Hi, I had a look at the new
ftp.devoresoftware.com/downloads (mirror:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/dos/emm386/ ...)
emm386.zip file. Would it be possible to move the sources from
SOURCE
to
SOURCE\EMM386
and the DOC files from DOC to DOC\EMM386 in the zip?

Then I could just download the file, cd to the FreeDOS directory,
and unzip. Everything would just fall into the right place...

I noticed that neither _HIMEM nor HIMEM are compressed. _EMM386 is
the uncompressed version of the compressed HIMEM, though :-).

Comments about the documentation:
Errata.txt - typo "areay", and I assume that X=TEST is smart enough
  to auto-exclude the VMWare areas? If so, the help should be more
  enthousiastic about X=TEST :-). There is no HIMEM64 anymore, so it
  should not be mentioned in errata.txt ...
License.txt - I assume there should be two linebreaks before "1."?
  And in 7., "C or perl" should probably read "C or Assembly" or similar.
The help file EMM386.EN does not list all command line switched in the
  COMMANDLINE switches implemented
  section, although e.g. X=TEST is mentioned at other places.
  Typo: whatsneeded.
  The known BUGS section should mention the SB (compatibility mode for
  some drivers) option in some way - otherwise people would report a bug
  while they simply forgot to use the option.
There is no help file HIMEM.EN, it seems.

The help files do not show the current output of /? which I paste below:

(HIMEM help is too big to fit on screen, and NEITHER HIMEM help NOR EMM386
help can be redirected to a file without using RERROR, why that??)



FreeDOS HIMEM64 3.10 [Oct 19 2004] (c) 1995, Till Gerken 2001-2004 tom ehlert
Interface : XMS 3.00 80386 64MB
Extended memory host for FreeDOS (coordinates the usage of XMS and HMA)
HIMEM is a device driver that is loaded in CONFIG.SYS.
Please place DEVICE=HIMEM.EXE before any driver using XMS.
 
HIMEM [/METHOD:xxx] [/HMAMIN=n] [/NUMHANDLES=m] [/TESTMEM:ON|OFF]
[/VERBOSE] [/NOABOVE16] [/X] [/LOG]
 
  /METHOD:xxx     Specifies the method to be used for A20 handling.
                  Possible values for xxx:
                  ALWAYSON    Assume that A20 line is permanently ON
                  BIOS        Use BIOS to toggle the A20 line
                  FAST        Use port 92h, bypass INT 15h test
                  PS2         Use port 92h, bypass PS/2 test
                  KBC         Use the keyboard controller
                  PORT92      Use port 92h always
  /HMAMIN=n       Specifies minimum number of Kbs of HMA that a program
                  must request to gain access to the HMA (default: 0Kb)
  /NUMHANDLES=m   Specifies number of XMS handles available (def: 72)
  /TESTMEM:ON|OFF Performs or skips an extended memory test (def: OFF)
  /VERBOSE        Gives extra information
  /NOABOVE16      Do not use INT 15h function E801h to detect >64M
  /X              Do not use INT 15h function E820h to detect >64M
  /LOG            Logs the driver activity to a log file



EMM386 1.13 [Nov 23 2004] (c) tom ehlert 2001-2004 c't/H. Albrecht 1990
ignored commandline  </?>
 
please load EMM386 as DEVICE=EMM386.EXE in config.sys
 
commandline options available for driver
 ALTBOOT     - hook keyboard interrupt for reboot processing (default)
 EMM=8192    - 8192 KB EMS memory wanted-if possible
 FRAME=E000  - select wanted pageframe for EMS
 NOALTBOOT   - do not hook keyboard interrupt for reboot processing
 NOEMS       - disable EMS handling
 NOVCPI      - disable VCPI handling, requires NOEMS
 I=A000-AFFF - IF YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU DO (VGA graphics)
 I=B000-B7FF - IF YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU DO (Hercules)
 I=TEST      - test ROM locations for UMB inclusion
 SB          - SoundBlaster driver compatibility mode
 VDS         - enable Virtual DMA Services - experimental feature
 /VERBOSE    - display additional details during start
 X=D000-D800 - to make memory mapped devices work
 X=TEST      - test ROM locations for UMB exclusion


Is X=TEST description correct? I=TEST sounds okay, test if there are
empty areas in ROM, but X=TEST should probably test if UMB candidates
are actually unused and empty? I do not know if HIMEM can handle more
than 2 GB RAM, but if it does, it should probably offer 128 handles for
that by default (XMSDSK uses many max 32 MB handles instead of one big
handle, as far as I remember, so just in case... and, by the way, the
Win 3.x int 15 handler can only use the first 64 MB of each selector,
so you should normalize them before doing memory access...).
The SB option help should probably read "SoundBlaster PCI" or similar
to make clear that classic soundblasters should not need this.

Nice that DRn / TRn read and write are now supported, and VDS functions
810{3,4,5,6} as well :-). How much RAM and where would be used by a non-
self-modifying-code implementation of the DRn / TRn register access?
(Using a few 8-case decisions, possibly with a jump table...)

Eric


PS: Very nice update! On my side, I only have a new tool in specials/,
meant to simplify adding FreeDOS to WinNT/2k/XP boot.ini files. Enjoy ;-).

(text-tool-iniadd.zip, less than 1.5k in size)



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