a
- DESQview window, before a program that detects DESQview. NODESQ
- defeats the DESQview detection of DESQview-aware applications,
- like DBLSPACE.EXE. You can add NODESQ.COM (available from the
- Quarterdeck BBS) and run DBLSPACE.EXE (as is the case for most of
- the DESQview-sensitive DOS 6 programs), but you may run some
- risk. You should see that all DoubleSpace drives are mounted
- before entering any multitasking environment. You should not
- mount drives using DBLSPACE.EXE inside of DESQview. This may
- make working with DoubleSpaced floppies slightly awkward.
-
- 4. HOW CAN I RESTORE MY QEMM CONFIGURATION AFTER MEMMAKER HAS
- REMOVED QEMM FROM MY CONFIG.SYS AND AUTOEXEC.BAT FILES?
-
- The steps that you must follow in order to return to QEMM after
- running MemMaker depend on whether you have:
-
- 1. Not yet completed MemMaker;
- 2. Just finished running MemMaker for the first time;
- 3. Run MemMaker more than once OR
- made numerous post-MemMaker changes to your configuration.
-
- For the Number 1's who have not yet completed MemMaker:
-
- When MemMaker completes and DOES NOT provide a better
- configuration than the one you already had, it will tell you
- "Your computer's memory was optimally configured before you ran
- MemMaker". At this juncture you can press <ENTER> to restore
- your original configuration or F3 to save the MemMaker
- configuration. Your choice at this time will be <ENTER>. Your
- existing QEMM configuration will be restored.
-
- For the Number 2's who just completed MemMaker:
-
- Since you have completed the MemMaker process, it has probably
- become evident to you that nothing provides more Upper Memory for
- loading your TSR's and device drivers than QEMM. Hopefully, you
- followed our advice and made copies of your QEMM Optimized
- CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. You can now just copy them back.
- If you did not, and MemMaker has completed, you may be able to
- recover your configuration by using DOS 6's MEMMAKER /UNDO
- command. This restores your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to
- the state they were in before the last time you completed
- MemMaker.
-
- However, this is not possible if you have deleted the backup
- copies of the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files that MemMaker
- puts in the same directory as MEMMAKER.EXE. These files are
- named AUTOEXEC.UMB and CONFIG.UMB (and sometimes SYSTEM.UMB; this
- is a copy of your MS Windows SYSTEM.INI file). It is also not
- possible to restore the QEMM information and remove all the
- MemMaker information if you have run MemMaker MORE than ONCE.
- This would mean that the *.UMB files created by MemMaker would
- NOT have the QEMM information in them, but would still have ONLY
- MemMaker's options installed.
-
- If for some reason MEMMAKER /UNDO does not restore your QEMM
- configuration, do not be concerned. Simply follow the simple
- instructions in the next section intended for Number 3's.
-
- For the Number 3's who made further changes after MemMaker:
-
- Whether you just finished running Memmaker (but are unable to
- restore your system with /UNDO) or have made extensive changes to
- your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files since running MemMaker,
- restoring your QEMM configuration is a simple matter. Just type
- QSETUP from the DOS prompt. QEMM's QSETUP program will remove
- HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE from your CONFIG.SYS file and replace
- them with a QEMM386.SYS device line. From the QSETUP menu you
- can also enable other options (such as QDPMI and DOS-UP.) Once
- QSETUP has enabled the options you choose, run QEMM's Optimize
- program to load your device drivers and TSR's into upper memory.
- That is all there is to it.
-
- WILL I HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH DESQVIEW OR DESQVIEW/X?
-
- Very few Microsoft DOS 6 issues confront the DESQview or
- DESQview/X user. Any of the MS-DOS 6 utilities that might, in
- ANY way, cause a problem when run in a multitasking environment
- are DESQview-aware. These particular programs will post a
- message reminding you that you are currently multitasking. DOS 6
- uses portions of the DESQview API (Application Programming
- Interface) to detect if DESQview or DESQview/X is running. You
- will have no problem running these programs outside of the
- multitasking environment.
-
- Available from Quarterdeck (via BBS, CompuServe, or other
- standard support channels), is a program called NODESQ.COM. If
- NODESQ is run in the window, before running a DESQview-aware
- program, that program will not detect the presence of DESQview.
- You can add NODESQ.COM to a batch file that runs DBLSPACE.EXE.
- You should mount all possible drives before starting DESQview or
- DESQview/X. You should not mount drives using DBLSPACE.EXE
- inside of DESQview. This may make working with DoubleSpaced
- floppies slightly awkward.
-
- VSAFE is the resident virus protection program that watches for
- certain acts of virii and provides a warning when it finds one.
- VSAFE can be loaded in XMS (23K conventional, 23K XMS) or EMS
- (6.5K conventional, 64K EMS) before DESQview loads. If you do
- this, then you CANNOT ALWAYS pop it up over DESQview. If you
- try, most of the time DESQview will appear to lose control over
- the keyboard. The DESQ key will NOT pull up the menu, etc. This
- is because VSAFE is up; you just can't see it. You have to hit
- ESC to make it go away. Then all will function as normal. If
- VSAFE is forced into Conventional memory (44K) it will pop up
- inside of DESQview. VSAFE cannot be unloaded while inside of
- DESQview, if it was loaded before DESQview.
-
- THE DOS 6 INTERACTIVE BOOT PROCESS:
-
- DOS 6 now has an "interactive" boot process. You can program the
- CONFIG.SYS to query you, every time the system boots, before
- loading a particular command in the CONFIG.SYS. This is done by
- adding a "?" to the command before the "=" in the command. The
- line: "DOS?=HIGH" would produce the following on the screen:
- "DOS=HIGH [Y,N]?" and you can make a choice as to load it or not.
- Optimize removes the "?" from any line that is edited by
- Optimize. These include the lines in the CONFIG.SYS that begin
- with BUFFERS=, DEVICE=, or INSTALL=.
-
- Another feature in the interactive boot process is the ability to
- build menus of configurations in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
- This is accomplished by building "blocks" in the CONFIG.SYS, and
- having the name of the block selection that you make on boot
- passed to the AUTOEXEC.BAT as an environment variable -%config%.
- The use of the environment variable, for IF's and GOTO's, will
- then process a particular portion of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file that
- is appropriate to that portion of the CONFIG.SYS.
-
- DOS 6 MULTIPLE CONFIGURATIONS AND QEMM:
-
- Multiple configurations (as implemented via the CONFIG.SYS
- blocks) have to be MemMakered one configuration at a time. The
- DOS 6 documentation discusses the process of converting your
- CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT into multiple copies and then
- MemMakering them one at a time. Microsoft warns users to avoid
- [common] blocks and "first entries" in the AUTOEXEC.BAT.
-
- Unlike MemMaker, QEMM's Optimize program handles multiple
- configurations with ease. When you run Optimize, it will detect
- any multiple configurations you have set up and will post a
- message prompting you to choose the CONFIG.SYS configuration you
- want to Optimize. (If Optimize is launched automatically by the
- Install program or by QEMM Setup, these programs will also detect
- multiple configurations and pass the information along to the
- Optimize program.) Optimize will then execute normally, booting
- the system with the configuration that you have chosen.
-
- When you are not using multiple configurations, Optimize places
- the /R:n (REGION:n) parameter on lines that load TSRs and device
- drivers to specify which High RAM region the driver or TSR will
- load into. When you are using multiple configurations, instead of
- placing /R:n parameters on the QEMM386.SYS and LOADHI lines,
- Optimize will place /RF (/RESPONSEFILE) parameters. The /R:n
- parameters would not work in a multiple configuration situation,
- because a program might be part of two or more CONFIG.SYS
- configurations, each requiring a different region number.
-
- The /RF parameter gets around this problem by directing
- QEMM386.SYS and the LOADHI programs to look in a resource file
- called LOADHI.RF that Optimize has created in the \QEMM
- directory. (Optimize places a LOADHIDATA environment variable in
- the CONFIG.SYS file that tells QEMM386.SYS and the LOADHI
- programs the name and location of this resource file.) LOADHI.RF
- will contain several "config blocks," each corresponding to a
- CONFIG.SYS configuration and containing the appropriate /R:n
- statements for that configuration. QEMM386.SYS and the LOADHI
- programs check the current CONFIG environment variable (created
- at boot time by DOS 6 to indicate which CONFIG.SYS configuration
- is being used), and then choose the appropriate config block to
- get information about what High RAM region they should use to
- load high.
-
- Here is an example of a resource file:
-
- [Vanilla]
- QEMM386.SYS /R:1
- C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE /R:1
- C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /R:1
-
- [Development]
- QEMM386.SYS /R:1
- C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE /R:1
- C:\QEMM\QDPMI.SYS /R:1
- C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /R:1
-
- [Full]
- QEMM386.SYS /R:2
- C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE /R:3
- C:\QEMM\QDPMI.SYS /R:3
- C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /R:2
- C:\PCKWIK\SUPERPCK.EXE /R:2
- C:\NET\IPX.COM /R:1
- C:\NET\EMSNETX.COM /R:2
-
- [All Others]
- QEMM386.SYS /R:1
- C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE /R:1
- C:\QEMM\QDPMI.SYS /R:1
- C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /R:1
- C:\PCKWIK\SUPERPCK.EXE /R:2
-
- In this example, the blocks named Vanilla, Development, and Full
- will be used only when you choose their names off the menu that
- DOS 6 offers when you boot with multiple configurations. The All
- Others section will be used only if none of the blocks before it
- were chosen. If you place a line before the first block, it will
- be used no matter what configuration name you choose.
-
- This file format is also supported by QEMM's parameter files (see
- Chapter 7 of the QEMM manual for information) and by the DOS-Up
- resource file DOS-UP.DAT, which the driver DOS-UP.SYS uses to
- determine where different parts of DOS go in High RAM. Normally,
- you do not need to edit these files yourself. Optimize creates
- and maintain the files.
-
-
- 6. WHAT ELSE IS QUARTERDECK DOING FOR MS-DOS 6?
-
- Quarterdeck's commitment to adding functionality to DOS, and DOS-
- based programs, has kept our products at the forefront of memory
- management and multitasking technology. With each new version of
- DOS comes an opportunity for Quarterdeck to design new features
- and offer the DOS user an even greater implementation of the
- world's most widely used operating system. Rest assured that
- Quarterdeck intends to continue this pattern.
-
- *************************************************************** *
- 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) 1993 by Quarterdeck Office Systems
- ****************** E N D O F F I L E ***********************