Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!linus!linus!mwunix.mitre.org!jcmorris From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: DOS 5 and memory management Message-ID: Date: 18 Jun 91 16:30:02 GMT References: Sender: news@linus.mitre.org (News Service) Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA Lines: 25 Nntp-Posting-Host: mwunix.mitre.org cb@tamarack12.timbuk (Chris Brewster) writes: >Since the new DOS has paging and task switching, I'm unclear on what is still >needed from a memory manager. Is QEMM or MAX still useful? Both Microsoft and the memory manager vendors agree that what you get with DOS 5 is about what the third-party vendors were offering four years ago or so. The code packaged with DOS 5 does a pretty good job of military packing; the other vendors (QEMM, 386^max, etc) do a better job of grocery packing. Military packing: load up the Herky bird until the next box won't fit, close the cargo door, and dispatch. Anything which didn't make it on the first pass is left behind. Grocery packing (especially in a Volkswagen Bug): Put in all the groceries which fit; if any are left over, empty the car and try again until you find a combination in which every bag is inside the car and there's still room for the driver. Users who are really hurting for memory will still find the third-party memory managers valuable, but much of their basic function is now part of DOS. Joe