Here's my MEM /C then:

This is without CD drivers and EMS, which I don't normally use. If something does need a CD I can just run SHSUCDX, as UIDE provides a CD driver (and a massive disk cache, that's the 128MB used XMS you see there). For EMS I have to reboot and select the second option in the boot menu. This option loads JEMM386 for 8MB of EMS, without using any more conventional RAM (still 627k free). Supposedly there's also a program called EMSMagic that provides EMS on the fly but I haven't tried that yet. Would be more convenient though.

MI.COM /A provides a bit more information:

edit:

And here are the config files that made this happen. They are quite elaborate and (I hope) more readable than your average DOS config files. I use FreeDOS's FDAUTO.BAT and FDCONFIG.SYS files so programs that change your config files won't be able to break anything:

FDCONFIG.SYS:

1        REM 0x12 = 80x50
2SCREEN  =0x12
3        REM country code, codepage, country file
4COUNTRY =031,437,C:\DOS\BIN\COUNTRY.SYS
5VERSION =6.22
6BREAK   =ON
7SWITCHES=/E
8
9MENUCOLOR=7,0
10MENUDEFAULT=1
11MENU 1 - Load FreeDOS (XMS)
12MENU 2 - Load FreeDOS (XMS + EMS)
13MENU 3 - Load Windows 2000
14MENU 9 - Load FreeDOS without drivers
15
16 3?DEVICE=C:\GRUB\GRUB.EXE --config-file="root (hd0,0);chainloader /ntldr"
17
18        REM /I= = Include region
19 1?DEVICE=C:\DOS\BIN\UMBPCI.SYS /I=E000-EFFF
20 
21        REM /W  = Load in workspace buffer
22        REM /Nn = n XMS handles
23 1?DEVICE=C:\DOS\BIN\XMGR.SYS /W /N128
24
25        REM nM  = n MB EMS
26        REM I=  = Include UMB region
27        REM X=  = Exclude UMB region
28 2?DEVICE=C:\DOS\BIN\JEMMEX.EXE 8M I=TEST X=TEST
29
3012?DOS          =HIGH,UMB
3112?DOSDATA      =UMB
3212?BUFFERSHIGH  =4
3312?FILESHIGH    =40
3412?STACKSHIGH   =9,256
3512?LASTDRIVEHIGH=Z
36
37        REM /D: = CD device driver
38        REM /H  = Load to HMA
39        REM /F  = Use large (fast) cache blocks
40        REM /Sn = n MB cache
41        REM /Rn = Use memory above n MB
42 1?DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\BIN\UIDE.SYS  /D:FDCD0001 /H /F /S128 /R63
43 2?DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\BIN\UIDE2.SYS /D:FDCD0001 /H /F /S128 /R63
4412?DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\NET\IFSHLP.SYS
45
46        REM /Txx= Set xx as text mode
47        REM /P  = Pass unknown requests to CON:
4812?DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\BIN\NANSI.SYS /P /T5C /T5E /T6A /T70 /T71 /T72 /T73 /T74 /T75
49
50        REM /E: = Environment size
51        REM /P= = Autoexec.bat location
5212?SHELLHIGH=C:\DOS\BIN\4DOS.COM C:\DOS\BIN /E:1024 /P=C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
53 9?SHELL    =C:\DOS\BIN\4DOS.COM C:\DOS\BIN /E:1024 /P=C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

AUTOEXEC.BAT:

1@ECHO OFF
2
3SET BLASTER=A220 I5  D1 T4
4
5CALL FDAUTO.BAT >& BOOT.LOG
6
7ECHO.
8ECHO *** FREEDOS r2041 ***
9ECHO.
10ECHO %@DOSMEM[b] BYTES FREE.
11ECHO.
12ECHO READY.
13ECHO.

FDAUTO.BAT:

1@ECHO OFF
2
3SET /R C:\DOS\ENV\DEFAULT.VAR
4
5    REM -h = Human readable file size
6    REM -a = Show all files
7    REM -G = Do not show user group
8    REM -X = Sort by extension
9ALIAS LS=*LS --color=auto -haGX
10ALIAS REBOOT=FDAPM WARMBOOT 
11ALIAS HALT=FDAPM POWEROFF
12ALIAS SPINDOWN=FDAPM SPINDOWN
13
14BREAK ON
15
16IF "%CONFIG%"=="9" GOTO NODRIVERS
17
18    LH DIRCOLORS -b C:\DOS\ENV\DIRCOLOR.CFG
19
20    CALL YMF719
21
22        REM FastVid 001
23    CALL FV 0
24
25        REM CuteMouse
26        REM /P = PS/2 port
27        REM /3 = Three-button mouse
28    IF "%CONFIG%"=="1" LH CTMOUSE /P /3
29
30        REM Logitech mouse driver
31        REM PS2   = PS/2 port
32        REM Sn    = Speed n
33    IF "%CONFIG%"=="2" LH MOUSE PS2 S05
34
35    LH FDAPM APMBIOS
36
37        REM $P = Current directory in uppercase
38        REM $g = >
39    PROMPT $P$g
40
41        REM Rate  32 = 30 cps
42        REM Delay  1 = 1/4 sec
43    MODE CON: RATE=32 DELAY=1
44    
45    CLS
46
47:NODRIVERS

Malik wrote:

It would be interesting to see what are clogging so much of the conventional mem. And perhaps some solution to maximize the ever-elusive 640kb conventional memory, in itself will be like playing a game, and when successfully able to maximize it, will provide an immense gratification, not unlike winning an adventure game without using any hint.

EDIT : A description or a listing of how much each program takes up the memory and where it resides will be useful. (mem/c command and if relevant, the mem/f to see the blocks.)

Sure, will do so as soon as I have access to the computer again, probably this weekend (It's not in my house)

Ah, I remembered something. I ran mem /c and /f too and about 127-130 kb of conventional memory were eaten by something that was called perhaps I/O system/data or similar? Can't exactly tell.

Dos 6.22 wins hands down 😀

I use the autoexec.bat and config.sys settings here:
So far my 486 with my current settings has never crashed and dos is super fast and responsive.

http://www.mdgx.com/mem6.htm#A6
http://www.mdgx.com/mem6.htm#6

Without the following line which DOES crashes my system hard.

DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE X=B800-C7FF I=C800-EFFF I=B000-B7FF RAM M3 A=64 H=128 D=256 AUTO NOTR

What you want to do about that is run UMBinfo and figure out which memory ranges are actually free on your machine. Then adjust that line accordingly. You can eek out a good share of conventional memory that way.

DOS 6.22 is what most people ended up using just because of the built in memory manager, but I tended to like QEMM better (still using DOS 6.22, but it works with 5.0 as well).

where might I find UMBinfo?

Which version of DOS had Stacker built in and Microsoft got sued and had to replace it with Drivespace?

DoubleSpace was included in DOS versions 6 to 6.2. Version 6.21 was released with neither; version 6.22 included DriveSpace. You can still probably get the update that will bring all versions of DOS 6.x up to version 6.22 from Microsoft. All detailed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DriveSpace .

rgart wrote:

where might I find UMBinfo?

You can use MSD.EXE (Microsoft Diagnostics) which is in the DOS directory (DOS 5 and above). At the main page, select the Memory button. It will provide an overview of the memory usage and the the locations that can be used to enable and provide the UMB.

Slightly back on topic: my dad has an IBM 5150 that I'd like to get working someday. It's got a 32MB HDD and 640k of RAM. Which DOS would be best for that?

That would depend on what exactly you want to do with it. Personally, I predict you will spend ten minutes giggling over what a cool piece of history it is and then never touch it again.

While you probably could run MS-DOS 6.22 on it, I guess, you might have to find something older and more lightweight – DOS 3.3, maybe? – if you're going to run anything that requires very much conventional memory.

Jorpho wrote:

Personally, I predict you will spend ten minutes giggling over what a cool piece of history it is and then never touch it again.

Blasphemy! Certainly wouldn't be the case if it was me (though in all honestly, I'd probably rather go for a "turbo" clone).

Anyway, yes, 3.3 would be a good choice. With 2.x you don't get 32MB partitions, and 1.x isn't really good for anything period. For higher versions, better get an EMS board.

Nah, I would most definitely be using it for gaming. I have a Pentium laptop that does most of my DOS gaming, except for some really old titles that don't run in real time.

keropi wrote:

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

What machine will it run on?

Personally the real dilemma is between 6.22 and 7.1 (the one that comes with Windows). I'm still torn but working on a long-term test build using 7.1 on a 30GB FAT 32 partition. I have accumulated so many Games that FAT16 of 6.22 is really a limitation.

After using DOS fron 98SE with FAT32 partitions for serveral years now, I can assure you there are not problems whatsoever. Currently all my builds from 386 to p1 use FAT32 and the only thing that needed patching was win3x. Games no matter how old never complained about the filesystem 😉
It's totally worth it, a 20GB single partition on a 386DX? It's just great! 😊

What card did you use to do this? Or did you use a DDO?

MatthewH12 wrote:

What card did you use to do this? Or did you use a DDO?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53x9wtkNeBc&li … zgbVqyX&index=8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtlRnPoNNUc&li … gbVqyX&index=10