Hamish Moffatt wrote:
>
> On Tue, Apr 27, 1999 at 04:16:40PM -0400, Allan M. Wind wrote:
> > On 1999-04-27 18:53, Peter Allen wrote:
> >
> > > It is because on i386 machines the processor boots in real
> > > mode, which is limited to the (in)famous 640Kb.
> >
> > (I am quite sure that) the 640 k limit is DOS, while the CPU's
> > real-mode limit is 1 MB.
>
> The real mode limit IS 1 MB, but shared memory peripherals such as
> the video card, hard disk controller BIOS (on old systems anyway),
> network cards like SMCs and others use some space between
> 640kb (or perhaps 704kb) and 1 MB.
>
Ah thanks, I have been wondering for ages about this ancient 386 I
have used that said it had 704Kb conventional memory.
Peter Allen
> I don't believe DOS actually has anything to do with it.
>
> Hamish
> --
> Hamish Moffatt VK3TYD.
> CCs of replies from mailing lists are welcome.
