MINLOAD 1.00
------------

Purpose
-------
MINLOAD estimates the minimum amount of free memory required to
load programs. This may be useful in shoehorning programs
(especially resident programs) into small chunks of memory made
available above video RAM by systems that allow such chicanery.


Use
---
Using MINLOAD is very simple:

MINLOAD file {file}

Wildcards and paths are permitted and multiple filespecs may be
given. Examples:

MINLOAD myprog.exe
MINLOAD *.exe *.com c:\boot\*.*

For each matching file, MINLOAD estimates and displays the
minimum free memory needed to load the program.


Remarks
-------
MINLOAD displays the amount of free RAM needed to LOAD a
program. This will probably be different from the amount of
memory the program uses after it has been loaded. Some programs
get smaller (usually by discarding code and data required only
during initialization), and some get larger (usually by
requesting additional memory from DOS).

MINLOAD is useful because it may help you in determining an
appropriate load order for programs to be loaded into high RAM.
Suppose you have three programs that require the following
minimum RAM values (we're assuming that these are all resident
programs):

To load After load
A 20K 25K
B 16K 18K
C 30K 20K
Total 66K 63K

If you have a 64K area of free RAM above the video buffer, it is
possible to put all three of these programs there--but only if
it's done in the correct order. For example, this won't work
(the numbers in parentheses show the required RAM to load):

Free RAM Free RAM
before load after load
A 64K (20K) 39K
B 39K (16K) 21K
C 21K (30K) n/a

Program C can't be loaded because it requires 30K free at load
time (even though there is enough memory left for its 20K
runtime requirement).

This won't work either:

Free RAM Free RAM
before load after load
B 64K (16K) 46K
A 46K (20K) 21K
C 21K (30K) n/a

The only load orders that will work are C,A,B and C,B,A:

Free RAM Free RAM
before load after load
C 64K (30K) 44K
A 44K (20K) 21K
B 21K (16K) 1K

By combining information from MINLOAD and memory mapping
programs such as PMAP and MAPMEM (both of which will show the
amount of memory resident programs are using after they have
been loaded), you may be able to find a load order that allows
you to fit programs into high memory more efficiently.

NOTE: MINLOAD's estimate of the amount of memory required to
load a program includes a copy of the current DOS environment.
If you use a smaller environment at the time resident programs
are loaded, the amount of memory required will be
correspondingly smaller. MINLOAD displays the current
environment size at the end of its run.


Messages
--------
File not found:
MINLOAD was not able to locate any programs that match the
name you specified on the command line.

Unable to open
MINLOAD found, but was unable to open, the named file.
MINLOAD must be able to read the first few bytes of a file
in order to determine its minimum load size.

Unable to read
DOS returned an error when MINLOAD tried to read the file.


Distribution
------------
MINLOAD is a public domain program; there is no copyright and
there is no warranty. You are free to use and distribute
MINLOAD as you wish.

MINLOAD program and documentation by:

Chris Dunford
The Cove Software Group
PO Box 1072
Columbia, MD 21044
(301) 992-9371 (Voice only)
CompuServe 76703,2002

09/12/88