NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT DOCUMENT PROCESSING INFO: THIS DOCUMENT REPLACES FYI-M-1603 TITLE: WINDOWS 3.1 & DR DOS 6.0 DOCUMENT ID: TID800052 DOCUMENT REVISION: A DATE: 17AUG94 AUTHOR: CEREKSON;DPARTRID ALERT STATUS: Yellow DISTRIBUTION: Public INFORMATION TYPE: Issue README FOR: NA NOVELL PRODUCT CLASS: Desktop Products NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION: DR DOS 6.0 CATEGORY: Installation ABSTRACT: This document contains installation and configuration requirements for Microsoft Windows 3.1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL. NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ISSUE The April update of DR DOS 6.0 is fully compatible with Microsoft Windows 3.1. Windows Requirements Microsoft Windows 3.1 is designed to run on 286, 386SX, 386 and 486 computers. It has 2 modes of operation (Standard and Enhanced). Windows Standard mode requires that there be at least 1 MB of total memory and that an XMS memory manager such as HIDOS.SYS or EMM386.SYS be present. Enhanced Mode will only run on a 386SX or better CPU and requires a minimum of 1 MB of available XMS memory. The recommended XMS memory for enhanced mode is 3.5 MB. Your mode of operation can be determined by selecting the HELP menu from the Windows Program Manager. Select ABOUT PROGRAM MANAGER and a dialogue box will be displayed indicating the mode you are currently using. The /V option for HIDOS.SYS and EMM386.SYS cannot be used with Windows 3.1. This option takes video memory addresses and assigns them to conventional memory. Only text based applications can run when the /V switch is on. SuperStor The Windows 3.1 default disk for temporary swap files is the disk on which Windows was installed. If Windows is installed on a SuperStor disk, you must change the default drive for the swap files to an uncompressed drive. This should be done for both temporary and permanent swap files. Changing the Swap file Location You must be in Enhanced Mode to change the location of the swap file. 1. Open the Control Panel by double clicking on the icon. 2. Select the 386 Enhanced icon. This displays a dialogue box with several buttons. 3. Select the button labeled Virtual Memory. 4. The next dialogue box will indicate whether or not a permanent swap file is in use and which drive is being used for the swap file. Select the appropriate options to place the swap file on the uncompressed drive. If the uncompressed drive does not have enough space for the swap file DO NOT run Windows in enhanced mode until enough free space has been cleared. Standard mode can still be used although it is not recommended. It may be necessary to create a backup of the compressed drive and remove it in order to create enough uncompressed free space for Windows swap files. Swap files average from 2MB to 8MB but can be as large as 30MB. SuperPCK SuperPCK should be configured to use XMS memory instead of EMS memory and requires the PCKWIN.SYS driver to be in the CONFIG.SYS. SuperPCK is configured to use XMS with the /EM option. The PCKWIN.SYS driver is mandatory for running Windows in Standard or Enhanced Mode with SuperPCK. Both of these options can be enabled through DR DOS SETUP. 1. Enter DR DOS SETUP and go to the DISKMAX menu. 2. Select YES to SuperPCK and continue. 3. The next screen will display the SuperPCK options. Check YES to the selection that asks if you run Windows in Standard or Enhanced modes. 4. The next selection is whether or not to use Automatic Memory Allocation. The default is YES. SuperPCK will use all of the available XMS memory and will lend half back to Windows. We recommend that this option only be used on computers with more than 4MB of memory. If Automatic Allocation is YES then the next line will ask for an amount of RAM to reserve. This will reserve the indicated amount of memory for use by other applications. Lending is still valid. On computers with less than 4 megabytes total memory or in cases where you wish to limit the size of the cache Automatic Memory Allocation should be NO. This changes the next few options displayed. Selection boxes for the Cache Size and the Lending Amount will be displayed. Users with 3 MB systems will be very close to the minimum needed to run Windows in Enhanced Mode. Make sure the size of the cache and the lending amount provide enough memory to run in the mode that you use. A word of caution: If a 4 MB computer uses SuperPCK with a 3 MB cache and default lending Windows will have 1.5 MB of XMS memory. While this is more than the minimum 1MB of XMS it is well below the recommended 3.5MB. If Windows runs out of XMS memory the system will slow down dramatically. This is because Windows has begun to use the swap file to store information. If you notice a slowdown try reducing the size of the cache or increasing the lending. Refer to page 455 of the DR DOS 6 User Guide for information on Lending. Windows 3.1 Installation If Super PC-Kwik is already loaded when you install Windows 3.1, the Windows SETUP program displays a warning message that SUPERPCK.EXE is running and that your system may fail. Ignore this message and continue with the Windows installation procedure. This message will also appear whenever the Windows SETUP program is used to change Windows configurations. Make backups of the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files before installing. The Windows 3.1 standard installation makes changes to these files. When the installation is complete return the two files to their previous state BEFORE rebooting. Make sure that the Windows directory is added to the path statement. Also, Windows 3.1 installation will insert a STACKS command into the CONFIG.SYS. Even though DR DOS does not use a STACKS command, the line can be added to CONFIG.SYS to prevent Windows SETUP from adding the line every time SETUP is run. SMARTDrive DR DOS 6.0 is compatible with both the SMARTDrive disk cache and with HIMEM.SYS. If you want to continue using these drivers, you must run the DR DOS SETUP program, and remove MemoryMAX and Super PC-Kwik. If you use SMARTDrive instead of Super PC-Kwik, do not use the SMARTDrive + (plus) option to enable caching on a SuperStor compressed drive. Unexpected errors may result when this option is used. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. Consult your product manuals for complete trademark information. -----------------------------------------------------------------