Re: The Apple ][ was cool!

[Leonard Erickson <shadow@krypton.rain.com>]

Roy Miller wrote:
> 
> Leonard Erickson wrote:
> 
> > Roy Miller wrote:
> > >
> > > william strutts wrote:
> > >
> > > > EMM memory was developed because the
> > > > 8088/8086 used a 20 bit address bus that limited the memory to 1 meg.
> > >
> > > No. EMM only works with the 80206 or higher CPUs.
> >
> > Very much incorrect. The EMM *driver* requirtes a *386* or better. The
> > LIM/EMS standard required special hardware which EMM *emulates* on a
> > 386.
> 
> EMM, as I recall, worked with 286 based PS/2s. Granted, it's old memory, and derived
> from MANY rereadings of DRI's DR-DOS 6.0 manual.
> 
> >
> >
> > I have an old XT in the other room that has a 2 meg Intel Aboveboard in
> > it. It supported LIM/EMS. And with the EMM driver for that board and a
> > copy of QRAM (the XT equivalent of QEMM) I was able to create UMBs, load
> > drivers into upper memory, etc.
> 
> Did the Aboveboard have a 286? EMM DID stand for Extended Memory Manager, didn't it?
> And it takes a 286 or higher to have the extended memory, or so I thought. As
> opposed to Expanded Memory Manager.

The EMM programs/drivers supplied *both* expanded *and* extended RAM on
286 and up systems. You can *still* supply EMS RAM to program via them. 

The above board didn't have a cpu. It was solely an expand RAM card that
could also supply extended RAM if installed in a 286 system. It could be
installed in a 386, but generally wasn't worth the trouble.

> > And because the XT *doesn't* require reserving the E000 page the way the
> > AT does, I was able to get 64k more upper memory than with the AT I
> > later had the board it.
> >
> > In fact, between QRAM and 4dos, I had more than 630k of lower memory to
> > load applications in. All my drivers, TSRs, etc as well as the
> > non-transient portion of 4dos loaded into upper memory. And I had an 80k
> > EMS sawp space and a 1 meg RAM disk.
> > Since the system was also running at 10 MHz, and using a V20, it was
> > quite an "XT".
> 
> I also had a 10 mhz V30 based machine with 2 megs of EMS 4.0 (software, it was 3.2
> hardware - oh the pain, the pain!), and since I used WordPerfect Library/Office with
> WP, PlanPerfect and DataPerfect, I had a full office suite that I loaded only one a
> day and task switched in a blink! I loved that system, and did mountains of work
> with it.

I had VGA *and* Herc in the system, and did all sorts of fun things with
it.  

> > Until IBM redefined the term in their publicity, having an 8-bit data
> > bus made the 8088 an 8-bit cpu. Really. You'll find articles in the
> > computer magazines at the time raking IBM over the coals for lying about
> > it.
> 
> Guess I don't go that far back. Though some of my unread Bytes do....

I've read all of mine, though it's been years...
 
> > Yeah, it's instructive to compare a text only display and a graphical
> > one. The old HGC+ screamed in Worperfect *and* supported more text mode
> > fonts than VGA does even now.
> 
> I always wanted the Herc RAMFont card. Fast, with different fonts on the screen! And
> GEM didn't look too bad in mono, GEOS was a bit different though.

Well, I picked up an InColor card at a swap meet many years back *and* I
picked up a few cheap EGA monitors a while later. Though I'll probably
use an old Nec MultiSync instead when I have the space to set up my
"Super XT" and "Super AT" systems to show folks just what you could do
on the old systems. I understand that there were some 25 MHz 286 systems
sold. I'd like to get my hands on one for using as the "Super AT"
example.

-- 
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow{G})
 shadow@krypton.rain.com	<--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com	<--last resort