From: tomh@wes.on.ca (Tom Haapanen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.announce
Subject: Windows FAQ: ASCII format, 02/06
Date: 27 Jan 93 16:59:47 GMT
Followup-To: comp.os.ms-windows.misc
Organization: Waterloo Engineering Software

The following is part 02 of 06 of the ASCII text version of the
Microsoft Windows FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).  While some of you
may find this the best format, the more popular format is the WinHelp
file.  These are posted simultaneously with the ASCII version to
comp.binaries.ms-windows.

You can obtain a copy of the WinHelp version as "faqwin01.zip" by ftp
from sonygate.sony.com [192.63.138.2], in /pub/comp.binaries.ms-windows.
It will also be placed on ftp.cica.indiana.edu once disk space permits.



BEGIN--------------cut here--------cut here------------cut here----------
  if possible.
  
    4b:   4-bit color (16 colors)           8b:   8-bit color (256 colors)
  15b: 15-bit color (32,768 colors)       24b: 24-bit color (16.7M colors)
  *interlaced
  
* ATI: Mach 8
  1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x8b, 640x480x8b
  This is the original ATI accelerator chipset, which powers the ATI 8514
  Ultra, Graphics Ultra and Graphics Vantage.  The Ultra cards use VRAM video
  memory, while Vantage uses slower DRAM.  The 8514 Ultra does not include
  onboard VGA, but both other cards do.  All three cards are 8514 compatible.
  These cards, while no longer the fastest around, provide excellent Windows
  performance at all resolutions.  The driver support is very good (with
  Windows NT beta drivers available), and ATI provides anti-aliased Crystal
  Fonts for better readability.
  
* ATI: Mach 32
  1280x1024x8b, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
  The second-generation ATI accelerator chipset powers the ATI Ultra+ and
  Ultra Pro.  The Ultra Pro uses VRAM video memory, while Ultra+ uses slower
  DRAM.  Both cards are 8514 compatible.  Both cards are extremely fast and
  provide blinding Windows performance. The driver support is excellent, with
  even beta Windows NT drivers available.  ATI provides anti-aliased Crystal
  Fonts for better readability.  One problem is that the highest performance
  Ultra Pro setup requires a 4 MB memory aperture, which is not possible on
  an ISA-based system with 16 MB of memory; disabling the memory aperture
  reduces performance by 5-10%.  Current drivers still have some problems,
  but in general ATI drivers are more stable than the DIamond ones.
  
* Avance Logic: ALG2101
  1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x15b
  The '2101 is a medium-speed performer with some serious reliability
  problems and buggy Windows drivers.
  
* Avance Logic: ALG2201
  1280x1024x8b*, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
  The '2201 is the upcoming replacement for the '2101, with 24-bit true-color
  support, and intended for local bus designs.
  
* C&T: 82C481
  1280x1024x8b*, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
  C&T's '481 chipset (often combined with the C&T Wingine chipset for VGA
  compatability) is a blazingly fast performer, but is currently hobbled by
  limited driver support.  Check that the modes you need are supported before
  buying, and be prepared to have Windows fly!
  
* Compaq: 128084
  1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x8b
  Compaq's excellent accelerator design is now getting to be a bit long in
  the tooth, and its performance is below nearly all of its competitors.
  
* S3: 87C801
  1280x1024x8b, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
  The '801 is a higher-performance (32-bit), lower-cost version of the '924
  chipset, using inexpensive DRAM instead of the faster VRAM video memory.
  The performance edge over the original '911 is in excess of 50% on WinMark
  benchmarks.
  
* S3: 87C805
  1280x1024x8b, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
  The '805 is a further development of the '801 chipset, optimized for EISA
  and local buses, and with more memory to allow hi-color and true-color
  modes at higher resolutions.  Like the '801, it's a 32-bit DRAM design.
  
* S3: 87C911
  1280x1024x4b, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x24b
  This is the original S3 accelerator chipset.  It provides very good all-
  around performance, and is widely used in accelerator boards such as the
  Diamond Stealth.  For better performance, look for the newer '801, '924 or
  '928 chipsets, though.
  
* S3: 87C924
  1280x1024x4b, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x24b
  The '924 is an updated version of the original S3 '911 chipset.  Its
  performance is only somewhat improved over the original chipset (and less
  so than the '801 and '928), but it has some hardware bugs fixed (these bugs
  were previously worked around by the Windows drivers).
  
* S3: 87C928
  1280x1024x15b, 1024x768x24b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
  The '928 is a high-end version of the '805 chipset, intended for ISA as
  well as EISA and local buses, and supporting up to 4 MB of VRAM for true
  color at high resolutions.
  
* Texas Instruments: TMS 34010
  4096x4096x24b  [the TMS34010 chipset effectively does not limit resolution]
  The TMS34010 is a true coprocessed card instead of a fixed-function
  accelerator.  As it's design is not optimized for Windows, it is at its
  best in CAD applications and similar, which can take advatage of its
  display list processing capabilities.  It provides very good Windows
  performance, but at a very high price point.  Check performance of the
  specific model before buying, though -- the drivers are developed by
  individual vendors, and can have a trememndous impact on TMS34010
  perforomance.
  
* TI: TMS 34020
  4096x4096x24b  [the TMS34010 chipset effectively does not limit resolution]
  The TMS34020 is a 200 MHz 32-bit implementation of the original 100 MHz 16-
  bit TMS 34010.  It can provide outstanding Windows performance (on par with
  the ATI Ultra Pro), but it does so at a very high price point.  The chipset
  is worth considering mainly if you also use your system for CAD.
  
* Video 7: HT216
  1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x15b
  Video 7's first accelerator chipset is an inexpensive design which provides
  middling performance, on par with the Compaq 128084 and the Weitek 5186.
  
* Western Digital: WD90C31
  1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x15b
  Western Digital's new chipset is used by a number of display adapters,
  including the Paradise Windows Accelerator and the Diamond Speedstar 24x.
  While the chipset benchmarks moderately well (slotting between ATI's and
  S3's first- and second-generation chipsets), it has worse-than-expected
  real life performance, especially in scrolling.  The current drivers are
  also quite buggy and unreliable.
  
* Western Digital: WD90C31
  1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x24b
  Western Digital's new chipset is used by a number of display adapters,
  including the Paradise Windows Accelerator and the Diamond Speedstar 24x.
  While the chipset benchmarks moderately well (slotting between ATI's and
  S3's first- and second-generation chipsets), it has worse-than-expected
  real life performance, especially scrolling.  The current drivers may also
  be unreliable.
  
* Western Digital: WD90C33
  1280x1024x8b, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
  WD's second generation design will be targeted at local bus designs, and
  will attempt to improve performance with more accelerated operations and a
  32-bit design (instead of the 32-bit/16-bit hybrid design in the WD90C31).
  
* Weitek: W5186
  1024x768x8b, 800x600x8b, 640x480x8b
  Weitek's initial foray into accelerator chipsets does not provide stellar
  performance, largely since the accelerated operations are limited to
  BitBlits and line drawing.  An 16-bit/8-bit internal design and a lack of
  support for more than 256 colors don't add to the attraction of the W5186
  chipset.
  
* Weitek: W5286
  1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x24b
  The upcoming second-generation Weitek chipset will attempt to correct some
  of the problems of the W5186, using a 32-bit/8-bit internal design, true-
  color support (albeit only at low resolutions) and accelerated color
  expansion and pattern fills.  It looks doubtful, though, that the W5286
  would significantly surpass the top first-generation accelerators (such as
  the ATI Ultra and S3 87C911), let alone match the latest performers.
  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.3.  System BIOS compatability
===============================
  A number of different computers have BIOS incompatabilities with Windows
  3.1.  The following list contains BIOSes with such problems.  Contact you
  manufacturer for an update if you have one of these systems.
     
     Manufacturer         Version   Problem
     ALR        MPS       Incompatible with Seagate IDE disks
     AMI        1987      Floppy access causes reboot
     AMI        1989      Intermittent crashes
     AMI        1991      Serial port problems
     AST        Premium/286    Crashes, keyboard lockups and network errors
     Award BIOS - 3.04    Floppy read errors before version 3.05
     DTK BIOS   - 34      No IDE drive support
     DTK BIOS   36        Setup utilities must be disabled
     Peak BIOS  1.10      1.30 or newer is required
     Phoenix BIOS         - 1987    1988 or newer is required
     Quadtel BIOS         - 3.04    3.05 or newer is required
     Tandon     All       Old BIOSes cause keyboard failures
     Toshiba    T3100/20  BIOS 4.2 is required
     Toshiba    T3100e    BIOS 1.7 is required
     Wyse       All       Setup detects 101 keyboard as 84
     Zenith     286       Keyboard problems
     Zenith     386/16    BIOS 2.6E or newer is required
     Zenith     TurboSportBIOS 2.4D or newer is required
     
  The BIOS name and version number (or date) are usually displayed when the
  system boots.  As an alternative, you can use msd.exe, a DOS-based
  diagnostic utility included with Windows 3.1, to determine the BIOS your
  system is using.  Also, there are several diagnostic utilities available in
  wuarchive's /mirrors/msdos/info directory: sysch233, sysid602 and ifp1p155.
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.4.  Video drivers
===================
  
...........................................................................

4.4.1.  Identifying Your Video Card
-----------------------------------
  The first step in finding the correct Windows drivers for your video card
  is to determine the type of card you have.  First, you may have a "brand-
  name" card; if so, your box and/or documentation will ientify the type of
  card.  Second, you can look at the BIOS message (if any) displayed when you
  boot your system.  Third, you can open up your system, and look for
  identification on the card itself -- usually either printed on the card
  itself or on some of the integrated circuits.
  
  As an alternative, you can use msd.exe, a DOS-based diagnostic utility
  included with Windows 3.1, to determine the manufacturer and type of video
  card in your system.  Also, two utilities available from wuarchive, atmem10
  and vgautils (in directory /mirrors/msdos/vga) may help you identify your
  video card.
  
  See the following section on locating a video card driver for a listing of
  possible names to look for.
  
...........................................................................

4.4.2.  Locating a driver
-------------------------
  Once you have identified your card, you are ready to begin searching for
  the right driver.  First, check whether Windows includes the driver you are
  searching for (Windows 3.1 includes generic VGA (640x480x16) and SuperVGA
  (800x600x16) drivers, as well as numerous specific drivers).  Second, look
  at the diskettes you received in the video card package.  These may contain
  the appropriate driver, saving you from a further search.
  
  If neither Windows nor the diskettes have the drivers, or they are out of
  date, you may wish to check ftp.cica.indiana.edu for the latest one.  If
  there are none at cica, you can try one of the following:
     * Contact your dealer
     * Call the video card manufacturer
     * Download the latest driver from the manufacturer's BBS
     * Download the latest driver from the Microsoft BBS (206-936-6735)
  
  Note that Windows 3.1 drivers are normally dated after the release date of
  Windows 3.1 itself (April 6, 1992).
  
...........................................................................

4.4.3.  Video card manufacturers
--------------------------------
  The following is a partial list of video display hardware vendors who
  support using Windows with their products.  CAUTION:  The numbers listed
  may not, by the time you read this, be up to date!
  
     Ahead Systems                      510-623-0961
     Appian Technology                       206-649-5363
     ATI Technologies                        416-756-4591
     Boca Research                      407-241-1601
     Diamond Computer                        408-730-1100
     Everex Systems                     510-226-9694
     Focus Information                       510-657-9451
     Headland Technology                Video Seven    510-656-0503
     Matrox Electronic                       514-685-6008
     Micro-Labs                         312-648-6008
     Micron Technology                       208-368-2130
     National Design                         512-343-5054
     NEC            NEC                 512-832-1962
     Nth Graphics   Nth Graphics        512-832-1962
     Number Nine Computer               Number Nine    617-862-7502
     Orchid Technology                  Orchid    510-683-0327
     Panacea        WinSpeed            603-432-5193
     Sigma Designs  Sigma               510-770-0111
     STB Systems    STB                 214-437-9615
     Tecmar         Tecmar              216-349-0853
     Trident Microsystems               Trident   415-691-1016
     ViewSonic      ViewSonic           213-944-2195
     
  The following vendors do not provide BBS access, but do make updates
  available on CompuServe, in the forum indicated.
  
     Tseng Laboratories                 ET3000, ET4000 WINADV
  
...........................................................................

4.4.4.  Using 256 (or more) colors in Windows
---------------------------------------------
  In order to use more than 16 colors in Windows, your display card and its
  driver must first support 256 colors.  Second, your application must know
  about 256 colors in order to take advantage of this feature, as this
  requires palette switching and some additional programming.  Many
  applications currently on the market only support 16 colors.
  
  In order to get 256 colors, your video card will need at least 320K (for
  640x480), 512K (for 800x600) or 768K (for 1024x768) of RAM.  For most video
  cards, 256-color drivers are also much slower than 16-color drivers.  Some
  video cards support 15-bit (32,768 colors) or 24-bit (16,777,216 colors)
  video; these can also be used in Windows given the appropriate display
  driver and sufficient video memory.
  
...........................................................................

4.4.5.  Panacea Winspeed
------------------------
  One alternative to the specific manufacturer-supplied drivers is to use
  Panacea's Winspeed drivers.  These drivers often provide a substantial
  speed improvement over vendor-supplied drivers, although some vendors have
  highly optimized drivers which can meet or exceed Winspeed's performance.
  
...........................................................................

4.4.6.  CGA drivers
-------------------
  Windows 3.1 does not include CGA drivers, as the recommended minimum for
  running Windows 3.1 is EGA.  If you need to run Windows on a CGA system,
  you can download the CGA drivers from the Microsoft BBS (206-936-6735).
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.5.  Printer drivers
=====================
  The following is a partial list of printer manufacturers who support using
  Windows with their products.  CAUTION:  The numbers listed may not, by the
  time you read this, be up to date!
  
     Canon          Canon               516-488-6528
     Lexmark        IBM laser printers  606-232-5653
     NEC            NEC                 508-635-6328
     Okidata        Okidata             800-654-3282
     Panasonic      Panasonic, Roland   201-863-7487
  
  The following vendors do not provide BBS access, but do make updates
  available on CompuServe, in the forum indicated.
  
     DEC            DEC                 DECPCI
     Varityper      Varityper           Desktop Publishing
     
  
...........................................................................

4.5.1.  Selecting a PostScript printer driver
---------------------------------------------
  If your PostScript printer model is not listed in the available printers
  listing, you should not choose the generic PostScript printer.  Microsoft
  advises that "if you select PostScript Printer, you may encounter problems
  when printing".  Instead, you may wish to try Apple LaserWriter as your
  first possibility.
  
...........................................................................

4.5.2.  Eliminating the Ctrl-D in PostScript output
---------------------------------------------------
  To prevent Windows from placing a Ctrl-D (printer reset) at the beginning
  of your PostScript output files, specify
     CtrlD=0
  in the [ModelName,Port] section of your win.ini file.
  
  Note that this method does not appear to work with the generic PostScript
  Printer driver.
  
...........................................................................

4.5.3.  EPS graphics print in portrait even on landscape pages
--------------------------------------------------------------
  If EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) graphics won't print correctly in
  landscape mode, try adding the following line to the [Model,Port] section
  of your win.ini file:
       
       LandscapeOrient=270
  
  
...........................................................................

4.5.4.  Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printing problems
-------------------------------------------------
  If you are getting incomplete pages printed on your DeskJet, make sure that
  there is the the entry
     PrtResFac=0
  in the [ModelName,Port] section for the DeskJet in your win.ini file.
  
  Note that only the drivers supplied by Hewlett-Packard support HP scalable
  fonts and/or color printing, and these do not currently support TrueType
  fonts.
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.6.  Math coprocessors and WIN87EM.DLL
=======================================
  Windows 3.x itself does not take advantage of a math coprocessor.  Windows
  applications, on the other hand, may or may not, depending on the
  application: for example, Excel will, while Word for Windows won't.  In
  general, an 80x87 chip gives the greates speedup for trigonometric/log type
  of calculations, and does not significantly improve graphics speed in most
  cases.
  
  The WIN87EM.DLL is a dynamic link library which provides floating-point
  emulation for Windows applications.  Any application which is capable of
  using an 80x87 will need this library on a machine without an 80x87.
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.7.  Multimedia
================
  
...........................................................................

4.7.1.  AdLib cards and .wav files
----------------------------------
  The standard AdLib driver supplied with Windows 3.1 is a MIDI-only driver
  and is not capable of playing .wav files.  You can add this capability,
  however, by installing the driver contained in adlibw.zip, available at ftp
  .cica.indiana.edu  and other sites.
  
...........................................................................

4.7.2.  Using MIDI cards with Windows 3.1
-----------------------------------------
  if your sound card plays MIDI files (such as canyon.mid), but none of the
  selections under Control Panel's Sound icon are available, your card/driver
  does not support wave files.  You will need either to add a wave driver for
  your card (if available -- contact your sound card manufacturer) or to get
  a card which supports wave drivers.
  
...........................................................................

4.7.3.  SoundBlaster Pro and Windows 3.1
----------------------------------------
  One of the most common symptoms of SoundBlaster Pro problems in Windows 3.1
  is a complete hang of the system on exit from Windows.  You need to use the
  SoundBlaster Pro drivers, not the SoundBlaster 1.5 drivers included with
  Windows 3.1.  The drivers shipped with SB Pro may be out of date, like
  those on Microsoft's BBS and on CompuServe (this may, however, have changed
  by the time you read this).  In any case, ftp.cica.indiana.edu has the set
  of updated drivers available as sounds/sbpw31.zip.  You can also get them
  from Creative Labs' BBS at (408) 428-6660.
  
...........................................................................

4.7.4.  Using the PC's built-in speaker
---------------------------------------
  Windows 3.1 does not contain a driver for playing sounds over the PC's
  built-in speaker, as the speaker is not quite standardized and not all
  machines would work as intended.  If you would like to try, however, you
  should get a copy of the speaker driver, contained in the self-extracting
  archive speaker.exe, available at Microsoft's BBS, ftp.cica.indiana.edu
  and other sites.
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.8.  System Resources
======================
  Free system resources are things such as window handles and global memory
  block handles (handle is a Windows programming term, but it is basically an
  identifier for a window or any other global item.  Each window (dialog,
  icon, memory block, or whatever) requires a handle.
  
  Windows 3.0 has a limit of 64K of resources (32,768 handles), and Windows
  3.1 has a limit of 128K of resources (65,536 handles).  Windows NT does not
  have a global resource limit.
  
  You can't increase system resources by just adding more memory; the only
  real solution is to close some applications if you are running low.
  Windows 3.0 Program Manager was a resource hog, but the 3.1 version is much
  better.
  
  Some poorly-written applications will also not release all the resources
  they have grabbed when they exit.  You can check for this by checking the
  Free System Resources figure, starting up the application, working in it
  for some time, and then exiting.  If the Free System Resources figure is
  not the same as before you started, your application is not properly
  freeing its resources and it's time for you to call the vendor and
  complain!
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.9.  Networking
================
  
...........................................................................

4.9.1.  Compatible Networks
---------------------------
  The following networks have either been tested by Microsoft, or reported by
  Usenet users to be functional with Windows 3.x:
  
  Network           earliest version
  3Com 3 Plus           1.0
  3Com 3+Open           1.0
  Banyan Vines          4.0
  BW NFS                ?.?
  DEC PathWorks         4.0
  Frontier Tech Super-TCP    1.0    [Windows-based TCP/IP, SLIP and NFS]
  FTP NFS               ?.?  [Windows-based telnet application]
  IBM PC LAN            1.1  [except server]
  LAN Manager           1.0
  LAN Server            1.0
  LANtastic             4.0
  Novell Netware        2.15 [shell & utilities must be version 3.01]
  Sun PC-NFS            3.5  [must use interrupt 3 instead of 5]
  Wollongong NFS        2.0  [Windows-based telnet, FTP; include SLIP]
  
  Note that many NFS packages have difficulty with Windows for Workgroups due
  to a bug in WfW FindNext implementation; check with the vendor to determine
  whether their NFS implementation has a workaround available.
  
...........................................................................

4.9.2.  Novell's NWPOPUP utility won't initialize
-------------------------------------------------
  If you are running in 386 Enhanced mode, and the version of nwpopup.exe is
  dated earlier than 10 March, 1992, nwpopup.exe will not initialize properly
  under Windows 3.1.
  
  You may also try placing the following line in the [386Enh] section of your
  system.ini file:
     
     TimerCriticalSection=10000
  
  This increases the amount of time (milliseconds) before the critical
  section is timed out.
  
...........................................................................

4.9.3.  Using Windows for Workgroups with TCP/IP
------------------------------------------------
  Microsoft does not officially support using Windows for Workgroups with
  TCP/IP.  However, it's possible to use your existing TCP/IP protocol with a
  shared NDIS protocol stack.  This will allow you to access NFS and TCP/IP
  (telnet and ftp) as usual, but with full Windows for Workgroups
  functionality available as well.  Unfortunately you will generally lose the
  Windows-specific capabilities of your NFS software (such as mounting NFS
  drives from File Manager).
  
  See the following sections for examples of how to set up Windows for
  Workgroups with a TCP/IP and NFS-based network.
  
  
  
4.9.3.1.  FTP TCP/IP and NFS
  With FTP's TCP/IP, you will need to set up Windows for Workgroups to use
  the NDIS stack (see the Wollongong section for a sample protocol.ini); your
  TCP/IP can be set up as usual, using the NDIS protocol stack.  In addition,
  you will need to get a copy of the file wfwftp.386 from FTP; this file
  corrects the FindNext problem with Windows for Workgroups.  Copy this file
  to your system directory, and add the following line to the [386Enh]
  section of your system.ini file:
  
     device=wfwftp.386
  
  Thanks to Larry Backman at FTP Software.
  
  
4.9.3.2.  Wollongong Pathway Access/NFS
  The following example has been tested and is known to work with
  Wollongong's Access TCP/IP and NFS product, and SMC' 8013EP network card.
  If you are using BW, Sun, FTP or some other vendor's software, you will
  likely need to modify some of the driver names and options, and you will
  definitely need to adapt the network card selection and configuration to
  match yours.  Note that this example does not include the usual config.sys
  options such as device=himem.sys; you can add these as usual.
  
  Thanks to Ron Olsthoorn at Wollongong Canada.

* config.sys
  stacks = 9,256
  device = c:\usr\windows\protman.dos /i:c:\usr\windows
  device = c:\usr\windows\workgrp.sys
  device = c:\usr\windows\smcmac.dos
  
* autoexec.bat
  rem The following line configures Pathway Access to interrupt 65
  pwconfig -n:65
  c:\usr\pathway\ndis -d:3 -i:A
  c:\usr\windows\net start
  c:\usr\pathway\pwtcp
  c:\usr\pathway\nfs
  c:\usr\pathway\mount u:  \\servername\\/u/joeuser
  
* protocol.ini
  [network.setup]
  version=0x3100
  netcard=ms$w13ep,1,MS$W13EP
  transport=ms$netbeui,MS$NETBEUI
  lana0=ms$w13ep,1,ms$netbeui
  
  [protman]
  DriverName=PROTMAN$
  Priority=MS$NETBEUI
  
  [MS$W13EP]
  DriverName=SMCMAC$
  IRQ=10
  RAMAddress=0xC800
  IOBase=0x240
  ReceiveBufSize=1024
  
  [MS$NETBEUI]
  DriverName=netbeui$
  Sessions=10
  NCBS=32
  Bindings=MS$W13EP
  LANAbase=0
  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.10.  Integrating with Unix e-mail
===================================
  In general, Windows-nbase email packages will not talk to Unix hosts over
  the network (unless you're using Microsoft's LAN Manager).  If you wish to
  use Windows-based email over a TCP/IP network, you need an SMTP-compatible
  email package such as Mail-It (from Unipalm Ltd., Cambridge, UK; +44 223
  42002; tom@unipalm.co.uk ) or Cinetic Mail Manager (from Cinetic Software,
  available as shareware).
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.11.  Serial Communications
============================
  
...........................................................................

4.11.1.  Using COM3 and COM4
----------------------------
  This is a generally a problem only in 386 enhanced mode.  To use these
  ports, you will need to tell Windows where they are located.
  
  For Windows 3.1, you should run the MSD.EXE utility while outside Windows.
  This utility will allow you to determine your COM port configuration. After
  running MSD, use the Control Panel's Ports utility to tell Windows how your
  ports are configured.
  
  For Windows 3.0, the instructions for doing this can be found in the
  Windows readme file sysini2.txt, which should be located in your Windows
  directory.  In summary, what you need to do is tell Windows what memory
  addresses and interrupts (IRQs) your COM3 and COM4 ports use.  This should
  work, but is not guaranteed to: COM3 and Com4 are not standardized, and
  this is one of the most difficult things to get working with Windows.  If
  possible, move your devices to COM1 or COM2.
  
  If the port still does not work after specifying the correct IRQ and memory
  address for the port, there is another possibile solution: Assuming the
  ports work OK from plain DOS, try setting up COM3.OS2 (or COM4.OS2) instead
  of the usual COM3 or COM4.  The Windows 3.0 manual says this is just for
  OS/2 machines, but it seems to work for many clones.
  
  Also note that due to interrupt conflicts, machines without an EISA or
  Microchannel bus are generally not able to use both COM1 and COM3, or COM2
  and COM4 simultaneously.
  
  Finally, some video accelerator cards, such as the ATI Vantage and Ultra
  series, and the S3 89C911-based cards, use the address normally assigned to
  COM4, preventing you from using this port number.
  
...........................................................................

4.11.2.  Using a high-performance 16550 serial port
---------------------------------------------------
  You can use a 16550-based serial card, or upgrade your serial card to use a
  16550 chip instead of an 8250 or 16450 (get the 16550AFN if you're buying a
  chip only) to improve Windows serial communication performance.  This is
  most noticeable at 9600+ baud rates using advanced protocols such as
  Zmodem.
  
  If you use a Windows-base communications package, the 16550 is
  automatically enabled.  You can disable it, however, by setting
       COMxFIFO=off
  in the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file, where x is your serial
  port number (1 to 4).
  
...........................................................................

4.11.3.  DOS boxes and 16550 serial ports
-----------------------------------------
  For DOS-based applications, the use of the 16550 serial port chip (and its
  built-in FIFO buffers) is not enabled by default.  What you need to do is
  set
       COMxBuff=off
  in the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file, where x is your serial
  port number (1 to 4).  This will disable Windows' buffering of that serial
  port, and allow the DOS app to access it directly.  This is not recommended
  for use with Windows-based communication packages!
  
  Another alternative is to use chcomb.386 (replace the device=*combuff line
  in the system.ini file with device=chcomb.386), a shareware device driver
  which allows you to use a 16550 for both WIndows and DOS applications.
  
...........................................................................

4.11.4.  SmartDrive and 16550 high-speed transfers
--------------------------------------------------
  If you use SmartDrive with Windows 3.1, disk writes are cached by default.
  While this is generally a good idea, this causes a problem with high-speed
  downloads, since SmartDrive turns off all interrupts when it is performing
  the delayed disk write.  Since the interrupts are turned off, you may lose
  a packet whenever the disk light goes on!
  
  The easiest workaround is to disable write caching for your download drive.
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.12.  Disk drives and virtual memory
=====================================
  
...........................................................................

4.12.1.  Virtual memory and swapfiles
-------------------------------------
  The type of swapfile you select for running in 386 Enhanced mode can have a
  significant impact on your performance within Windows.
  
  If you have 12 MB or more of memory, you should likely disable swapping
  completely; this provides substantially better performance than either
  permanent or temporary swapfiles.  You may also be able to do this with 8
  MB, depending on the size of your disk cache and the number of applications
  (especially DOS applications) you run simultaneously.
  
  If you determine that you do need a swapfile, you should usually use a
  permanent one.  Permanent swapfiles allow Windows to start up much faster
  than temporary ones, which must be recreated every time you start Windows.
  Permanent swapfiles, however, require contiguous (unfragmented) disk space;
  you may need to compress your disk, using a tool such as Norton SpeedDisk
  or PC Tools first.
  
...........................................................................

4.12.2.  Maximum swapfile size
------------------------------
  Windows 3.1 determines your virtual memory limit by rounding the amount of
  RAM on your system to the nearest 4 MB, multiplying by 4, and then
  subtracting the amount of the system RAM from the total.  This is then the
  maximum amount of virtual memory (swapfile size) you can use, provided you
  have sufficient unfragmented hard disk space (see previous section).
  
  The multiplier of 4 is a default that can be changed by using a
       
       PageOverCommit=
       
  setting in the [386Enh] section of the system.ini file.  The multiplier can
  be from 1 to 20.
  
...........................................................................

4.12.3.  Windows 3.x and Stacker
--------------------------------
  Stacker 2.0 works well with Windows 3.0 and 3.1.  You should, however,
  follow the guidelines below for using Stacker with Windows:
  
     * Never place a permanent swapfile on a stacked disk.
     * Never place a temporary swapfile on a stacked disk.
     * Never use SmartDrive to cache the stacked volume
     * Do use SmartDrive to cache the unstacked volume containing the stacked
       volume
     * Place SmartDrive before Stacker in your autoexec.bat
  
  To enhance your memory usage, you may wish to stack your RAMdrive to
  provide additional room for temporary files (such as the Print Manager's
  spool files).
  
  Note:     Beware that although Stacker will assume that it can compress
       your data to provide 2x the physical storage capacity, it cannot
       guarantee that, and placing your temporary files on a stacked drive
       (whether a disk drive or a RAMdrive) may cause the stacked drive to
       run out of room unexpectedly if the compression ratio does not reach
       2x (you may wish to read up on this in your Stacker documentation).
       If this happens, Windows will experience a catastrophic disk error --
       and I think we can all agree that that's not a pleasant experience!
  
...........................................................................

4.12.4.  SCSI controllers
-------------------------
  If you have a bus-mastering SCSI adapter such as the Adaptec 1542, you
  should be installing the aspi4dos.sys ASPI driver (provided with your
  controller, or available from Adaptec's BBS at (408) 945-7727) as the first
  device in your config.sys.  Using the ASPI driver drops the requirement for
  SmartDrive descrivbed below.
  
  Normally, in 386 enhanced mode, Windows 3.x supports only ST-506, ESDI and
  IDE disk controllers.  If you have a SCSI controller, you need to load
  SmartDrive in order to allow Windows to recognize your hard disk -- and
  with Windows 3.1, you should use the /double_buffer option (see the next
  section).  Do not disable double buffering in a bus-mastering SCSI drive
  unless you're using the ASPI driver described above.
  
  As a third alternative, you may insert the following line in your
  system.ini file, in the [386enh] section:
       VirtualHDIRQ=off
  
  Finally, some people report having problems with permanent swapfiles on
  SCSI drives using Windows 3.0.
  
...........................................................................

4.12.5.  SmartDrive double buffering on SCSI drives
---------------------------------------------------
  When you install WIndows 3.1 on a system with a SCSI drive, it
  automatically adds the line
  
       device=c:\usr\windows\smartdrv.exe /double_buffer
  
  to your config.sys.  To determine whether you actually need double
  buffering, run SmartDrive again from the command line to check on its
  status.  Typically, the initial display would be similar to the one below:
  
       Microsoft SMARTDrive Disk Cache version 4.0
       Copyright 1991,1992 Microsoft Corp.
       
       Cache size: 1,048,576 bytes
       Cache size while running Windows: 1,048,576 bytes
       
                   Disk Caching Status
       drive   read cache   write cache   buffering
       --------------------------------------------
         A:       yes           no           no
         B:       yes           no           no
         C:       yes           yes          -
       
       For help, type "Smartdrv /?".
  
  Here SmartDrive has not yet determined whether double buffering is
  necessary or not.  To force SmartDrive to make up its mind, run two
  simultaneous DOS sessions from within Windows, and do some disk accessing
  from each.  After this, SmartDrive should be able to determine the need for
  double buffering.  If the double buffering is not required, the display
  will be similar to the one below:
  
       Microsoft SMARTDrive Disk Cache version 4.0
       Copyright 1991,1992 Microsoft Corp.
       
       Cache size: 1,048,576 bytes
       Cache size while running Windows: 1,048,576 bytes
       
                   Disk Caching Status
       drive   read cache   write cache   buffering
       --------------------------------------------
         A:       yes           no           no
         B:       yes           no           no
         C:       yes           yes          no
       
       For help, type "Smartdrv /?".
  
  If this is the case, you can remove the SmartDrive line from your
  config.sys.
  
...........................................................................

4.12.6.  Windows 3.x and large hard disks
-----------------------------------------
  In rare cases, there are problems with using Windows 3.0 on large hard
  disks.  Your system may be at risk if:
  
  * You are using third-party partitioning software, such as:
       * Disk Manager (dmdrv.bin)
       * InnerSpace (edvr.sys)
       * SpeedStor (sstor.sys or hardrive.sys)
       * Vfeatures Deluxe (fixt_drv.sys)
  * and you are using SmartDrive (smartdrv.sys) as your disk cache
  * and your hard disk has more than 1023 cylinders
  
  If your hard disk has fewer than 1024 cylinders, you may still be at risk
  if the first two conditions hold true, you are using DOS 3.30 or later, and
  your hard disk is not supported by your BIOS.  To avoid problems, you can
  either stop using SmartDrive, or reformat your disk using the DOS FDISK
  utility.
  
  There are no problems with large partitions created by the FDISK program
  included with MS-DOS 4.0 and some versions of MS-DOS 3.3.
  
  If you are still having problems, call Microsoft Technical Support at (206)
  454-2030.
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.13.  Troubleshooting
======================
  One essential tool for troubleshooting Windows 3.x problems is Microsoft's
  Windows Resource Toolkit.  This combination of a comprehensive reference
  and some utility tools is priced at around $30, and can't be beat for
  value.  If you are responsible for keeping a number of Windows systems
  running, run, don't walk, to the nearest phone and order it now!
  
  The toolkit is also freely available in Word for Windows format from
  ftp.cica.indiana.edu (and its mirror sites); while this version is
  complete, it is large, and will take significant time to ftp and download
  (not to mention print!).
  
...........................................................................

4.13.1.  BMP wallpaper won't display correctly
----------------------------------------------
  Some of the possible reasons are:
     
     * Your .bmp file is corrupted.  Try reading it into Paintbrush to verify
       that it is readable.
     * You are trying to display a bitmap with more colors than your video
       driver supports for example, 256 colors with a 16-color driver, or 16M
       colors with a 256-color driver).
     * You have insufficient memory to display the bitmap.  A 800x600x16
       bitmap requires 256K of memory; 1024x768x256 would require 768K!
  
  For 256-to-16 color dithering, you may try using a utility such as
  PaintShop Pro.
  
...........................................................................

4.13.2.  Frequent GPFs (General Protection Faults)
--------------------------------------------------
  If you are experiencing frequent Windows 3.1 crashes, try starting Windows
  with the command
       win /d:xsv
  
  If the GPFs do not appear, add the line
       VirtualHDIRQ=off
  to the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file.  If the GPFs contine, try
       win /d:xs
  
  If the GPFs do not appear, add the line
       SystemROMBreakPoint=false
  to the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file.  If the GPFs contine, try
       win /d:x
  
  If the GPFs do not appear, add the line
       EMMExclude=A000-EFFF
  to the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file.  While this will get
  Windows running more reliably, you should probably try to narrow down the
  range of memory that actually has to be excluded.
  
...........................................................................

4.13.3.  File Manager won't format floppies
-------------------------------------------
  If you are having trouble formatting floppies from File Manager, try adding
  one or more
       DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS /D:# /F:#
  lines to your config.sys; see your DOS manual for details.
  
...........................................................................

4.13.4.  Incorrect system version; reinstall the 386 enhanced version of
Windows
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
  If you get the above message when starting a DOS session, you are
  experiencing one of three potential problems:
     
     * You are using a display driver written for Windows 3.0.  Updating it to
       a 3.1 compatible version  should make the problem disappear.
     
     * Your display card selection is not consistent: the display.drv=,
       386Grabber= and display= selections in your system.ini may not be
       consistent with each other.  Use setup to install a fresh set of
       display drivers from the original distribution diskettes.
     
     * Your winoamod.386 driver (in your system directory) may be out of date.
       If that file's date is earlier than win386.exe, use the expand command
       to get a new copy of winoamod.386 from your original Windows
       diskettes.
  
...........................................................................

4.13.5.  Mouse hangs when using communications software
-------------------------------------------------------
  This problem is usually caused by a mouse and a modem being on the same
  serial port pair (either COM1/COM3, or COM2/COM4).  Each pair shares a
  common interrupt due to restrictions of the original IBM PC architecture,
  and so can not be used simultaneously.
  
  If you are experiencing this problem, you should move either your modem or
  mouse a different serial port.
  
...........................................................................

4.13.6.  Parity errors with Windows 3.1
---------------------------------------
  Parity errors are real, and detected reliably by Windows 3.1 (Windows 3.0
  ignored them for the most part).  Unfortunately most memory test programs
  do not properly test 32-bit memory accesses, and thus do not detect all
  possible memory problems.  Environments such as Windows 3.1, Windows NT,
  Unix, Xenix and OS/2 2.0, however, do exercise this aspect -- and, as a
  result, report memory problems where the memory testers don't catch them.
  
  Below are some of the possible causes for parity errors, in approximate
  order of likelyhood:
     * Defective memory module
     * 80ns memory where 70ns is required
     * Two different speeds of memory modules
     * DMA or memory conflicts
     * Outdated BIOS
     * Defective DMA on the CPU chip
  
  If you're willing to play with fire and gasoline (if, for example, you have
  8-bit memory with no parity bit), you can disable parity checking by
  removing or commenting out the following line in the [386Enh] section of
  your system.ini file:
       
       device=*parity
  
  Note that this will disable your parity checking completely and may cause
  unexpected crashes or errors if your memory has parity errors!
  
...........................................................................

4.13.7.  Performance deterioration in a 386 Enhanced mode DOS session
---------------------------------------------------------------------
  The most likely cause of this type of a problem is slow memory.  If your
  onboard memory is accessed with basically no wait states, but you have a
  slower memory expansion card, your machine will run slower whenever it is
  using those higher memory addresses.  This will generally happen when you
  start a DOS session, and often result in 30-50% performance reductions
  using various benchmarks.  The performance is actually also reduced within
  Windows, but it's difficult to notice this due to the lack of a suitable
  benchmark.  The proper cure for this problem is to either upgrade your
  memory expansion card, or to correct whatever problem is causing your
  machine to access extended memory with such poor problem.
END--cut here--cut here