Product Support July 18, 1991 Microsoft's MS-DOS(R) version 5.0 and Autodesk Products Microsoft's recent release of the Disk Operating System 5.0 (MS-DOS 5.0) update offers several significant advantages for Autodesk customers. MS-DOS 5.0 contains advanced memory management tools and an assortment of useful DOS utilities. All Autodesk products work properly with MS-DOS 5.0 when correctly configured, as explained below. Status Command In AutoCAD 386TM, the Status command gives a complete listing of memory use. From the command line of the drawing editor, enter: status to check the total memory (in Kbytes) above one megabyte that is available to AutoCAD(R) (that is, not taken by other programs, including RAM disks and disk cache programs). This will be reported as "Total extended memory: xxxxK", where xxxx is the total amount of both extended and expanded memory available to AutoCAD. If this number is significantly less than the combined amount of both extended and expanded memory in your customer's system, then use one of the options explained below to enable the use of more system memory. For a complete discussion of the Status command, refer to Chapter 3 of the AutoCAD Reference Manual, and to Chapter 4 of the Installation and Performance Guide. HIMEM.SYS Understanding HIMEM.SYS, the eXtended Memory Specification (XMS) manager shipped with MS-DOS 5.0, is the key to proper system configuration. Many of the advanced features of MS-DOS 5.0, such as the ability to "highload" MS-DOS, use RAM disks, and use Microsoft's EMM386 expanded memory specification (EMS) manager require HIMEM.SYS to be installed. The default installation of MS-DOS 5.0 will include HIMEM.SYS in your customer's CONFIG.SYS file with the following line: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS AutoCAD 386 AutoCAD 386 is linked using Phar Lap's 386|DOS-ExtenderTM version 2.2d for memory management. The 386|DOS-Extender version 2.2d complies with the Virtual Control Program Interface (VCPI) and therefore does not access the XMS memory that HIMEM.SYS creates by default. There are four basic configuration choices that will allow AutoCAD 386 (Releases 10 and 11) to function properly with MS-DOS 5.0. They are, in recommended order: Option 1. Use NEWDX to update the Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender in AutoCAD 386 from version 2.2d to 2.6. This will allow AutoCAD to use XMS memory as well as provide important additional features, discussed in the section DOS-Extender 2.6, below. NEWDX.EXE will update the Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender from version 2.2d to version 2.6. This executable file is included in every package of AutoCAD 386 Release 11 c2 on the disk labeled "Dxfix / Newdx / B1-step Disk". NEWDX is also available on the Autodesk Forum on CompuServe in Data Library 10 (Utilities / ADI) in compressed format as NEWDX.ZIP. Once updated to version 2.6, the DOS-Extender, in addition to providing other features, allows AutoCAD 386 to use the XMS memory managed by HIMEM.SYS. Complete installation instructions and a summary of the other new features of the new DOS-Extender are included with NEWDX. Note that a customer who has upgraded to MS-DOS 5.0 should also upgrade his version of AutoCAD to Release 11 c2. IMPORTANT: Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender version 2.6 will address XMS or VCPI memory (regular extended or EMS expanded), but not both at the same time. If a system is configured for both XMS and VCPI memory, through the use of HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE respectively, 386|DOS-Extender will use only memory from the VCPI memory pool. Hence, if a small amount of memory is mistakenly allocated via EMM386.EXE (the default is only 256k) while the bulk of memory is allocated as XMS memory, then 386|DOS-Extender 2.6 will run sluggishly for lack of RAM. Option 2. Use the /int15xxxx switch of HIMEM.SYS to exclude an amount of memory from XMS compliance. This will leave xxxx K bytes of memory as extended that AutoCAD can use. Refer to the section on HIMEM.SYS of the MS-DOS 5.0 User's Guide and Reference Manual for more information. Option 3. Use HIMEM.SYS and the device driver EMM386.EXE, which will only function if HIMEM.SYS is loaded first, to create a specified amount of expanded EMS memory that AutoCAD can use. By default the amount of memory allocated to the expanded EMS memory pool is 256K. EMM386.EXE must be used if you wish to load TSR's and device drivers "high" into the upper memory block (UMB) area. For use with Autodesk products, EMM386.EXE should be loaded with the following line in your customer's CONFIG.SYS file immediately following the line which loads HIMEM.SYS: DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE xxxx RAM ON W=ON where xxxx is the amount of memory EMM386.EXE will allocate to expanded EMS in K bytes. This should be the total amount of RAM in the system minus one megabyte. For example, in a system with 8 megabytes total memory the xxxx setting should be 7168. (8192 K total RAM - 1024 K = 7168 K). The RAM ON option enables EMM386 to be VCPI-compliant, enabling AutoCAD 386 to run in expanded memory. Under NO circumstance should the NOEMS switch be specified. This will cause the Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender to abort and issue an error message. The W=ON switch will enable EMS support for the Weitek coprocessor on our products which support this hardware. See the Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 User's Guide for more information on EMM386.EXE Option 4. Remove HIMEM.SYS from the CONFIG.SYS file. This will allow AutoCAD right-out-of-the-box to run with a minimum of work. The disadvantage here is that one loses some of the advanced features of MS-DOS 5.0, including the ability to load TSR's, device drivers, and MS-DOS itself into high memory. QEMM-386TM Another way to ensure compatibility between Autodesk Products and MS-DOS 5.0 is by using Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager-386TM (QEMM-386) version 5.1 or higher. QEMM-386 is a dual-function memory manager that replaces both HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE. It does the job of both drivers by allocating system memory between extended and expanded dynamically. See the documentation that ships with QEMM-386 for further details. AutoCAD DOS/286 For customers running the DOS version of AutoCAD Release 10 or earlier Releases: 1. AutoCAD Release 10 c2a or c7 or Release 9 a. When running on an 80286-based machine, you must remove HIMEM.SYS from the CONFIG.SYS file; b. When running on an 80386- or 80486-based machine i. Either remove HIMEM.SYS from the CONFIG.SYS file, or ii. Use HIMEM.SYS together with EMM386.EXE, as explained previously in Option 3. 2. AutoCAD Release 10c2 a. You must remove HIMEM.SYS from the CONFIG.SYS file, or b. Configure AutoCAD to use regular AutoLISP instead of Extended AutoLISP. Note that on 80386- and 80486-based machines, you can still use EMM386.EXE to create expanded memory for AutoCAD to use. 3. AutoCAD Release 2.62 a. You must remove HIMEM.SYS from the CONFIG.SYS file, or b. Do not load MS-DOS into high memory. That is, in the CONFIG.SYS file, delete the line: DOS=HIGH Note that AutoCAD Release 11 for 286, when released, will coexist peacefully with HIMEM.SYS. Other Autodesk Products The four options listed above for AutoCAD 386 should also work on all of Autodesk's Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender-based products. Presently, these are AutoShade(R) Version 2 with Autodesk Renderman(R), Autodesk 3D StudioTM, and Autodesk Animator ProTM. For James Gleick's CHAOS: The SoftwareTM, the METASHEL program should be loaded into memory using the MS-DOS command LOADFIX. The easiest way to do this is to edit the file CHAOS.BAT with MS-DOS 5.0's EDIT program. The sixth line in the file is "metashel /i". This line should be changed to "LOADFIX metashel /i". See the Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 User's Guide for information on EDIT and LOADFIX. AutoSketch(R) Version 3 is not adversely affected by MS-DOS 5.0. AutoSketch can use up to 2 megabytes of expanded EMS memory which can be created with EMM386.EXE. See the section on EMM386.EXE in the Microsoft User's Guide. DOS-Extender 2.6 Some of the benefits of updating the Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender in AutoCAD 386 from version 2.2d to 2.6 include: o A smaller kernel. DOS-Extender 2.2d has a fixed, conventional memory "footprint" of approximately 180K bytes. However, DOS-Extender 2.6 requires only 80K, saving about 100K bytes of memory for shelled programs, TSR's, etc. o Demand paged loading for AutoCAD. DOS-Extender 2.2d loads AutoCAD entirely into memory, and then frees up blocks when memory is scarce. A new feature of DOS-Extender 2.6 enables code to be loaded into memory on demand, as it is needed. This reduces the load time of AutoCAD 386 by 30 to 40%. This feature can be controlled be a DOS- Extender switch called -DEMANDLOAD. o Limited WindowsTM 3.0 support. DOS-Extender version 2.6 will run in the DOS Box of Windows 3.0 in both real and standard modes Since AutoCAD is a graphics program, it must be run in the full screen mode of the DOS Box. In standard mode, 386|DOS-Extender gets its memory from XMS (extended memory). To ensure that AutoCAD can access XMS memory when it runs in the DOS Box, you will have to use Microsoft's PIF editor to create a PIF file which makes XMS memory available to the application program, AutoCAD. Note that DOS-Extender version 2.6 will not support Windows 3.0 in 386 enhanced mode. Autodesk does not presently warrant the suitability of Windows 3.0 as an operating environment for AutoCAD 386. Autodesk Trademarks AutoCAD, AutoShade, and AutoSketch are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Autodesk, Inc. AutoCAD 386, Autodesk 3D Studio, Autodesk Animator Pro, and James Gleick's CHAOS: The Software are trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. Third-Party Trademarks MS-DOS is a registered trademark and Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. 386|DOS-Extender is a trademark of Phar Lap Software, Inc. Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager-386 and QEMM-386 are trademarks of Quarterdeck Office Systems.