As many of you I am going through the struggle of getting the most out of my MS-DOS memory, but due to a SCSI Controller (Adaptec) I am using 2 drivers that are killing my memory:
ASPI7DOS.SYS - Is taking 25Kb of memory
ASPICD.SYS - Is taking an additional 12Kb
And this is before I load MSCDEX that is taking me 16Kb
Are there any alternatives that are less memory hungry?
Also, my Himem.sys seems to be taking 33Kb of Conventional memory... I seem to remember it taking less, but maybe I'm getting old 😀
Yeah, memmaker will probably fix the problem if you're not loading stuff into upper memory yourself.
I typically run my 486 with around 595K of free conventional memory with just about everything under the sun loaded - himem, emm386, a full network stack (ipx, tcp/ip, network drives), two remote control TSRs, mouse driver, unnecessary Creative TSRs, Mitsumi CD-ROM driver, mscdex, ansi, smartdrv, share, doskey, dpms, etc.
For what I use it for that seems to be plenty but I can pretty easily get it to 610K free by disabling the remote control TSRs, and probably somewhat higher by adjusting the files/stacks/buffers/etc settings in config.sys.
I don't really understand why the rest of the programs are not being loaded into high memory, as they do have the Device High and LoadHigh tags... so I'm trying to find leaner drivers to see if it helps.
I can use QEMM and it will be able to push everything into high memory, but I want to also have a configuration with Himem and EMM386 for compatibility purposes.
Loading EMM386.EXE with NOEMS option (instead of RAM) will add 64 more kB UMB space. This should fix your problem.
If you need EMS, try menus in CONFIG.SYS
That's what I would like to know 😁 ... I'm using the standard Himem.sys that comes with WIn98SE...
Just by changing the order in which the programs are loaded in autoexec.bat (and removing the useless specific memory sections added by memmaker) I have been able to move most of the programs to upper memory, and am now @587KB of conventional memory.
That is decent, if not great, but I am still puzzled about the 33Kb used by Himem.sys, as it seems too much.
How much is Himem.sys occupying in your configurations?
That's what I would like to know 😁 ... I'm using the standard Himem.sys that comes with WIn98SE...
Just by changing the order in which the programs are loaded in autoexec.bat (and removing the useless specific memory sections added by memmaker) I have been able to move most of the programs to upper memory, and am now @587KB of conventional memory.
That is decent, if not great, but I am still puzzled about the 33Kb used by Himem.sys, as it seems too much.
How much is Himem.sys occupying in your configurations?
That's what I would like to know 😁 ... I'm using the standard Himem.sys that comes with WIn98SE...
Just by changing the order in which the programs are loaded in autoexec.bat (and removing the useless specific memory sections added by memmaker) I have been able to move most of the programs to upper memory, and am now @587KB of conventional memory.
That is decent, if not great, but I am still puzzled about the 33Kb used by Himem.sys, as it seems too much.
How much is Himem.sys occupying in your configurations?
Actually, the fact that yours is taking up 33k is highly suspect.
I just booted the win98 dos and its himem only takes up 1k.
and without loading dos high, it takes up just 4k of conventional memory.
I thought it is well known that there has been a buggy version of HIMEM.SYS in a Windows 95 or 98 release that consumes too much conventional memory.
Try another HIMEM.SYS please.
I thought it is well known that there has been a buggy version of HIMEM.SYS in a Windows 95 or 98 release that consumes too much conventional memory.
Try another HIMEM.SYS please.
That seems to be the problem.
Just tried another HIMEM.SYS from a Windows 95 boot disk and now Himem is taking only 1K... Super!
Total free conventional memory is now 619K!
It's always funny to see how I started with a problem statement that ended up not being the solution at all 😁
Thanks everyone for the support
NightShadowPTwrote on 2022-11-10, 20:45:As many of you I am going through the struggle of getting the most out of my MS-DOS memory, but due to a SCSI Controller (Adapte […] Show full quote
As many of you I am going through the struggle of getting the most out of my MS-DOS memory, but due to a SCSI Controller (Adaptec) I am using 2 drivers that are killing my memory:
ASPI7DOS.SYS - Is taking 25Kb of memory
ASPICD.SYS - Is taking an additional 12Kb
And this is before I load MSCDEX that is taking me 16Kb
Are there any alternatives that are less memory hungry?
In terms of alternatives:
- For ASPI7DOS.SYS, perhaps if you look around you can find an older or newer version of that driver from Adaptec that happens to use less RAM, but I think it's probably unlikely you'll be able to find anything useful. I'm not aware of any third-party drivers you can use instead because this driver needs to support your specific SCSI controller.
- For ASPICD.SYS, you can probably use a different driver because this should be talking to ASPI7DOS.SYS via a standard ASPI interface. Most DOS SCSI drivers will come with such a driver, for example here are some other filenames which might help you find alternatives, although I don't have any idea about their memory consumption: AMD PCscsi: amsicd.sys; Symbios/LSI/NCR: symcd.sys; Tekram: trmcd.sys.