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From: e4666881@rick.cs.ubc.ca (richard louie)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.apps
Subject: Re: frustration with memory problems
Message-ID: <1991Apr17.174244.5318@rick.cs.ubc.ca>
Date: 17 Apr 91 17:42:44 GMT
References: <31945@usc>
Sender: news@rick.cs.ubc.ca (Usenet News)
Organization: Rick Lab, CPSC, UBC, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 31


     It sounds to me that you may have gotten a bad system - in regards to
not having the mouse working when you use Windows.  You should ask the dealer
about that one.
     As for the memory problems, they are very common on MS-DOS machines. 
To see why they are common, you need a bit of history.  MS-DOS was first
written with only 640KB of memory in mind - back then 640KB was a lot
on a PC. As 286s and 386s and later 486s come into being, the 640KB mark
became a problem - with the added complexity of programs and the user's wishes
to have TSR (programs which stay resident in memory even after you exit the 
program), that 640KB gets used up very quickly (most users only get about 
500KB of useable space if they are lucky).  To solve these memory problems,
companies like Quarterdeck have introduced produces like QEMM which will
put these TSRs and your DOS drivers into high memory (memory between 640 -
1024KB) and this would free up the valuable memory below the 640KB mark. As a
result, most 386 owners have about 550+ KB of free memory to play with.
     I've mentioned one solution - QEMM - but you can also do it on the cheap.
There are bound to be some extra DOS drivers and TSR which the dealer may
have installed which you don't use which could be gotten rid of to get that
extra memory back.  The first thing you should do is to boot the computer
off of a regular DOS disk with the system on it and nothing else. See if the
programs like Sigmaplot will run.  If they do, you just have to free up some
memory.  If they don't you got a computer which is not truely compatible. 
     There is one other solution, get a product called DR-DOS 5.0 from 
the people at Digital Research.  Its a DOS compatible OS which replaces MS-DOS.
WHY?  Because it will do everything MS-DOS will and give you the memory that
QEMM does and do it automatically.

Richard
e4666881@rick.cs.ubc.ca