DOS ain't dead

HimemSX, another HimemX variant (Announce)

posted by Zyzzle, 22.10.2020, 03:38

> Hello,
>
> I'm proudly announcing HimemSX, source to be found on github:
>
> https://github.com/Baron-von-Riedesel/HimemSX
>
> HimemSX is an XMM, implementing XMS v3.5.
>
> The SX in HimemSX stands for "Super-eXtended" - HimemSX can manage extended
> memory up to 1 terrabyte .
>
> To allow some tests with this "super tool", there's a patched version, also
> on github, of Jack R. Ellis' nice tool RDISK ( a ramdisk driver ). It uses
> HimemSX's new functions to allocate its XMS memory beyond the 4 GB barrier,
> thus it doesn't need any "legacy" extended memory.
>
> Here's the HimemSX readme:
> https://github.com/Baron-von-Riedesel/HimemSX/blob/master/Readme.txt

I compiled HimemSX with JWASM and it works, with interesting results.

I also patched the included RDISKSX.COM to allow the creation of up to a 4095M ramdrive, from 2047M. Above 2048M, the ramdrive is created as FAT16 with the 64-kb cluster size. Beyond 4GB for ramdrive is impossible without a FAT32 ramdrive for DOS and / or sector size > 512 bytes.

The interesting result is that XMS function call ah=0x89 via access at 0x0c9 results in about 50x slower XMS throughput. That is the rate of filling a 2048M file of 0x00 onto the ramdrive is about 100 MB/sec using 0x0c9 to access XMS beyond the 4GB barrier, while accessing XMS the "old" way results in writing a 2GB file of nulls in about 0.5sec. Of course, it is impossible to write a file of >2047M because of the signed 32-bit limit in filelength. Or, is there some patch to DOS which will allow the creation the file to its 32-bit unsigned maximum value of 4096M-1 byte?

I'm super impressed, but is the slowdown the expected behavior?

I am unable to attach the 6.8 kb binary of my compiled version of HIMEMSX to this post for others to test. The ZIP includes the patched version of RDISKSX.COM as well.

Complete thread:

• HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Japheth, 21.10.2020, 13:54 (Announce)
  • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - tkchia, 21.10.2020, 17:51
    • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - RayeR, 22.10.2020, 00:48
      • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - Japheth, 26.10.2020, 19:32
        • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - RayeR, 27.10.2020, 06:54
          • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - Japheth, 27.10.2020, 07:49
            • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - RayeR, 27.10.2020, 13:11
              • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - RayeR, 28.10.2020, 05:47
                • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - Japheth, 28.10.2020, 07:06
                  • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - RayeR, 28.10.2020, 23:26
                    • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - Japheth, 29.10.2020, 03:16
                      • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - RayeR, 29.10.2020, 03:31
                        • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - Japheth, 31.10.2020, 02:20
                          • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - RayeR, 02.11.2020, 00:31
                            • cwsdpmi version? Possible fix for Borland tools. - Japheth, 02.11.2020, 07:12
                              • cwsdpmi version? Possible fix for Borland tools. - Laaca, 02.11.2020, 19:21
                              • cwsdpmi version? Possible fix for Borland tools. - RayeR, 03.11.2020, 08:00
                                • cwsdpmi version? Possible fix for Borland tools. - Japheth, 03.11.2020, 15:11
                                  • cwsdpmi version? Possible fix for Borland tools. - RayeR, 04.11.2020, 05:43
                                • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - Japheth, 05.11.2020, 07:53
                                  • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - RayeR, 06.11.2020, 13:49
                                    • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - Japheth, 06.11.2020, 14:39
                                      • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - Laaca, 06.11.2020, 19:50
                                        • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - Japheth, 07.11.2020, 01:37
                                      • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - RayeR, 06.11.2020, 20:31
                                        • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - RayeR, 07.11.2020, 06:17
                                        • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - Japheth, 08.11.2020, 11:51
                                          • Possible fix for cwsdpmi trouble - RayeR, 08.11.2020, 17:39
                                            • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - RayeR, 10.11.2020, 03:16
                                              • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - Japheth, 10.11.2020, 06:17
                                                • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - rr, 10.11.2020, 11:47
                                              • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - Japheth, 10.11.2020, 18:49
                                                • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - Rugxulo, 10.11.2020, 21:16
                                                • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - RayeR, 11.11.2020, 02:28
                                                  • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - Japheth, 11.11.2020, 07:56
                                                    • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - RayeR, 14.11.2020, 02:04
                                                    • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - awik, 18.11.2020, 17:59
                                                  • CWSDPMI r7 NOVCPI test - roytam, 17.05.2024, 19:00
        • V86 compatibility? Yes, Jemm386 v5.8 - Zyzzle, 27.10.2020, 15:14
  • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Zyzzle, 22.10.2020, 03:38
    • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Japheth, 22.10.2020, 06:39
      • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Zyzzle, 23.10.2020, 04:54
        • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Japheth, 23.10.2020, 06:47
          • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Zyzzle, 23.10.2020, 14:00
            • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Japheth, 23.10.2020, 17:32
              • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Laaca, 23.10.2020, 19:14
                • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - RayeR, 23.10.2020, 23:06
              • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Zyzzle, 24.10.2020, 01:52
                • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Japheth, 24.10.2020, 05:45
                  • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Zyzzle, 24.10.2020, 10:50
                    • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - RayeR, 24.10.2020, 23:10
                      • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Japheth, 03.11.2020, 04:53
                        • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - RayeR, 03.11.2020, 06:50
                        • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - CandyMan, 05.11.2020, 19:14
                      • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Japheth, 06.11.2020, 08:33
                        • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - RayeR, 06.11.2020, 13:37
    • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Rugxulo, 22.10.2020, 20:31
      • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - Zyzzle, 23.10.2020, 04:37
        • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - RayeR, 23.10.2020, 23:13
        • HimemSX, another HimemX variant - marcov, 24.10.2020, 01:07
  • HimemSX Issues - Khusraw, 22.10.2020, 21:52
    • HimemSX Issues - Japheth, 23.10.2020, 05:04