From: ittschir@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (Tim Tschirner)
Subject: QEMM and Sound Cards
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 09:43:38 GMT
Organization: Universitaet Bielefeld, Technische Fakultaet.

This is a technical information sheet from Quarterdeck which gives some tips
for the use of QEMM with Sound Cards. Thanks to Henry Weckman for providing it.

ID:SC Sound Cards & Quarterdeck Products
Quarterdeck Technical Note #267
by Bryan Hanks
Last revision: 17 Nov 92

Quarterdeck products work well with most popular sound cards.  A few of them 
have problems with memory managers in general.  This technical note will 
provide hints on how to get your sound card up and running with Quarterdeck 
products installed.

QEMM-386*********************************************************

In general, if you are having problems with your sound card and QEMM-386 only, 
the first thing you should consider that the problem is not with QEMM-386 but 
with some other piece of hardware or software.

To test this, edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and REM out everything except for 
PATH, PROMPT and SET statements.  In the CONFIG.SYS, REM out everything except 
for QEMM, FILES, SHELL, and BUFFERS.  If you have a disk compression device 
(e.g., Stacker, Superstore, or DoubleDisk) or disk driver (e.g., DMDVRDR.BIN), 
do not disable this driver.  Make the following changes in your CONFIG.SYS:

     DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS ...

should be changed to:

     REM DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS ...

(The "..." represents whatever parameters you have on this line)

Next, add the following lines to the beginning of your CONFIG.SYS:

     DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
     DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
     DOS = UMB

(EMM386 may be a ".SYS" file.  Both of these drivers are assumed to be in your 
C:\DOS directory.  If either of them is located in another directory, make the 
appropriate change.  If you have Microsoft's Windows, you may find HIMEM and 
EMM386 the Windows directory.)

Reboot and try accessing your sound card as you did before.  If you still have 
the problem then it is likely that your sound device is having a problem with 
Virtual 86 mode.  You will need to contact the manufacturers of the device for 
further instructions or you can try some of the suggestions located in the 
following sections.

If all works well, then you can make QEMM-386 behave like HIMEM + EMM386.  To 
do this run Manifest and locate the page frame.  Here is an EXAMPLE Manifest 
First Meg Overview screen from a system running HIMEM and EMM386:

First Meg / Overview
         Memory Area   Size   Description
         0000 - 003F     1K  Interrupt Area
         0040 - 004F   0.3K  BIOS Data Area
         0050 - 006F   0.5K  System Data
         0070 - 0E98    56K  DOS
         0E99 - 36C4   160K  Program Area
         36C5 - 9FFF   420K  [Available]
         ===Conventional memory ends at 640K====
         A000 - AFFF    64K  VGA Graphics
         B000 - B7FF    32K  Unused
         B800 - BFFF    32K  VGA Text
         C000 - C5FF    24K  Video ROM
         C600 - C67F     2K  Unused
         C680 - C7FF     6K  ROM
         C800 - CFFF    32K  High RAM
         D000 - DFFF    64K  Page Frame
         E000 - EFFF    64K  Unused
         F000 - FFFF    64K  System ROM

Note that the page frame in this example is located at D000, a single High RAM 
area exists at C800-C7FF, and there are three unused areas at B000-B7FF, C600-
C67F, and E000-EFFF.

To configure QEMM-386, edit your Config.sys and REM-out HIMEM, EMM386, and 
DOS=UMB.  Take the REM off the QEMM-386 line then change that line to read:

     DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS FRAME=aaaa RAM=bbbb-cccc X=dddd-eeee

where:

     aaaa is the address of the PAGE FRAME (in our example:  D000)

     bbbb-cccc is the address of the High RAM area (in our example:
          C800-CFFF).  If you have more than one mappable area, use additional
          RAM= statements.

    dddd-eeee is the address of the UNUSED area (in our example:  both
         B000-B7FF and E000-EFFF).

         If you have more than one unused area, use additional X=
         statements.

     Next, add the following parameters to the end of the line:

     NO NS NT NCF NOSH NX NR NRH NOVDS X=0-3FFF.

All of these parameters are documented in your QEMM-386 manual.

Now reboot and try accessing your sound card as you did before.  If that works 
then you are done.  Try removing some of the parameters until you can verify 
which one(s) are actually solve the problem.

PLEASE NOTE:  If your version of DOS does not have HIMEM and EMM386 (and you 
don't have Windows), then you should give QOS tech support a call.

Some sound cards and/or their drivers use Direct Memory Addressing (or DMA). 
If this is an issue, consider increasing the size of QEMM-386's DMA buffer, as 
specified in your QEMM-386 manual.  In some cases, QEMM-386 will print an 
error message to add the DMA parameter with a specific buffer size to your 
QEMM-386 line.  If you don't see this message, but do have problems, we 
suggest you set the buffer to an initial value of 128.  You may then 
experiment with lesser values.

QRAM*************************************************************

QRAM works well with sound cards.  Because it is not a memory manager, there 
shouldn't be any of the problems commonly associated with memory managers and 
sound cards.  We have received no reports of any problems between QRAM and 
sound cards.

QEMM-50/60********************************************************

We have neither tested a sound card with QEMM-50/60 nor received any reports 
of a problem with it.  As QEMM-50/60 does not put your machine in protected 
mode it need not manage DMA, thus we expect no problem using a sound card with 
QEMM-50/60.

DESQview and DESQview 386****************************************

The authors of many DOS sound programs presume that their program will get 
100% of the CPU's time since DOS is a single-tasking operating system. 
Multitasking environments share the CPU among programs running in more than 
one window.

In DESQview the sound program's sound may be choppy, have a longer duration, 
or play at a lower frequency because the window in which the sound program 
runs may only execute at half the speed (or less) it normally would, depending 
on how many windows you have open and DESQview's allocation of time slices.  
The faster your machine the less of an issue this becomes.  If you have a slow 
machine the sound output may be slower than usual.  In such cases optimize 
your system for speed, if possible.  Set "Time Slices" to 3 foreground and 3 
background, or you may even run the sound-producing program in the foreground 
with the "Shares CPU" field set to N.  You can set "Shares CPU" to N 
temporarily from DESQview's Rearrange/Tune Performance menu.  Since sounds are 
continuous events, switching away for even a small fraction of a second is 
noticeable.  Accessing a disk drive via DOS calls can cause long delays as 
well!

DESQview/X*******************************************************

DESQview/X is unique in that all programs run in the background under it.  You 
may find the slow-down due to multitasking is more pronounced in DESQview/X. 
If the sound is unacceptable in DESQview/X, try running the program in a 
direct window.

WINDOWS 3.X******************************************************

If you are having problems with your sound card under Windows version 3.0 
later we suggest that you verify that you have the latest version of the 
Windows driver for your sound card.  You may also obtain the Windows 
Troubleshooting technote (#207) from Quarterdeck Office Systems.

SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS*********************************************

Soundblaster and Soundblaster Pro

  These cards work well under QEMM-386.  If there is a problem, add
  DMA=128 to the QEMM386.SYS line.  Changing the IRQ or DMA channel used
  by the Soundblaster solves most conflicts, according to the
  Soundblaster manual.

  The IRQ used by the SoundBlaster may be set to 2, 5, 7 or 10 and the
  DMA channel used may be set to 0, 1 or 3.  We suggest a systematic
  approach to changing the jumpers.  Start with the IRQ at 10.  If the
  problem persists, move downward (7 -> 5 -> 2).

  READ.EXE and DR SBAITSO have known problems with memory managers that
  switch the CPU into virtual mode.  Systematically changing the IRQ
  and/or DMA jumpers on the board may resolve the problem, according to
  Creative Labs' technical support.

  Loading the drivers low may solve unspecified problems on some machines
  for reasons unknown to us.


Ad Lib

  The Ad Lib card uses no IRQs, DMA channels, conventional memory or address
  space between 640K and 1024K.  There have been no reported problems
  with this card.


Sound Commander

  The Sound Commander, like the Ad Lib card, uses no IRQs, DMA channels,
  conventional memory or address space between 640K and 1024K.  There
  have been no reported problems with this card.

To obtain the Windows troubleshooting guide or any other technical note we
recommend that you call our Q/FAX service with your fax machine as it is the
quickest method for obtaining technical notes.  If you don't have a modem or
fax machine, give our technical support line a call and we'll be happy to mail
it to you.

            Q/Fax .................................. (310) 314-3214
            Tech Support BBS ....................... (310) 314-3227
            Tech Support Fax ....................... (310) 314-3217
            Tech Support ........................... (310) 392-9701


  ************************************************************************
  *          Trademarks are property of their respective owners.         *
  *This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long as it*
  *is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit.  *
  *  COPYRIGHT 1992 by Quarterdeck Office Systems.  All rights reserved. *
  ************************ E N D   O F   F I L E *************************


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