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Upper Memory Area
In DOS memory management, the upper memory area (UMA) refers to memory between the addresses of 640  KB and 1024 KB ( 0xA0000–0xFFFFF) in an IBM PC or compatible. IBM reserved the uppermost 384 KB of the 8088 CPU's 1024 KB address space for BIOS ROM, Video BIOS, Option ROMs, video RAM, RAM on peripherals, memory-mapped I/O, and obsoleted ROM BASIC. However, even with video RAM, the ROM BIOS, the Video BIOS, the Option ROMs, and I/O ports for peripherals, much of this 384 KB of address space was unused. As the 640 KB memory restriction became ever more of an obstacle, techniques were found to fill the empty areas with RAM. These areas were referred to as upper memory blocks (UMBs). Usage The next stage in the evolution of DOS was for the operating system to use upper memory blocks (UMBs) and the high memory area (HMA). This occurred with the release of DR DOS 5.0 in 1990. DR DOS' built-in memory manager, EMM386.EXE, could perf ...
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QEMM
Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager (QEMM) is a memory manager produced by Quarterdeck Office Systems in the late 1980s through the late 1990s. It was the most popular third-party memory manager for the MS-DOS and other DOS operating systems. QEMM product ranges ;QRAM: A memory manager for Intel 80286 or higher CPUs. It supports Chips and Technologies chipsets. 2.02 added SHADOWRAM switch. QEXT correctly reallocates eXtended Memory Specification (XMS). It includes VIDRAM, Optimize, LOADHI from QEMM 6.02, Manifest 1.13. Earlier versions of QRAM also supported the older 8086 and 8088 CPUs. ;QEMM Game Edition: It is a version of QEMM that includes Quarterdeck GameRunner. Patches for regular QEMM do not work on QEMM Game Edition. ;QEMM MegaBundle: In the version shipped with Borland SideKick for Windows, it is a version with SideBar 1.00 (1994-08-22) and QEMM 7.5. ; DESQview 386: It includes DESQview and QEMM-386. Features/tools QEMM driver QEMM provides access to the ...
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DOS Protected Mode Interface
In computing, the DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) is a specification introduced in 1989 which allows a DOS program to run in protected mode, giving access to many features of the new PC processors of the time not available in real mode. It was initially developed by Microsoft for Windows 3.0, although Microsoft later turned control of the specification over to an industry committee with open membership. Almost all modern DOS extenders are based on DPMI and allow DOS programs to address all memory available in the PC and to run in protected mode (mostly in ring 3, least privileged). Overview DPMI stands for DOS Protected Mode Interface. It is an API that allows a program to run in protected mode on 80286 series and later processors, and do the calls to real mode without having to set up these CPU modes manually. DPMI also provides the functions for managing various resources, notably memory. This allows the DPMI-enabled programs to work in multi-tasking OSes, allowing an ...
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Virtual Control Program Interface
In computing, the Virtual Control Program Interface (VCPI) is a specification published in 1989 by Phar Lap Software that allows a DOS program to run in protected mode, granting access to many features of the processor not available in real mode. It was supplanted by DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) shortly after being introduced, due in large part to VCPI's inability to work in Windows 3.0's protected mode. Overview Developed since 1987 in cooperation with Quarterdeck Office Systems and with support by A.I. Architects, Lotus Development Corp., Quadram, Qualitas and Rational Systems, VCPI is provided by an expanded memory manager in DOS (e.g. CEMM, QEMM, later EMM386) and does allow 80386 protected-mode DOS extenders to coexist with 80386 EMS expanded memory emulators. It was eclipsed by DPMI, most notably because it was not supported for DOS programs run in Windows 3.0's native protected mode (called ''386 enhanced mode'') and because VCPI runs programs in Ring 0, wh ...
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Virtual 8086 Mode
In the 80386 microprocessor and later, virtual 8086 mode (also called virtual real mode, V86-mode, or VM86) allows the execution of real mode applications that are incapable of running directly in protected mode while the processor is running a protected mode operating system. It is a hardware virtualization technique that allowed multiple 8086 processors to be emulated by the 386 chip. It emerged from the painful experiences with the 80286 protected mode, which by itself was not suitable to run concurrent real-mode applications well. John Crawford developed the Virtual Mode bit at the register set, paving the way to this environment. VM86 mode uses a segmentation scheme identical to that of real mode (for compatibility reasons), which creates 20-bit linear addresses in the same manner as 20-bit physical addresses are created in real mode, but are subject to protected mode's memory paging mechanism. Overview The virtual 8086 mode is a mode for a protected-mode task. Conseq ...
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Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995, almost three months after the release of Windows NT 3.51. Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows products, and featured significant improvements over its predecessor, most notably in the graphical user interface (GUI) and in its simplified "plug-and-play" features. There were also major changes made to the core components of the operating system, such as moving from a mainly cooperatively multitasked 16-bit architecture to a 32-bit preemptive multitasking architecture, at least when running only 32-bit protected mode applications. Accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign, Windows 95 introduced numerous functions and features that ...
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Windows 3
Windows 3.x means either of, or all of the following versions of Microsoft Windows: * Windows 3.0 * Windows 3.1x Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS. Codenamed Janus, Windows 3. ... Windows NT * Windows NT 3.x 3.x {{Short pages monitor ...
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MSCDEX
MSCDEX or Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions is a software program produced by Microsoft and included with MS-DOS 6.x and certain versions of Windows to provide CD-ROM support. Earlier versions of MSCDEX since 1986 were installable add-ons for MS-DOS 3.1 and higher. Overview The program is a driver executable which allows DOS programs to recognize, read, and control CD-ROMs using the High Sierra and – since version 2.0 as of 1988 – also the ISO 9660 file systems. This requires the previous loading of an appropriate CD-ROM device driver (example: OAKCDROM.SYS), usually from CONFIG.SYS. The final version of the MSCDEX program was 2.25, included with Windows 95 and used when creating bootable floppy disks with CD-ROM support. Starting with Windows 95, CD-ROM access became possible through a 32-bit CDFS driver. The driver uses the Microsoft networks interface in MS-DOS. This is the reason that at least version 3.1 of MS-DOS is required. The driver essenti ...
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OSI Model
The Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) is a conceptual model that 'provides a common basis for the coordination of SOstandards development for the purpose of systems interconnection'. In the OSI reference model, the communications between a computing system are split into seven different abstraction layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application. The model partitions the flow of data in a communication system into seven abstraction layers to describe networked communication from the physical implementation of transmitting bits across a communications medium to the highest-level representation of data of a distributed application. Each intermediate layer serves a class of functionality to the layer above it and is served by the layer below it. Classes of functionality are realized in all software development through all and any standardized communication protocols. Each layer in the OSI model has its own well-defined funct ...
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Terminate And Stay Resident
A terminate-and-stay-resident program (commonly TSR) is a computer program running under DOS that uses a system call to return control to DOS as though it has finished, but remains in computer memory so it can be reactivated later. This technique partially overcame DOS's limitation of executing only one program, or task, at a time. TSRs are used only in DOS, not in Windows. Some TSRs are utility software that a computer user might call up several times a day, while working in another program, using a hotkey. Borland Sidekick was an early and popular example of this type. Others serve as device drivers for hardware that the operating system does not directly support. Use Normally DOS can run only one program at a time. When a program finishes, it returns control to DOS using the system call . The memory and system resources used are then marked as unused. This makes it impossible to restart parts of the program without having to reload it all. However, if a program ends wit ...
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MEMMAKER
This article presents a list of commands used by DOS operating systems, especially as used on x86-based IBM PC compatibles (PCs). Other DOS operating systems are not part of the scope of this list. In DOS, many standard system commands were provided for common tasks such as listing files on a disk or moving files. Some commands were built into the command interpreter, others existed as external commands on disk. Over the several generations of DOS, commands were added for the additional functions of the operating system. In the current Microsoft Windows operating system, a text-mode command prompt window, cmd.exe, can still be used. Command processing The command interpreter for DOS runs when no application programs are running. When an application exits, if the transient portion of the command interpreter in memory was overwritten, DOS will reload it from disk. Some commands are internal—built into COMMAND.COM; others are external commands stored on disk. When the user ty ...
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MS-DOS 5
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few operating systems attempting to be compatible with MS-DOS, are sometimes referred to as "DOS" (which is also the generic acronym for disk operating system). MS-DOS was the main operating system for IBM PC compatibles during the 1980s, from which point it was gradually superseded by operating systems offering a graphical user interface (GUI), in various generations of the graphical Microsoft Windows operating system. IBM licensed and re-released it in 1981 as PC DOS 1.0 for use in its PCs. Although MS-DOS and PC DOS were initially developed in parallel by Microsoft and IBM, the two products diverged after twelve years, in 1993, with recognizable differences in compatibility, syntax, and capabilities. Beginning in 1988 with DR-DOS, ...
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