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From: ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: How to Use Borland's VROOM Technology with a RAMDISK?
Message-ID: <18070@netcom.UUCP>
Date: 4 Dec 90 19:52:38 GMT
References: <11984@sybase.sybase.com>
Organization: UESPA
Lines: 48

In <11984@sybase.sybase.com> forrest@sybase.com writes:

>[excessive disk swapping by Quatro Pro (VROOM).

>What I'm wondering about is if it's possible to have VROOM use my
>RAM disk to do its swapping. I have 8 Megs of memory of which
>7 Megs is configured as expanded memory. Since I'm using the wonderful
>PC-KWIK Power Pack, I could have almost a 7 Meg RAM disk which I'd
>rather swap to than to my real disk. I've read everything that came
>with Quatro Pro and I didn't find anything that tells me how to do
>this. I haven't called Borland Tech support partially because I'm
>lazy and partially because the answer to this question might be
>of interest to other readers of this group.

I have Paradox (same kind of promotional "upgrade"), which is also a
VROOM program.  First of all, here's a specific answer to your
problem:  remove or shrink that RAM disk.  VROOM will use expanded
memory before it will resort to any kind of disk.

Here's a more general answer, and a gripe.  If Paradox 3.5 is typical,
Borland's VROOM software doesn't deal with the various memory options
with any smarts at all.  I have a 386 beast, with about half my
extended memory converted to expanded by MS's emm386.sys driver.
(Yes, I know there are better drivers, I'll probably buy one
eventually.)  Now, when it needs to decide where it's going to keep
its swap space, Paradox looks for extended memory, expanded memory, or
disk space, in that order.  In my case, it sees all that free
extended, and starts up all that fancy protected-mode stuff it needs
to access extended memory.  Then it discovers that some program using
extended memory (namely emm386) doesn't use the right conventions and
isn't a safe protected-mode partner.  It then recovers and functions
like it's running on a 8086 instead of a 80386.

The only practical effect of all this are some scary error messages
when I run Paradox and when Paradox exits.  (Finally got rid of these
by reconfiguring Paradox not to use extended memory at all.)  Not a
major bug, but a sign that somebody was excessively clever.  In the
name of "user friendliness" they make the program make all the
decisions, depriving the user of important options.


-- 

	ergo@netcom.uucp			Isaac Rabinovitch
	netcom!ergo@apple.com			Silicon Valley, CA
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