Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!sun!amdcad!pepsi!phil
From: phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: DesqView 286
Message-ID: <29802@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Date: 9 Apr 90 23:30:20 GMT
References: <10122@shlump.nac.dec.com>
Sender: news@amdcad.AMD.COM
Reply-To: phil@pepsi.AMD.COM (Phil Ngai)
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 33

In article <10122@shlump.nac.dec.com> goldstein@carafe.enet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes:
|>From the description of your system, it has EMS 3.2, which is useless
|>for multi-tasking. You need EEMS, which you can only get on either an
|>AST Premium 286 or a 386.
|
|Phil, please clarify something.  If the PC has "LIM EMS 4.0" implemented
|using its chipset (ie, the current SUNTAC or C&T NEAT), complete with 
|its own driver (that makes 4DOS and VDISK happy), will DESQview use it,
|or will DESQview only use EEMS?  Most current 286 clones seem to have
|this LIM4.0 EMS included.  Thanx,

Because EMS 4.0 was written after EEMS, you would expect it to have
all the functionality and more. EMS 4.0 does, but most of it is
optional to accommodate all the vendors with 3.2 product. Therefore,
EMS 4.0 compliance by itself is really meaningless. If the vendor
will guarantee both EMS 4.0 and EEMS, then you can use DV.

However, I warn you that both the so-called NEAT and the Suntac I
am familiar with are really 3.2, not the full 4.0. NEAT requires
an extra chip to implement the full 4.0 and this is usually not
provided because the demand for full 4.0 is so low.

The AST Premium was the only one I knew of with EEMS, now someone has
said the NEC Prospeed has it too. In any case, EEMS on 286s is very
rare and I don't recommend DV/286 unless your vendor will let you
return it if it doesn't work.

The key to all this is whether you can bank switch only 64K (EMS 3.2)
or the entire 1 megabyte (EEMS).

--
Phil Ngai, phil@amd.com		{uunet,decwrl,ucbvax}!amdcad!phil
The War on Drugs is the modern day Inquisition.