Path: utzoo!bnr-vpa!bnr-fos!bmers58!mlord
From: mlord@bmers58.UUCP (Mark Lord)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Desqview and EMS 4.0
Message-ID: <567@bmers58.UUCP>
Date: 29 Nov 89 12:29:56 GMT
References: <2627@aecom.yu.edu> <5555@cps3xx.UUCP>
Reply-To: mlord@bmers58.UUCP (Mark Lord)
Distribution: na
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 33

In article <5555@cps3xx.UUCP> draper@cpsin1.UUCP (Patrick J Draper) writes:
>When operating in the Desqview environment, is EMS 4.0 treated like
>EEMS? I have an 80286, and I need to know if it is possible to multitask
>beyond 640K. Currently, Desqview swaps programs in and out of low
>memory. It sure would be nice to run Microsoft C (~380K) and a text
>editor (~200K) with background compilation.

IF your memory is HARDWARE EMS 4.0 (as opposed to 3.2 hardware with 4.0 
software drivers only), then you should be able to use xdv.com instead of
dv.exe to enter DESQVIEW.  Try it.  If this works (ie. if desqview does not
complain when you run xdv), then YES.  

DesqView treats true EMS 4.0 hardware the same as EEMS or PS/2 expansion cards,
enabling it to swap EMS page tables instead of copying memory, which permits
it to do multitasking.  

HOWEVER, like the DesqView Manuals explain (you have them, right?), for 
most effective use, you need to disable main motherboard memory (as much as
possible.. say all but 256K) and use your EMS 4.0 to "backfill" (take the place
of) this memory.  This allows DV to do efficient multitasking of programs
as large as the amount of backfill (in this example, 640k-256k=384k max, plus
the regular 64k EMS frame in high memory).

>Am I asking too much of an 80286 under DOS? Or will I have to upgrade to
>an 80386?

No, this is not asking too much.. as long as you have REAL EMS 4.0 hardware
with backfill capability.
-- 
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Mark S. Lord                           | Hey, It's only MY opinion. |
| ..!utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-fos!mlord%bmers58 | Feel free to have your own.|
+----------------------------------------+----------------------------+