Date:         Tue, 6 Oct 92 08:36:23 EDT
From:         "Paul J. Bodin" <pjb3@CUNIXB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: NB4 Memory Requirements
Comments: To: Nota Bene List <NOTABENE%TAUNIVM@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

Mervyn Bennun writes:

> I'm still puzzled because when I run mem /c |more I'm told that
> something to do with NB is loaded elsewhere than in conventional
> memory, in addition to a lot that is: "NB" appears twice. But don't
> waste more time on this for me: I note Dorothy's posting this morning,
> and when I get a chance during my next bout of insomnia I'll go back
> to the theory of memory again and try to understand the effect of the
> commands in my config.sys and batch files.

Things are now clearer--you are trying to load NB 3.1 with LOADHI.  NB
3.1 doesn't have NB.COM, so the program tries to load all of NB.EXE
and simply doesn't have enough room so it puts it in conventional
memory.  There *is* enough room to put the NB environment space in
UMBs, but that isn't worth the potential problems--depending upon how
you have set your environment options it will probably be well under 1K.

> As to your query about shelling out with either "dos" or Shift+Esc - I
> think that you may have put your finger on what I did; but why on
> earth should that make a difference?? I thought that they were simply
> different ways of doing identical things.

They do indeed do much the same thing, except that one uses an XPL
script that prompts you for an executable name before shelling out.
They should have the same effect on memory: when NB reloads the
overlays it had swapped out to shell to DOS it appears to do so a bit
more efficiently (or else leaves something out).  I've never
investigated this phenomenon in depth, but have noticed it repeatedly.

> But perhaps you can help then with a problem which seems to be related
> to this last point. My 3.0 was recently upgraded to 3.1. Now, when I
> shell out to dos with Shift+Esc (+command) I get an error message
> ("COMMAND search directory bad", or something like - the Manual is
> irritatingly coy about error messages) and I am told there's "no
> path".  If I exit and try again with dos (+/c [command]) then it all
> works, and the full path from autoexec.bat is reported. This did not
> happen under 3.0, and our local Person Who Knows confesses to being
> puzzled by this. It is actually quite seriously annoying.

I'm not entirely sure what is happening.  I have two suggestions you
might try, though.  First, do *not* use loadhigh--you won't derive any
substantial benefit from it with NB 3.1 anyway (I thought you were
using the new program).  Second, make sure that you have a copy of
COMMAND.COM in your NB program directory just in case the editor
program loses its bearings temporarily.  This last measure is no
longer necessary with NB 4.0, but I found that it solved several
problems with NB 3.1.

___________________________________________________________________________
Paul J. Bodin                         Internet: pjb3@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
Union Theological Seminary               smail: 435-52nd Street
(718) 439-3549                                  Brooklyn, NY 11220