Category : Utilities for DOS and Windows Machines
Archive   : ACC0313.ZIP
Filename : GENETINF.DAT

General Information On Installing Networks Along With Chargecards
==================================================================

This file will provide helpful hints in the area of optimization
of memory usage when installing network cards and network
software in an environment that uses the All Chargecard.

1. When you are installing any Network you will not achieve 960K
Dos space.

2. You will want to install allemm4.sys with the "/ram" option.
If you read the All Chargecard manual you would realize the
"/ram" option allows memory access to unused portions of
memory above the Video Line.

3. You are either installing a Chargecard with a Network already
installed, or you have a Chargecard installed and you are now
ready to install a Network.

=======================================

1. Disable Your Network.
This involves taking your Network Card out of the machine,
and removing all software associated with the network from
the config.sys and the autoexec.bat file.

2. Install your Chargecard.
Install the allemm4.sys driver with the parameter "/ram".

3. At this point everyone can proceed with the following hints.


===============================================

1. Using the All Computers Main Menu and the Examem function,
look at the logical configuration of your processor space.
Any additional option roms in your machine will be shown,
your video will be shown, and usable memory above the video
line will be marked with T's.

2. The purpose of this exercise is to keep as many T's together as
physically possible (physically in terms of hardware), so
some, or all of the network software or additional software
can be loaded into High Memory (where the T's are).

3. You need to find where the roms on your network card sit
(their base addresses), and how much memory they take. For
some network cards the base addresses are selectable, by
manipulating dip switches. Make a note of all possible base
addresses of the network card. To obtain this information
read your network manual or call your network dealer.

4. After this information is obtained proceed to the next step.

================================================

1. Each "T" represents 4k of memory.

2. Device Drivers and TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs
can be loaded where the T's are.

3. Optimization of Reserved memory can take two forms. Both of
these forms involve examination of the positions of the
current T's in the system, and the possible placement of your
network Rom.

3a. One form, the simplest, occurs when the network roms can
be placed at the beginning or at the end of the run of
T's. This is the optimum solution because there is more
scope for loading software into the T's.

======================================================

3b. The second form, occurs when any base address of the
network rom will fragment the T's. To optimize this form
involves examining the sizes of the programs that you
plan to load into Reserved memory. By examining the sizes
of the programs you wish to load, place your network rom
at the appropriate base address.

Installing Your Network Card
============================
Having now found a position to place your network rom, before
you plug your network card in, add a parameter to the allemm4.sys
driver. This parameter will be used to exclude the network rom
from the control of the allemm4 driver. The line in your
config.sys file will now look like this.

device=allemm4.sys /ram /x=aaaa-bbbb

where aaaa is the network_rom_base_address
and bbbb is the end_of_network_rom_address

The base address is in hex.

e.g. If you selected base address "b000" and the size of the
network rom is 4000 hex, then the line will look like this.
device=allemm4.sys /ram /x=b000-b3ff

Plug your network card in and turn your machine on.

Run Allmenu again and have a look at your memory. Where your
network roms are you will see X's. You can now use ALLOAD and
DEVICE, the programs supplied on the All Computers system disk to
load Terminate and stay resident programs and device drivers.
Before you install these commands in your autoexec.bat file, use
them from the command line, test your network, and view your
configuration from Allmenu.

Note : You can gain an additional 64k, if the applications that
you run do not use EMS memory, and therefore do not need
a Page Frame.
This is achieved by adding the parameter /frame=none to
the allemm4 driver command line.

At this point you should be operational.