ok!! finally i decide yo buy the Citygate and cross fingers!!

Arrive today and... lucky me!!! yes, is a Headland HT/18 chipset!! full hardware EMS!!!

theelf wrote on 2026-02-04, 22:45:

ok!! finally i decide yo buy the Citygate and cross fingers!!

Arrive today and... lucky me!!! yes, is a Headland HT/18 chipset!! full hardware EMS!!!

Any success with hw EMS?

👍
There is a ton of low hanging fruit in theretroweb database that could be found with some computer vision (renamed to AI now 😜) processing. Like in your example finding clones, rebrands, renames, obfuscation. Also automatically verifying slot data (Zida one is missing 8-bit ISA entry) and adding even more data like type and number of ram slots, type and number of cache slots.

Toportyán wrote on 2026-06-06, 23:42:

theelf wrote on 2026-02-04, 22:45:

ok!! finally i decide yo buy the Citygate and cross fingers!!

Arrive today and... lucky me!!! yes, is a Headland HT/18 chipset!! full hardware EMS!!!

Any success with hw EMS?

Yes, with this chipset you can have hw EMS and using qram UMB using EMS

Love this chipset, good support, solid stability, and fast with the harris 25

theelf wrote on 2026-06-07, 21:25:

Toportyán wrote on 2026-06-06, 23:42:

theelf wrote on 2026-02-04, 22:45:

ok!! finally i decide yo buy the Citygate and cross fingers!!

Arrive today and... lucky me!!! yes, is a Headland HT/18 chipset!! full hardware EMS!!!

Any success with hw EMS?

Yes, with this chipset you can have hw EMS and using qram UMB using EMS

Love this chipset, good support, solid stability, and fast with the harris 25

What kind of driver u use for hw EMS? I donot see any EMS setting in the AMI BIOS... 🙁

Toportyán wrote on 2026-06-13, 19:29:

theelf wrote on 2026-06-07, 21:25:

Toportyán wrote on 2026-06-06, 23:42:

Any success with hw EMS?

Yes, with this chipset you can have hw EMS and using qram UMB using EMS

Love this chipset, good support, solid stability, and fast with the harris 25

What kind of driver u use for hw EMS? I donot see any EMS setting in the AMI BIOS... 🙁

No need, is just a driver you load in config.sys

here the README

Date: 7/24/89 […]
Show full quote

Date: 7/24/89

OPTION PARAMETERS FOR THE LIM MEMORY MANAGER

This document provides information on the option parameters for the LIM memory
manager . The format of this document is as follows:

1) General information
2) Individual discussion of the different option parameters

GENERAL INFORMATION:

HARDWARE OPTION PARAMETERS AND MEMORY MANAGER OPTION PARAMETERS:

There are two different types of option parameters: the hardware option
parameters and the memory manager option parameters. The format for the
two types is identical so the user does not usually need to be concerned
with this distinction. However, there is one important item to note:
if a hardware option parameter and a memory manager option parameter
have the same name, the HARDWARE interpretation wins out. Hence any
naming conflicts cause the memory manager to effectively lose an option.

SPECIFICATION OF NUMBERS:

In the next section on the discussion of the option parameters, I will
use the following formats for representing numbers:

Symbol Meaning

dd a single byte decimal value: [0-255]
dddd a single word decimal value: [0-65535]
xx a single byte hex value: [00-FF]
xxxx a single word hex value: [0000-FFFF]

OPTION PRAMETERS:

HARDWARE OPTION PARAMETERS:

/A=xxxx Sets the base I/O address of the EMS controller (GC113 only)
e.g. /A=02E8 the base I/O address is at 02E8

Note: No test is done at the time this option is entered to
verify tht a controller chip does indeed exist at this I/O
address. However, the initialization routines performed
later will fail if this is not a controller address.

/M=dddd Tells the memory manager how many kilobytes of extended
memory can be used for EMS memory. This value is rounded
UP to the next multiple of 16. If /M is not used, or /M=0
is entered, then NO extended memory is allocated as EMS
memory. This parameter overrides the amount of EMS memory
specified by setup.
e.g. /M=384 EMS can use 384K of available memory
/M=120 EMS can use 128K of available memory

Note: No test is done at the time this option is entered to
verify that EMS has at least the amount of memory specified.

MEMORY MANAGER OPTION PARAMETERS:

/C=dddd Sets the number of contexts that EMS can save. The number
of contexts must lie in the range [3,255].
e.g. /C=8 8 contexts can be saved simultaneously

/D=dd Sets the depth of a context (number of registers) that can
be saved. The context depth must lie in the range [1,32].
e.g. /D=12 Each stack frame can hold 12 registers.

/H=dddd Sets the maximum number of handles the manager will have
open at any time. This number must lie in the range [3,255].
e.g. /H=128 128 handles can be open at one time.

/I=xxxx-xxxx Excludes the specified I/O range from the scan. ???
(The exact purpose of this option is still unclear.)
The start address range must be less than the end address
range or an error will be generated.
e.g. /I=03D0-03D9 I/O 3D0-3D9 is excluded.

/X=xxxx-xxxx Sets an address range which should be EXCLUDED from EMS
paging. The exclusion option can be used to prevent special
RAM sections from being banked out. The memory manager will
automatically exclude address ranges for ROM and standard
video cards; these do not need to be specified. Both of the
addresses entered are considered to be paragraph addresses.
The addresses will be rounded UP to the next multiple of
1K, unless they are already a multiple of 1K. The second
value must be larger than the first or an error will occur.
e.g. /X=A000-A800 Excludes A0000-A8000 from paging
e.g. /X=4015-5000 Excludes 44000-50000 from paging

/L=xxxx-xxxx Sets an address range which should be INCLUDED in EMS paging.
The addresses are interpreted exactly as in the /X exclude
option parameter.
e.g. /L=3800-4200 Includes 38000-42000 in paging

/S=xxxx Sets the start of page frame address. This is the address
at which EMS pages will appear as they are mapped in. It
is often referred to as the EMS window.
The address is interpreted exactly as in the /X exclude
option parameter and it must be less than E000.
e.g. /S=9000 Sets the page frame address to 90000

/E Not Supported.
e.g. /E

/F Full display option. This option causes the status of the
memory manager to be displayed.
e.g. /F

/N Specifies that non-volatile and display memory can be used
by the EMS memory manager.
e.g. /N

/V Specifies that only volatile memory is to be used by the EMS
memory manager.
e.g. /V

/T Enables a pattern test and two different types of address
tests to be performed on the memory during the memory
manager initialization.
e.g. /T

/Z Disables memory testing during initialization.
e.g. /Z

THE LANDMARK CPU TEST:
Run speed test LANDMARK speed will be 16MHz. When LANDMARK
speed 11MHz pless key in AS.
FOLLOWS:
copy con config.sys
buffers=20
[F6]
[enter]
Then press reset and run speed again.

EMS 4.0 DOCUMENTATION
The EMS (Expanded Memory Specification ) Version 4.0 device
driver is a standard MS DOSdevice driver that qets loaded at boot
time by the CONFIG.SYS file. Beause EMS 4.0 is a device driver,
it should look like this in the CONFIG.SYS file:

FOLLOW:
COPY CON CONFIG.SYS
DEVICE=SEEMSG2.SYS
[F6]
[ENTER]

PRESS KEY IN [AlT][Ctrl][Del]

I use with QRAM to make UMB too, really nice

for example in config for getting umb

1DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\G2MMC.SYS /M=64 /Z
2DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
3DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\QRAM\QRAM.SYS FL:0

or just 3mb of EMS

1DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\G2MMC.SYS /M=3000 /Z
2DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS

You can have EMS and UMB at same time, but i did never found a way to windows 3.1 work with both... i just made two config, one XMS+UMB using EMS driver, win3.1 work fine, and second just EMS for DOS app and games

Thank you, theelf!

How much RAM do you have installed in your system?

Maybe this driver doesn't work for me because I have 16 MB of RAM installed. I'll try it with 4 MB, which is the maximum amount of RAM supported by the chipset the driver was written for.

Toportyán wrote on 2026-06-14, 12:13:

Thank you, theelf!

How much RAM do you have installed in your system?

Maybe this driver doesn't work for me because I have 16 MB of RAM installed. I'll try it with 4 MB, which is the maximum amount of RAM supported by the chipset the driver was written for.

No, with 16mb hangs, is too much 4x4

The driver work fine with 4x1mb

I face same problem of you, downgraded to 4mb and problem gone

The true is even using win3.1 4mb is more than enough

There is another driver thar "works" with 16mb, but just not hang but limit you to 4mb

The best is to have 4mb because the ems driver can be used yo umb too