I was playing around using one of these cards as UMB memory to load DOS and TSRs high on my XT system. I used a lot of information in
this thread to get a good, working configuration. Here are step by step directions that I sent to another member that I thought they'd be helpful to others as well.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This gives you 64K of UMB and disables access to the rest of the memory unless your EMS card has multiple 64K windows to access the RAM. Unfortunately, the Lo-Tech EMS has a single 64K window. Even so, you can easily edit your config.sys and autoexec.bat to make a boot menu to pick whether you want to use the card for UMB or for standard EMS usage.
The 64K UMB that is created using this method is split into four 16K regions. QRAM's OPTIMIZE.COM will attempt to determine the usage in each region then optimize the TSRs to maximize the space in those regions. I found it better to this manually.
You need the following software:
- LTEMM.SYS (Or other EMS Driver for your LIM 4 compatible EMS card)
- DOS-UP.SYS, LOADHI.COM, and LOADHIGH.SYS from QEMM 8
- QRAM 2.0
Adjust the paths in the examples below to point to the locations where you install LTEMM, QRAM, and the QEMM files.
Copy the LTEMM.SYS driver to a folder on your XT's HD. Add the following line at the top of your CONFIG.SYS file. Change the /P and /I settings to match the hardware settings on the EMS card.
Code:
DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\LTEMM\LTEMM.EXE /P:D000 /I:260 /N
Install QRAM. During the installation you should allow QRAM to modify the CONFIG.SYS and add the installation directory to the PATH. Once you get the 'QRAM Installation Complete' message, press Esc to return to DOS.
Copy the QEMM files to a folder on your XT's HD.
Edit your config.sys file. Add FL=0 to the end of the QRAM.SYS entry. (This is only necessary for cards with a single 64K window)
Code:
DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\QRAM\QRAM.SYS /FL=0
Add the following after the QRAM.SYS line.
Code:
DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\QEMM\DOS-UP.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
Reboot the computer. You should have gained between 32K and 36K of conventional memory.
Now comes a choice. You can run the OPTIMIZE.COM optimization program to let QRAM attempt to pick the best configuration for your system or you can manually edit your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files then use the DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH programs included with DOS. In my case, I was able to save an additional 4K by manually editing the files.
That's the basics. I've learned a bunch while working on this and you can definitely get a bit more advanced, but this should be enough to get you started.
My CONFIG.SYS:
Code:
DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\LTEMM\LTEMM.EXE /P:D000 /I:260 /N
DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\QRAM\QRAM.SYS R:3 /FL=0
DEVICE=C:\DRIVERS\QEMM\DOS-UP.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
FILES=30
BUFFERS=10
My AUTOEXEC.BAT
Code:
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS;C:\C;C:\DRIVERS\QRAM;C:\UTILS\MISC;C:\UTILS\VOLKCMDR
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T1
SET IBMAV=C:\DOS
SET TEMP=C:\TEMP
C:\DRIVERS\CBM\SPEED.EXE -d
C:\DRIVERS\CBM\SETCLOCK.EXE -r
CALL C:\C\FIXYEAR.BAT
LOADHIGH C:\DOS\DOSKEY.COM
LOADHIGH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE\CTMOUSE.EXE /M /3 /O
With this configuration, I have 619K Free in conventional memory and I still have 11K free in UMB for other TSRs.
In cases where you have many TSRs, you can get better memory optimization by loading the TSRs high instead of loading DOS high. PC DOS 2000 uses 36K of UMB to load itself high.
Heather
