ALLEMM4.SYS Version 2.20 -------------------------------------------------------- Upon initialization, ALLEMM4 provides the following mesages: 1) The type of video system you are using. 2) The command line options used with ALLEMM4.SYS. 3) The amount and starting address of mappable extended memory, and the location of the 64K EMS pageframe, if any. 4) The amount and start address of mappable conventional memory. 5) The amount of memory used by ALLEMM4.SYS. If no options are specified then ALLEMM4 will leave a blank line for the command line options used. If you have made a mistake in entering an option, ALLEMM4 will pause the boot process, point out the error in question, display the appropriate error message (eg."invalid option"), and then prompt you to hit any key to continue. ALLEMM4 will not install if an error was made in entering an option. If your system normally boots with less than 640K of conventional memory, then ALLEMM4 will automatically backfill conventional memory to the video line (640K for EGA or VGA systems; 704K for Hercules and monochrome systems; 736K for CGA systems). This feature can be suppressed using the NOVIDEOFILL and NOFILL options described below. Options: RAM -- The RAM option provides the ability to fill in the free or unused gaps above the video line and below 1024K, so memory resident applications including Device drivers, Files, Buffers, Lastdrive, and other Terminate-Stay-Resident programs (.COM and .EXE) files can be loaded into high memory. The RAM option works in conjunction with FILES.EXE, BUFFERS.EXE, LASTDRIVE.EXE, DEVICE.EXE and ALLOAD.EXE. ROM -- The ROM option will provide ROM shadowing, a technique which will automatically copy the contents of ROM areas into RAM memory and then map this RAM into the space occupied by the ROM. This function can potentially speed up all accesses to ROM by as much as a factor of three-to-one. CON[TEXTS] -- The CON[TEXTS] option specifies the maximum number of mapping contexts that ALLEMM4 can save at one time. EXT[MEM] -- The EXT[MEM] option specifies the amount of extended memory which should not be used by ALLEMM4. The EXT[MEM] option excludes the use of extended memory beginning at address 1024K. It has the opposite meaning of the ME[MORY] option as described in the manual (page 5 of section 5). FR[AME]=NONE -- The FR[AME] option is not new but the arguement "NONE" is new. If FR=NONE, then no EMS pageframe is installed. The 64K space normally used by the EMS pageframe can then be used by the RAM option to load an extra 64K of memory resident overhead. NOFILL -- The NOFILL option will suppress backfilling of memory to 640K. This applies to system which have less than 640K on the system board. NOVIDEOFILL -- The NOVIDEOFILL option will allow ALLEMM4 to backfill upto 640K but not beyond. If you have Hercules or monochrome then ALLEMM4 would normally provide you with 704K of memory at boot time. If you have a CGA system then ALLEMM4 will normally provide you with 736K of memory at boot time. P -- The P option will simply stop the execution of the CONFIG.SYS file after ALLEMM4.SYS has completed its task, and prompt the user to strike any key to continue. The option is useful for debugging purposes. Syntax: DEVICE=ALLEMM4.SYS [Options] Options: RAM=iiii[-dddd] -- where iiii and dddd represent hexadecimal values specifying unused memory ranges between 640K (A000) and 1024K (FFFF) that ALLEMM4 should map memory into, where drives and TSRs can be loaded, freeing up DOS space. If no range is specified, ALLEMM4 will fill in all the gaps above 640K. ROM=iiii[-dddd] -- where iiii and dddd represent hexadecimal values specifying ROM ranges between 640K (A000) and 1024K (FFFF) that ALLEMM4 should shadow. If no range is specified, then ALLEMM4 will shadow all visible ROMs at boot time. ROMs between 960K and 1024K (F000-FFFF) are not shadowed by default and must be specified. Non-visible ROMs (like ROMs used by network cards) can not be shadowed since they only appear after ALLEMM4 has installed. CON[TEXTS]=ccc -- where ccc is the specifies the maximum number of mapping contexts that ALLEMM4 can save at one time. ccc must be a decimal number between 16 and 255. The default number of mapping contexts under ALLEMM4 is 32. EXT[MEM]=nnnnn -- where nnnnn is a decmial number between 1 and 15360 which specifies the total amount of extended memory which should not be used by ALLEMM4. The EXT[MEM] option excludes the use of extended memory beginning at address 1024K, going up. It has the opposite meaning of the ME[MORY] option. If the EXT[MEM] option is not specified then ALLEMM4 will use all the available extended memory in the system. FR[AME]=aaaa or NONE -- where aaaa is the start address of the 64K pageframe required by expanded memory manager to provide EMS. If FR=NONE, then no EMS pageframe is installed. The 64K space normally used by the EMS pageframe can then be used by the RAM option to load an extra 64K of memory resident overhead. NOFILL -- no parameters; see above for use NOVIDEOFILL -- no parameters; see above for use P -- no parameters; see above for use New Features, Options and Enhancements with ALLEMM4.SYS Release 2.2: 1) Release 2.1 of ALLEMM4.SYS had a problem in computers with a Phoenix BIOS 3.10.00 and some computers with the Award BIOS version 3.01 and DTK BIOS, with the inability to control address line 20. You will now get the following system message: "WARNING - A20 was initially ON" and the ALLEMM4 driver will proceed to install. The essence of the problem is that in these computers A20 is already enabled. Applications which follow XMS and require HIMEM.SYS will not work. HIMEM will not install. 2) At the beginning of its initialization sequence the keyboard shift status is checked by ALLEMM4.SYS to see if the ALT and SHIFT (left and/or right) keys are locked (ie. pressed). If the ALT-SHIFT key combination is pressed, then ALLEMM4.SYS will NOT install. 3) If you have the Hardcard from PLUS Development or a hard disk controller that is not a true 16-bit controller (ie. it takes a short slot in your computer) then you must add a new parameter to the ALLEMM4.SYS statement in your CONFIG.SYS file. The new option tells ALLEMM4 how your hard disk should be handled. Example: DEVICE=ALLEMM4.SYS DMA=HD 4) If you would like a Logical Memory Map (like EXAMEM) displayed at boot time you can include a new command line option with ALLEMM4.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file. The new option is called MEMTABLE or MT for short. Example: DEVICE=ALLEMM4.SYS MT 5) The previous release of ALLEMM4.SYS had a potential problem when running with extended memory programs like VDISK and IBMCACHE and extended memory applications like ORACLE and AUTOCAD. Extended memory is accessed by these programs through an interrupt call to the BIOS (INT 15). This would then cause a switch to protected mode to access the extended memory. The potential problem arose upon return from protected mode; the BIOS disables Address Line 20 (also called A20) thereby disabling access to ALL the odd megabytes of extended memory in the system! Although the previous release of ALLEMM4 would monitor A20 and re-enable it, the time delay in doing so would often cause a complete system lockup. This problem has now been solved. This release of ALLEMM4.SYS hooks INT 15 and keeps the system in real mode yet provides the same extended memory access for an application. An added benefit of this approach is that access to extended memory is from 2 to 5 times faster since no switching between real and protected takes place. 6) The previous release of ALLEMM4 was not fully compatible with the XMS specification (Microsoft) commonly known as HIMEM.SYS. While Microsoft Windows users would not experience any problems, other applications like Software Carousel (3.0) and Ventura Publisher (2.0), which make more extensive use of XMS would have promlems with HIMEM.SYS and ALLEMM4. Release 2.2 of ALLEMM4 now fully supports XMS. Essentially, HIMEM must remain in your CONFIG.SYS file and appear before ALLEMM4. Example: DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=ALLEMM4.SYS 7) All the known EMS 4.0 bugs have been fixed in Release 2.2 of ALLEMM4. In addition, the basic EMS code has been optimized making the LIM 4.0 functions faster (about 40% faster or more!). Also, the resident portion of ALLEMM4 has been somewhat reduced. Notes,Tips and Caveats: 1) If you are using the KEYB.COM program (which comes with DOS) to set a different keyboard arrangement then you will have a problem warm booting the system using the CTRL-ALT-DEL sequence. This problem can be overcome by shadowing the last 4K of the BIOS, using the ROM option in the form ROM=FF00-FFFF with ALLEMM4. Add the option to the ALLEMM4.SYS statement in your CONFIG.SYS file: Example: DEVICE=ALLEMM4.SYS ROM=FF00-FFFF 2) The FR=NONE option disables the 64K EMS pageframe (required for EMS 3.2), but EMS (version 4.0) is still active in the system. Under EMS 4.0 pageframes can be larger than 64K and below 640K. Some EMS 3.2 programs, like Lotus 1-2-3, will work fine with the FR=NONE option. Lotus checks to see if EMS in installed, and then checks the location of the pageframe. Since the pageframe is below 640K, Lotus simply disables its EMS capability. However, some EMS 3.2 programs, assume that if EMS is active, then there must be a pageframe installed. Thus, the FR=NONE option will cause them to fail. If you plan to run EMS applications such as Borland's Quattro, or SideKick Plus, then the FR=NONE option will not work. If you have set FR=NONE then these applications will simply lock the system up. Do not use the FR=NONE option with these applications. If you have any application compiled with the summer '87 release, of Clipper, then you can use the FR=NONE option, provided that you SET a DOS environment parameter, for the application. The following can be added as a line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Example: SET CLIPPER=E0 Note that the Clipper application will not use expanded memory in this case, but will work with the FR=NONE option. 3) If you are running DESQview with a version before version 2.2 then do not attempt to load Buffers into high memory using the BUFFERS command. If you want more than the default number of Buffers provided by DOS, then Buffers must be included in the CONFIG.SYS file. Buffers can be loaded high, if you are using DESQview 2.2 or higher. 4) If you are using DOS 4.01 then the BUFFERS.COM program will not work. You should load the DOS BUFFERS through the CONFIG.SYS file and into expanded memory with the /X option. Example: DEVICE=ALLEMM4.SYS BUFFERS=50,10 /X Note: You must have an EMS pageframe set for this to work. 5) If you are running Borland's Paradox version 3.0, with either a monochrome or CGA video adapter then you must include the NV option with ALLEMM4.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS file. If you are running EGA or VGA then this option is not necessary. Example: DEVICE=ALLEMM4.SYS NV If you are running Paradox 3.0 and have set the FR=NONE option with ALLEMM4.SYS then you must load Paradox as follows: Example: PARADOX3 -EMK0 6) The Zenith EGA or VGA video adapters have a total of 32K of option ROM beginning at C000. ALLEMM4 only detects the first 16K of this ROM. If you have the Zenith video adapter the you must explicitly exclude the hidden ROMs. Example: DEVICE=ALLEMM4.SYS X=C000-C7FF *** ALL COMPUTERS INC. SUPPORT SERVICES *** Technical Support (416) 960-0111 9am - 5pm EST Bulletin Board Service (416) 960-8679 24 HRS. ** ALL COMPUTERS INC. SUPPORT SERVICES ** Technical Support (416) 960-0111 9am - 5pm EST Bulletin Board Service (416) 960-8679 24 HRS. ************************* END OF FILE **********************************