MS-DOS 6.22 No high memory is used

[IZazen]

Hello.

Having DOS as Guest-OS in VM Workstation 4.5.2, the high memory is not used.

The config.sys starts with:

device=c:\dos\setver.exe

device=c:\dos\himem.sys

dos=high

(no emm386.exe following)

...

mem reports:

Conventional 368K

High 0K

Reserved 0K

XMS 14,910K

Althoug it seems that there isn't anything in high memory, the last line of the mem report says (orinignally in german):

DOS resides in High Memory Area

"MS-DOS ist resident im oberen Speicherbereich (High Memory Area)"

However, mem /f reports:

No high memory available

"Kein hoher Speicherbereich verfügbar"

That seems contradictionary to me.

Reading the manuals and the forums, I expect DOS after the himem and dos=high commands to reside at least partially in the high memory.

Including emm386.exe and dos=high,umb after the quoeted lines doesn't make it any better, even worse.

Changing the lines with setver and himem has no effect.

Where's the fault? What has to be done to see DOS in high memory?

IZazen

[kingneutron · Accepted solution]

Here is my config / output from a Win98se machine:

BEGIN config.sys

device=C:\WIN98\himem.sys /testmem:off

device=C:\WIN98\emm386.exe X=C000-C7FF NOEMS

REM ram

dos=high,umb

buffers=10

files=65

shell=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /p /e:512

' mem /f ' output:

C:\win98\Desktop>mem/f

Free Conventional Memory:

Segment Total

\------- \----

---

00EDA 304 (0K)

00EED 90,464 (88K)

02503 499,648 (488K)

Total Free: 590,416 (577K)

Free Upper Memory:

Region Largest Free Total Free Total Size

\---- \

---

\

---

\--

---

1 0 (0K) 0 (0K) 64,064 (63K)

2 0 (0K) 0 (0K) 12,272 (12K)

[IZazen]

Thanks for your answer, kingneutron. I tried the model you gave me for a config.sys.

Actually, the mouse driver mouse.sys, which loaded after the emm386.exe, together with emm386 kept my system from booting. So I placed it before the emm386-command in the config.sys. This turned out to be effective.

After this, I changed the device commands against devicehigh, and all programm calls became a preceding LH=.

Now the table for the used high memory looks very satifactory:

memory type all = used + free

\--

---

\

---

\

---

\--

---

conventional 653.312 125.872 527.440

high 72.352 69.312 3.040

reservered 0 0 0

Extended (XMS) 14.542.176 2.336.096 12.206.080

Almost perfect and so far many thanks for your correct instruction lines.

However, one new problem turned up: Now the editor hangs as soon as I call it, i.e. it doesn't even start. It worked perfectly before I used the emm386-command. The only way to get out of this is a reboot. Microsofts knoledge base (KB105187, "MS-DOS Editor Hangs If MS-DOS Environment Is Too Small") recommends to enlarge the environment by a line in the config.sys like

SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /E:4096 /P

However, the editor still freezes the system, even with a considerable larger number for the environment. I didn't find any further hint on this topic.

Do you happen to know any workaround for this?

Best

IZazen

Message was edited by:

IZazen

[kingneutron]

--Unfortunately I don't know of a direct workaround, except perhaps to use another editor.

Googled and found:

http://www.safesite.com/product.php%5Bid%5D63067%5Bcid%5D83%5BSiteID%5Ddigibuy

http://www.goldshell.com/pedit/

http://short.stop.home.att.net/freesoft/txtedit1.htm

http://www.srtware.com/EdIt/ == Shareware

--You may also want to look into Freedos, but I have no idea what (if any) editor they provide:

http://www.freedos.org/

--There used to be a really nice DOS/Win/OS2 editor called Boxer which I used for a while back in the day; but I checked their web page and looks like they're Win-only now.

--Please feel free to keep me informed as to what ends up working best for you.

[IZazen]

Hello, kingneutron.

Thanks for the links. I didn't think of using another editor, but that seems the most practical way for the time being.

I tried pedit and it works well (without deeper examination) for my purposes, that is mainly to edit some system file.

Trying to understand the soul of DOS 6.22, I'd like to look into that OS to find out, why MS edit.com doesn't work when I use emm386. In case I find the reason or even a solution within this millennium I post it here, assuming that you or other visitors might be interested in it.

Thanks for your help again.

IZazen

[IZazen]

The Microsoft Editor from Win 98 (C:\Windows\Command\edit.com) works fine in MS-DOS 6.22. I expect the editor.com from Win95 to work as well.

Its drawback, being more than 71,000 Byte large compared to edit.com in DOS 6.22 with roughly 21,000 Byte is minute, because the pedit file, which works fine as well, measures more than 300,000 Bytes.

Of course, QBasic from DOS 6.22 still doesn't work, because it uses edit.com from DOS 6.22.

For those who like to play with qbasic once in a while, establish a start menu in config.sys using labels like

\[COMMON]

\[MENUITEM]

\[MENU_1] (everyday use)

\[MENU_2] (to use qbasic)

The entries under MENU_2 exclude the call of emm386.exe.

There's plenty of detailed instruction on creating a start menu in config.sys, e.g:

http://www.deinmeister.de/dosconf.htm

So long

IZazen

[KYordy]

For what it is worth, I have found that Edit and Qbasic don't work under TinyHost, either, as MS has them handling keyboard requests differently than "normal" programs. So, I am sure this is all related to what you are finding. I, however, run DOS 6.22, DR-DOS, Win95 DOS, and Win98 DOS in VMs and haven't had the problems you describe. I have had certain PLC programs lock up the VM when running EMM386, however, and went to the above-mentioned "start menu" system to load different configurations for different applications.

Good Luck!

[schristie]

anyone try using a memory manager for dos like qemm?

there were several effective ones back in the day that would address memory blocks for himem manually whether the os could or not.

Message was edited by:

schristie

[KYordy]

I have tried QEMM in a DOS VM with no issues in general, FWIW.

[LaPostal]

Hi Everybody,

There is something that I don't understand.

Why couldn't I use standardised Microsoft DOS built-in files and commands to configure v5.5 or v6.0 VMs (where guest OS is configured to Other/MS-DOS) for use natively UMB/High memory for DOS applications.

This configuration was designed for Microsoft DOS, isn't it ?

If yes, this behaviour is a bug.

It is really embarrassing because there are lots of ancient applications that need big conventional memory with EMS and UMB.

For example old financial programs and database managers and last but not least games.

And an another question. If this config was designed for MS-DOS, which DOS version works better with this config ?

Thanks in advance.