Inboard/386 in Vendex Turbo-888 XT

[chjmartin2]

Hi,

I am so excited to finally be one of the cool kids with an Intel Inboard/386. It arrived and had pin one missing but I already had a cable I made for my Breakthrough 286 that worked perfectly.

The Inboard would not run with the original BIOS, it would not run with the Generic Turbo BIOS, but, but, but @640KB - it DOES run with GlaBIOS!

The TOPBENCH score is actually lower than my 286 accelerator but I can say without any reservation that games and apps run faster on this than before, so something else has to be a benefit.

I need some help as I don’t know normal IB/386 behavior. Specifically I can’t see any XMS memory in DOS. Oddly some programs see the XMS but not when I ‘mem /c’.

Here is all my config, boot and showing Wolf3D finding the XMS. Ideas? Insight or is this just how it is and you don’t Int 15 access to the XMS?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[krebizfan]

The system sees at least some of the extended memory; the High Memory Area is the first 64K of extended memory. Int 15h and XMS are contradictory protocols for extended memory. HIMEM will default to allocating all the extended memory leaving nothing for Int 15h extended memory calls. That still leaves the issue of why the system sees no free XMS. Could you post AUTOEXEC.BAT? Maybe something there is allocating the extended memory?

 

[Cimonvg]

hello
my inboard's have also been reporting 0Kb in DOS.
But you can test the memory with Checkit version 4, many other memory test applications do not recognize any memory.
/cimonvg

 

[chjmartin2]

hello
my inboard's have also been reporting 0Kb in DOS.
But you can test the memory with Checkit version 4, many other memory test applications do not recognize any memory.
/cimonvg

You seem to be the expert here. Is it possible to get Doom demo to run on a stock Inboard? I feel like I have a lot of protected mode conflicts. There are for sure applications that see the XMS.

 

[chjmartin2]

The system sees at least some of the extended memory; the High Memory Area is the first 64K of extended memory. Int 15h and XMS are contradictory protocols for extended memory. HIMEM will default to allocating all the extended memory leaving nothing for Int 15h extended memory calls. That still leaves the issue of why the system sees no free XMS. Could you post AUTOEXEC.BAT? Maybe something there is allocating the extended memory?

I will - but have tried booting without anything in Autoexec and I get the same thing. I wonder if anybody sees Int 15h memory. I also tried Netroom3 and didn’t see anything under free XMS. Oddly applications seem to see it but not all. For example QuickView Pro says not enough memory when I try to run it.

 

[krebizfan]

I will - but have tried booting without anything in Autoexec and I get the same thing. I wonder if anybody sees Int 15h memory. I also tried Netroom3 and didn’t see anything under free XMS. Oddly applications seem to see it but not all. For example QuickView Pro says not enough memory when I try to run it.

The one program I remember that used INT 15h to interface extended memory was IBM's VDISK. Functions 87h and 88h are used; according to RBIL, the only other system using those INT 15h functions is the Husky 16 so a conflict seems unlikely.

If you want to verify INT 15h memory access, you could either boot without HIMEM or include on the HIMEM line /INT15=<some value in KB of at least 64 but not more than all the extended memory>. /INT15 reserves that memory for INT 15h programs.

I don't see a special HIMEM machine setting for the Inboard.

 

[Cimonvg]

hello
I don't know if I'm the expert - but, I've definitely spent a lot of time on this accelerator hobby.
I know more about electronics and less about software, hoping some more software-knowledgeable person can figure out this 0Kb issue.
But if you look at my post about "https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/inboard-386-and-compability.66538/"
i am also talking about the memory
some copy-paste from that post:

In IBRD2516 it states :
"
Inboard
386/PC is not a system board replacement so it doesn't alter the
machine type code. Although the INBRDPC.SYS driver provides BIOS INT
15h extended memory functions, it does not supply the second
Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC), additional DMA channels, or
any of the other peripheral chips which differentiate the AT from the
PC. The computer should be considered a modified PC."

and in IBRD2516.txt the "Inboard 386/PC Software Design Considerations" it says:
quote:
" The INT 15h extended memory functions 87h (move block) and 88h (return
extended memory size) are installed with INBRDPC.SYS.* Function 89h
(enter protected mode) is not supplied because the AT version assumes
the presence of a second PIC, which is not present on a PC* . However,
functions 87h and 88h are all that is necessary for a well-behaved
application to access extended memory. Indeed, on the 80386, the real-
to-protected mode switching is accomplished in markedly less time than
on the AT because it is not necessary to reset the processor when re-
entering real mode."

/cimonvg

 

[chjmartin2]

and in IBRD2516.txt the "Inboard 386/PC Software Design Considerations" it says:
quote:
" The INT 15h extended memory functions 87h (move block) and 88h (return
extended memory size) are installed with INBRDPC.SYS.* Function 89h
(enter protected mode) is not supplied because the AT version assumes
the presence of a second PIC, which is not present on a PC* .

Ok so if it doesn’t provide Protected Mode how are we running 386 Enhanced mode and some people running Doom in it? I have gotten QEMM to load the protected mode driver??

 

[Svenska]

Ok so if it doesn’t provide Protected Mode how are we running 386 Enhanced mode and some people running Doom in it?

You can enter Protected Mode without using INT 15h / function 89h...

 

[Mike1978]

You can use 386Max in place of himem.sys and it gives Dos access to view the ram under running a mem command. See file IBRD2650.TXT

http://cd.textfiles.com/pier02/010a/ibrd.zip

Qualitas 386MAX 8.x

Qualitas 386MAX is a memory manager that competed with Quarterdeck QEMM and Memory Commander. It features ease use, with automated configuration and optimization. It claims to make more DOS memory available than other similar tools at the time.

winworldpc.com

I added it to my build.

 

[chjmartin2]

You can use 386Max in place of himem.sys and it gives Dos access to view the ram under running a mem command. See file IBRD2650.TXT

http://cd.textfiles.com/pier02/010a/ibrd.zip

View attachment 1253932

Qualitas 386MAX 8.x

Qualitas 386MAX is a memory manager that competed with Quarterdeck QEMM and Memory Commander. It features ease use, with automated configuration and optimization. It claims to make more DOS memory available than other similar tools at the time.

winworldpc.com

I added it to my build.

View attachment 1253936View attachment 1253935

If you disable EMS does it show memory available to DOS as XMS?

 

[Mike1978]

If you disable EMS does it show memory available to DOS as XMS?

Sadly my inboard stopped working or I’d be open to experiment more. It’s a crying shame as I spent a lot of time researching the inboard and reaching out to others to understand the constraints and how best to use the device..

Hopefully I’ll one day find another or ressurect my board.. it was real fun pushing it hard but maybe I pushed too hard…

 

[chjmartin2]

Sadly my inboard stopped working or I’d be open to experiment more. It’s a crying shame as I spent a lot of time researching the inboard and reaching out to others to understand the constraints and how best to use the device..

Hopefully I’ll one day find another or ressurect my board.. it was real fun pushing it hard but maybe I pushed too hard…

You don't want to try to fix it? When did it stop working?

 

[Mike1978]

You don't want to try to fix it? When did it stop working?

Absolutely I want it back up and running - hopefully one of the members from here will get time to help diagnose sometime soon. But it is a hobby and have to fit it around the day to day