MS-DOS6.22+QEMM+DesqView

[Ramshankar]

I'm afraid the fix didn't make it to 4.3.8. Sorry, it will make it into 4.3.10.

[CJ]

Thanks for the update. Just saw the .8 update notice today, and was wondering if it was there.

[CJ]

When I run "vidram" here after the fix, I get:

Code: Select all

VIDRAM - Copyright...
Serial Number: ... Registered to:...
 STATUS: Not resident.

What arguments do I run it with?

You need to add "VREMS" to the QEMM line in config.sys and reboot. After that, you should just be able to run "vidram on" and "vidram off" from the command line. However, I get the same error you do (VB 4.3.6 r91406).

[CJ]

VirtualBox 4.3.10 is now out, and eliminates the issues with running QEMM under VirtualBox. So here's the new How-To for installing QEMM and DESQView with MS-DOS 6.22.

REQUIREMENTS:
Oracle VirtualBox 4.3.10 r93012 or later
Full installation (not upgrade) disk sets for:
MS-DOS 6.22
QEMM 9.0 (aka '97)
DESQView 2.80

VIRTUAL MACHINE
Run VirtualBox and create a new virtual machine.
- name: anything you like
- type: Other / Version: DOS
- Take all the defaults

MS-DOS
1. Mount the first DOS installation disk: click on Storage, click on the floppy drive, click the floppy icon and browse to the disk image.
2. Start the VM.
3. Take all default settings, loading disks 2 and 3 when prompted.
4. Remove the 3rd disk when prompted, then restart the VM.

QEMM
1. Load the first QEMM installation disk, log over to A:\ and run INSTALL.
2. Take all the default settings, entering user info and loading disks 2, 3 and 4 when prompted. You may ignore any EMS page frame warnings.
3. At the Stealth Check screen, you can just press ESC to skip the stealth check. Take the default settings through the rest of the install.

CONFIG/AUTOEXEC
1. Edit CONFIG.SYS. Replace its contents with the following:

Code: Select all

 dos=high,umb
files=30
stacks=0,0
lastdrive=m
device=c:\qemm\dosdata.sys
device=c:\qemm\qemm386.sys ram noems aram=c900-dfff i=b000-b7ff i=c800-efff x=f000-ffff r:1
device=c:\qemm\dos-up.sys @c:\qemm\dos-up.dat
device=c:\qemm\loadhi.sys /r:1 /size=11520 c:\qemm\qdpmi.sys swapfile=dpmi.swp swapsize=1024
device=c:\qemm\loadhi.sys /r:1 /size=14032 c:\dos\setver.exe
shell=c:\qemm\loadhi.com /r:2 c:\command.com c:\ /p

2. Edit AUTOEXEC.BAT and REM out the smartdrv line.
3. Restart the VM.
4. Re-run OPTIMIZE. Take all defaults.

DESQView
1. Load the DESQView 2.80 installation floppy, log over to A:\ and run INSTALL.
2. Take all the defaults until you get to QEMM 8 question; say N<enter> to finish the installation.

Note: To run DESQView, type DV<enter>. Once running, tap the ALT key to bring up the DV menu.

CLEAN-UP
del c:\*.bak
del c:\*.qdk
del c:\*.386

That's it! You're done. You can now run MFT to see your system's configuration. Under DOS, you should have 634K free RAM; under DESQView 609K.

634K free RAM with QEMM

DOS-QEMM-MFT.jpg (102.4 KiB) Viewed 3139 times

609K free under DESQView

DOS-QEMM-DV-MFT.jpg (103.82 KiB) Viewed 3139 times

VIDRAM Note

Vidram is a QEMM tool that allows the user to extend main RAM memory into unused video memory at the bottom of the upper memory range. However, it requires EMS memory be enabled, and so will not work with the above configuration. To enable Vidram, in CONFIG.SYS replace the "NOEMS" with "VIDRAMEMS" and restart the VM. Once at the DOS prompt, type VIDRAM RESIDENT<enter>. You can then run VIDRAM ON and VIDRAM OFF to toggle the extra memory on and off.

Enabling EMS will take over a large portion of upper memory for the EMS page frame and reduce your free memory under DESQView by nearly 180K, so you'll probably want to create a separate configuration for it.