Path: utzoo!attcan!lsuc!maccs!cs4g6ag
From: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: weakness in the LIM EMS 4.0 spec
Message-ID: <25C87DEC.22918@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>
Date: 1 Feb 90 18:20:28 GMT
References: <28980@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Reply-To: cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn)
Organization: McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Lines: 24

In article <28980@amdcad.AMD.COM> phil@pepsi.amd.com () writes:
$Well, guess what. This driver simply grabs 64 Kbytes of conventional
$memory, calls it the memory buffer, and implements EMS by going into
$protected mode and shuffling data back and forth to extended memory.

   There's a very good reason that the program (EMS40.SYS) does this.
If you look at the article, I believe it says that this driver will
allow you to use extended memory on a 286 to mimic expanded memory.
There are a lot of programs out there that will not recognize extended
memory but will make good use of expanded (such as Lotus Symphony).
If you have a 286 with 4M of memory of which all but 640K is extended,
as far as Symphony is concerned you only have 640K.  But if you use
EMS40.SYS, you now have about 570K (taking off 64K for the page
frame and a little for the driver) of conventional memory and over 3M
of expanded memory, and Symphony can now make use of more of your
memory.  Sure, it's slower, and you wouldn't want to use it with an
operating system that uses 4.0's backfilling, but it's a lot better
than nothing for many applications.

-- 
Stephen M. Dunn                               cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
          <std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate!!!\n";
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       "I want to look at life - In the available light" - Neil Peart