NewDeal Hot Tip 1527
General Use
TSR, Terminate and Stay Resident
What is a TSR?
MSCDEX.EXE
Cosmi Virus Terminator
CPAV
Direct Access Version 3
DPATH
DMP 2.02 Print Spooler
Lightning Cache
LOGIMENU and CLICK
Norton DISKMON and DISKREET
Ontrack Disk Manager
Paul Mace Utilities
PC-Kwik Power Pak
PC Resume
PCTools Delete Tracker
RapidMeg LIM 4.0 driver
Sidekick 2.0
SoftLogic Solutions Cubit
Stacker
TechMar Anti-Virus Plus
QEMM
TSR stands for "Terminate and Stay Resident." Most software
programs run and then shut down completely, either
automatically when they are finished running, or when the
user chooses the Close or Exit option. The user is only then
returned to the command line. A TSR is a program which continues
to run in the background, while returning the user to the
command line, allowing the user to run other additional
programs. TSRs are frequently run from a command in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
A common example of a TSR is the mouse driver named MOUSE.COM.
When you run MOUSE.COM, the program loads and continues to run
invisibly in the background, intercepting mouse movements and
controlling the mouse pointer, even while you run other
software like a word processor or a game software. TSRs are
used for many things, from providing support for your hardware
devices, to pop-up accessories like calculators or notepads that
you can access with special keypresses while you are running
other programs.
Many TSRs, such as most mouse drivers and CD-ROM extensions,
work well with NewDeal. Some TSRs, however, are not compatible
with NewDeal. Some may simply be inaccessible from within
NewDeal, because NewDeal intercepts the special keypress required
by the TSR. Other TSRs cannot be used with NewDeal, because
they interfere with the normal operation of NewDeal.
This document contains notes about specific TSRs and their use
in conjunction with NewDeal software. If you use a TSR
successfully in conjunction with NewDeal, or if you experience
trouble with a TSR when used with NewDeal, please let us know.
MSCDEX is an acronym for Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions. It is
a TSR that enables CD-ROM's to be accessed as DOS drives. What
it does is talk to your CD-ROM drive via a device driver in
your CONFIG.SYS, and interfaces the CD-ROM drive to MS-DOS as
a Network drive. So, if you do not have a network and get
network related messages, now you know why.
The command to load MSCDEX is placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
and should be automatically included when installing your CD-ROM
software. It will look something like this:
C:\CDROM\MSCDEX /D:SONY001 /M:10 /L:E /V
In the example above:
- C:\CDROM = directory for the CD software files
- /D:SONY001 = the device name assigned to your CD-ROM
- /L:E = E is the drive letter assigned to your CD-ROM
- /V = verbose listing of memory usage
If you use MS DOS 6.0, you may have to use the MSCDEX
version 2.22 driver in your MS DOS 6.0 directory. The PATH
to your MSCDEX file will then be C:\DOS\MSCDEX. If you
install or reinstall a legacy driver for your CD-ROM, it
might also install an older version of MSCDEX, in which case
you may have to change the path to aim at the newer version.
If you run Windows 95 or Windows 98, you do not need MSCDEX
on most computers.
There have been reports that Virus Terminator by Cosmi causes an error
when running NewDeal software: Error could not locate Kernel -
Reinstall. Removing Virus Terminator seems to solve the problem.
"File LOADER.EXE was changed" is a message caused by Central
Point Anti-Virus. You can usually press c twice to continue
and NewDeal will start up just fine. For a more permanent
solution, you can disable the TSR by removing the CPAV lines
from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file or you can use CPAV to update the
file LOADER.EXE.
NewDeal has an apparent TSR conflict with Direct Access menu
version 3.0. Symptom is the error message: "system error:
fatal error in K: BHP"
DPATH is a TSR that allows DOS programs to call up files
located in subdirectories other than the current active
subdirectory. It is similar to the DOS APPEND command. On
certain computers, DPATH causes NewDeal to report "File Not
Found" if the file attribute is set to Read-Only.
There is a DOS print spooler called "DMP 2.02" from DMP Software in
Santa Monica that does not work with NewDeal software. The first printout
comes out just fine, but after that, the computer slows to a crawl.
This continues until the machine is powered down and back up. The only
solution is to remove the spooler when using NewDeal.
You may need to run NewDeal with the /nomem switch in order
to run it with the Lightning disk cache. The problem shows
up as un-recoverable errors in File-Read when trying to launch
applications. The only way we've gotten Lightening Disk Cache
to run successfully with some versions of NewDeal software
is to use these parameters when launching Lightning:
L T=0 BACK OFF
The T=0 deactivates delayed writes, BACK OFF turns off background writes.
Logimenu and Click are both Logitech mouse TSRs. Logimenu attempts
to implement mouse support for certain well-known apps
(such as Lotus 1-2-3) that don't have built-in mouse support.
The TSR generates on-screen menus that you click on and it
sends simulated keystrokes to the program. Click is a mouse
TSR control panel.
NewDeal has not generally suffered any compatibility problems
with either LOGIMENU or CLICK.
NewDeal may not work properly with floppy disks if Norton's Utilities
DISKMON is enabled. DISKMON protects system files against viruses.
When the protection feature of DISKMON is turned off, NewDeal
works properly again.
Norton DISKREET.SYS
Norton DISKREET may cause NewDeal to generate a spurious
error message like "Error reading drive D:" on a computer that
has no drive D. Look for a line like this in the CONFIG.SYS
file and remove it:
DEVICE=C:\NORTON\DISKREET.SYS
DOS normally allocates 512 bytes per buffer (BUFFERS=30 in the
CONFIG.SYS file). Ontrack's Disk Manager software (DMDRVR)
changes that to 2048 bytes per buffer. You should be able to
run NewDeal successfully with BUFFERS=10 if you're using
Disk Manager to partition your hard drive.
NewDeal may be incompatible with the MCACHE utility that comes
with the Mace Utilities.
NewDeal may be incompatible with the screen accelerator
provided by PC-Kwik Power Pak. Disable the screen accelerator
and NewDeal should work with the rest of the PC-Kwik package.
NewDeal appears to be compatible with PC Resume, which claims
to be a timesaving automatic resume utility that saves the
computer environment with a hotkey. Supposedly, it lets you
quickly shut down your PC in the middle of your work and resume
later on.
If you have PC Tools Delete Tracker enabled, you may find yourself
unable to drag files to the trash without causing a crash or
lockup. In that case, go into PC Tools, turn off the data
monitor, and turn it back on. That may update the Tracker file
sufficiently; if not, delete the Tracker file.
board and driver from STB
There have been unconfirmed reports that NewDeal may be
incompatible with the RapidMeg LIM 4.0 expanded memory driver from
a company named STB. The driver is used to support the RapidMeg
expanded memory board.
Sidekick is one of the few pop-up TSR's you can even get to
come awake from within NewDeal. This is because Sidekick watches
the BIOS modifier bits, which is the only part of the keystroke
that NewDeal passes on. NewDeal passes these bits on so that
the little lights on your keyboard will function correctly.
If you have mouse problems upon returning from Sidekick 2.0
to NewDeal, try pressing and releasing the CTRL key, then
press and release the ALT key.
Pressing CTRL+ALT simultaneously is the way to return to NewDeal
from Sidekick. It won't have much effect when typed after
returning from Sidekick, except doing so will allow NewDeal
to recognize that those modifier keys are now released,
because Sidekick steals the keyboard interrupt away before
they are released when switching to Sidekick.
Since NewDeal has its own variables tracking the state of
these modifier keys, Sidekick's changing of the ones in the
BIOS data area has no effect, so when the user returns from
Sidekick and clicks the mouse, NewDeal thinks the click is
being modified with the CTRL or ALT keys.
Sidekick may leave random dots on the screen upon return to
NewDeal, probably due to a problem inherent in Sidekick:
it sets its own character set in the video RAM without
saving it, so when it "restores" the video, some of it is trashed.
Cubit is a file compression program made by SoftLogic Solutions
in New Hampshire. They're the same people who make Software
Carousel. It has a resident portion: the TSR named CUBITR.
We've had at least one report from a user who was seemingly
unable to run NewDeal with the TSR loaded. However, we've
been successful at running NewDeal after interactively compressing
it with Cubit. Note that this is file-level compression software,
not disk compression like Stacker or SuperSTOR.
NewDeal may be incompatible with Stacker on some computers when
Stacker is using EMS memory. If NewDeal will not load (using the
/log parameter stops at "initializing drive module"), remove the
/EMS switch from the Stacker device line in the CONFIG.SYS.
If you get the message "Insert STACVOL_DSK In Drive C" when
starting NewDeal, make sure each of your hard drives or partitions
has a unique name (use the DOS command LABEL to change the names).
If NewDeal displays phantom drives (drives which do not actually
exist on your computer) see technical support document 227.
There is an unconfirmed report that running the program
Anti-Virus Plus from TechMar Enterprises as a TSR causes NewDeal
to crash about half the time when re-entering from running a
DOS program. The anti-virus TSR is typically loaded in AUTOEXEC.BAT
with lines like these:
prevent1 -c
immune2
Stealth is a feature of QEMM that hides ROM code that is resident
in the upper memory area (640k to 1MB region of RAM) in order to
make more upper memory blocks (UMBs) available for loading TSRs
and device drivers high.
This frees up room in conventional memory, 0-640k, for programs
to run in. QEMM uses one of two methods in enabling Stealth:
- The ST:M (ROM mapping) method usually creates the most
addresses to use in upper memory, but can also cause some
incompatibilities depending on your hardware architecture
or the type of memory resident programs present.
- The ST:F (Frame method) is more compatible on most systems,
but fewer UMBs are made available for loading TSRs.
Run OPTIMIZE /STEALTH in your \QEMM directory and follow the
on-screen prompts to see which Stealth method you can use.
NewDeal software supports both methods. Use whichever works
best for you.
Geoworks Quick Start (or Geoworks Ensemble 1.2 or Geoworks Pro)
Stealth mode is fundamentally incompatible with the way
Geos 1.x uses EMS memory. Basically, it hides your BIOS until
you make a call to it through the appropriate interrupt vector,
at which point it steals part of the EMS page frame and maps
the BIOS in there, makes the call to it, and restores the EMS
page map to its original condition.
Unfortunately, Stealth doesn't perform this mapping using the
int 67h vector, so GEOS 1.x has no idea it's happened. The
problem, as noted in Adam de Boor's PC Memory Description,
is that Geos 1.x expects the low 48K of EMS to remain as it
mapped it, permanently. The Geos 1.x EMS swap driver has code
in it to detect the altering of this page map via int 67h and
refuses to allow any other thread to execute until the map is
restored to the state in which Geos 1.x expects it to be.
Since stealth mode alters this mapping without telling Geos
1.x about it, Geos 1.x will merrily change to another thread
while the map has been changed, sometimes landing itself right
smack in the middle of some random BIOS routine where it
expected its own code to be.
There's nothing Geos 1.x can do to protect itself without
greatly increasing the overhead of every context switch, or
fundamentally restructuring the way it uses EMS memory.
Geos 1.x can use XMS memory provided by QEMM. Be cautious
of caches in expanded memory, however, as Geos could still
context-switch away from them, run something that needs BIOS,
have QEMM map that in, context-switch back to the thread that
was using the cache and suddenly get BIOS data instead of cache
data.
It's true that most things in Geos that go to the BIOS also
grab the lock that would allow another thread to go to DOS,
but not all of them do, so this situation could arise.
One customer reports:
"I use QEMM Stealth mode ST:M ALL the time with Geos 1.x
and DESQview. I turn LIM/EMS support OFF in Preferences, Computer.
I run DESQview with the command: DV /xb:88.
"If the ST:M parameter does not work for you, try using ST:F
instead. You will loose about 16k or so, but compatibility should
improve. Using ST:M, I have 192k of upper memory blocks available with
a maximum of 224K possible if I did not exclude my video memory.
Here is what I have on the QEMM command line in my CONFIG.SYS file:
DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS R:1 ST:M RAM FR=C800 X=C000-C7FF
"Using the FR=C800 (Frame Address) is possible for me since I use
an IDE drive. MFM and RLL drives will most likely have their
BIOS code located at that address and you will run into conflicts.
The reason I selected this address was to give me the largest
possible single block based on my setup and consequently I can
load quite few TSR's high including the Complete Communicator
background code and most of the DV code leaving me with more
available conventional RAM. Other TSR's loaded high include my
mouse driver, timed hard disk head parker, Nansi.sys, and Share.exe.
My video ROM address is excluded with the parameter X=C000-C7FF."
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Last Modified 11 Mar 1999