Uncreative Labs

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

What exactly can be done with EMS on an XT. I know that you can use it for a RAMdrive, and loading certain drivers. I heard that you can also use LIM4.0 boards to create UMBs on XTs. I know there are a handful of DOS apps that can use it. Is there a list I can find anywhere with DOS apps that use EMS. But most importantly, what can I do with EMS in Windows 3.0? Can Windows 3.0 be setup to allow stardard apps to use EMS instead of conventional memory?
I want to know all the neat things that can be done in Windows 3.0 with EMS.

Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 261 Location: WisConSin

Actually Windows 1 & 2 applications could use expanded memory, sadly no one has ever been able to make a complete list of many of the high end lesser known applications that would use this. Remember 3.0 only uses expanded under Real mode hence why 2.0 proggies work.

I know of three programs that used expanded
Autocad
Lotus 123
Wordperfect
Forgot the names but several of the games like one version of Arkanoid and some of the older games like halloween harry and others used expanded.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/51737

a useless article by ms on the subject

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:00 pm

Did you read the article I posted over in the 'Recommended sites' forum, about Windows 3.0 on an XT?

There are very few apps that will run under Windows 3.0 on an XT. Almost all apps need Standard mode to run. I've run Word for Windows 1.1a and it does work, but memory can be tight. With Word open to a blank page under Win 3.0 on an XT, I have about 57k of free RAM.

It does appear to be using expanded memory, as I see the memory stats for both conventional and expanded memory going down when I start Word 1.1 (in the Help/About screen).

I suppose we should be grateful that we can run Word for Windows at all on an XT.

I've also tried Paintshop Pro 1.0, which is just about useless running under Win 3.0 on an XT. With a standard VGA card/monitor/driver you only get 16 colors anyway, and the program only opens up .bmp and a few other types of files (no jpegs). If the image of the file is much bigger than about the size of a credit card, Windows runs out of memory. Even when the file can be opened, it must take 60 or more seconds for the program to open it.

I did have a 256 color driver I could load, which increased the color palette, but it took 30K of additional RAM. I don't remember if I tested it on an XT that had expanded memory or not.