Hi Bernd, everybody, let me add some more comments to this interesting DOS thread and wish everybody a happy 2012 as well... :-)
>> 1. Would like to ask how much memory does FreeDOS support, e.g. 4 GiB? If you have 4 GB or more, many mainboards will map your graphics card RAM etc to the end of the first 4 GB, so you only see e.g. 3.5 GB RAM when looking at the first 4 GB. Also, almost no DOS software looks beyond this 32 bit limit (another mail mentions an DOS/32A PAE update) so if you have 12 GB, DOS apps still only see 3.5 GB. On the other hand, many old Windows versions crashed if you had more than, say, 256 MB (0.25 GB) of RAM unless you tweaked some things. DOS does NOT have any problem. However, some ANCIENT apps might crash, some already if you have only 32 MB (!) or more. DOS memory drivers such as HIMEMX have configuration options to make only a bit of your memory visible to solve that sort of problem :-) In general, 32 bit DOS apps will easily use many MB or even a GB or more if you have it. Whether you have any apps that NEED so much memory - I doubt it. People tend to use memory for huge RAMDISKs or huge disk caches, so the memory does not stay empty and bored... ;-) >> 2. Does it faces 640 KiB limitation as MS-DOS, e.g. Do I have to "load >> high" drivers to save on conventional memory? This is more a problem of DOS apps than of DOS as the operating system. You can load drivers, kernel and so on into UMB and HMA to have more of the DOS 640k free but on the other hand, 32 bit apps using DOS extenders will use XMS (or EMS or other) memory anyway and you have PLENTY of that so it does not matter how much of your DOS 640k are free for those. >> 3. Does it support usage of a swap file/partition? DOS itself neither needs nor supports that, but again for 32 bit apps, the DOS extender MAY support a swap file, depending on the extender. For example CWSDPMI, DOS32A and DOS4GW are DOS extenders: They help 32 bit apps to interact with the 16 bit standard interfaces of all brands of DOS and they help the apps to manage megabytes or gigabytes of memory and sometimes swap. Regards, Eric PS: The FreeDOS spin-of FD32 is a DOS with a built-in DOS extender, which is somewhat exotic but slightly faster than classic DOS with separate DOS extenders. PPS: JEMMEX is an EMM386 with a built-in HIMEM, which is a bit exotic but smaller/faster than HIMEM+EMM386. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ridiculously easy VDI. With Citrix VDI-in-a-Box, you don't need a complex infrastructure or vast IT resources to deliver seamless, secure access to virtual desktops. With this all-in-one solution, easily deploy virtual desktops for less than the cost of PCs and save 60% on VDI infrastructure costs. Try it free! http://p.sf.net/sfu/Citrix-VDIinabox _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
