Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!stretch.cs.mun.ca!leif!noelroy
From: noelroy@kean.ucs.mun.ca (Noel Roy, Economics Dept., Memorial University)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.zenith
Subject: Re: ZCACHE/Desqview combination on a 386 safe?
Message-ID: <127252@kean.ucs.mun.ca>
Date: 21 Aug 90 21:24:47 GMT
References: <53258@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
Lines: 40

In article <53258@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>, boylanr@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (ross boylan) writes:
> I have a Zenith 386 (16Mhz) running Desqview under qemm (both hardware
> and software are a couple of years old).  I recently installed
> zenith's disk cache, ZCACHE, and it has produced some dramatic
> speedups.  But I'm nervous, because I recall that desqview does some
> of it's own buffering.  Also, I've used loadhi for the drivers.
> 
> Is this combination safe?
> 
I have been using MicroSoft's SMARTDRV as a disk cache with DesqView 
in a Zenith 386-16, with no problems.  I presume the same would apply 
to ZCACHE.

> A portion of my config.sys is
> DEVICE=C:\DV\QEMM.SYS MAPS=10 RAM NOSORT X=C000-C9FF X=E000-F07F
> device=c:\dv\loadhi.sys c:\mouse\mouse.sys
> device=c:\dv\loadhi.sys \dos\vdisk.sys 500 /a
> device=c:\dv\loadhi.sys \dos\zcache.sys 700 /a
> FILES=40
> BUFFERS=3
> 
I gather you are still using QEMM v 4.2 or earlier.  I highly 
recommend the upgrade to version 5.0.  My experience was that 4.2 was 
cranky, unreliable and slow on my Zenith.  The upgrade improved 
matters enormously.

> This raises an additional question: the documentation implied /a (use
> expanded memory) was safer than extended memory.  Does anyone have
> experience or wisdom about using expanded v. extended memory?
> 
Since you are emulating expanded memory in your extended memory, I 
woyld recommend removing the /a switches.  All they are doing is 
adding additional overhead.  Use the /EXTMEM parameter on your QEMM 
line to reserve some extended memory.

-- 
Dr. Noel Roy  				bitnet:   NOELROY@MUN
Department of Economics			internet: noelroy@kean.ucs.mun.ca	
Memorial University of Newfoundland	cdnnet:   noelroy@kean.mun.cdn
St. John's, Newfoundland A1C 5S7 Canada