Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!amdahl!pyramid!prls!philabs!micomvax!ray
From: ray@micomvax.UUCP (Ray Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Using XMS driver (HIMEM) & VDISK???
Message-ID: <1586@micomvax.UUCP>
Date: 3 Jan 89 23:13:57 GMT
References: <499@igor.Rational.COM> <6478@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> <3173@ncrwic.Wichita.NCR.COM>
Reply-To: ray@micomvax.UUCP (Ray Dunn)
Organization: Philips Electronics Ltd. (TDS - Montreal) St. Laurent QC, Canada
Lines: 42

In article <6478@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> chasm@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Charles Marsl
>In article <499@igor.Rational.COM>, dsb@Rational.COM (David S. Bakin) writes:
> > So:  What ramdisk software can I use that is compabible with HIMEM.SYS?
> > Will Microsoft's own RAMDRIVE.SYS work?
>
>Yep, and their cache program, they do all they can to keep you from
>running with any others.  That's mostly self defense since a rabid
>cache program can do a fair amount of harm!

Correct me please if I am wrong, but although RAMDRIVE.SYS *or* SMARTDRV.SYS
will *co-exist* with HIMEM.SYS under MSDOS, neither *use* HIMEM.SYS in their
allocation or management of the extended memory.

They work with HIMEM.SYS only because at install time these drivers allocate
their memory from the end of the available extended memory opposite to that
used by HIMEM, i.e. they have been made to work despite the other's
presence.

When using *expanded* memory however, they *do* use LIM 4.0 to allocate and
manage their memory requirements (the Correct Way).

A sign that XMS has yet to mature in the same way as LIM?

Frankly, I think that the support of *both* extended *and* expanded memory
by Microsoft in DOS and its utilities is a retrograde step.  Life is
becoming more and more complicated for the application program writer on the
PC.  We now have x video standards and y memory management schemes all which
must be supported to create a successful product.

[Do I hear someone say "Gosh standards are A Good Thing, lets have another
one!"]

The only real thing the PC had going for it was a small set of universal
standards.  Unless something is done to streamline and minimize the current
proliferation of these "standards" the PC will collapse under its own
weight.

-- 
Ray Dunn.                      |   UUCP: ..!philabs!micomvax!ray
Philips Electronics Ltd.       |   TEL : (514) 744-8200   Ext: 2347
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