
                        屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯
                          T U R B O D S K    2 . 2
                        屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯屯

                              (C) 1992-1995 Ciriaco Garc de Celis
                                  Grupo Universitario de Inform爐ica
                                  Apartado 6.062, Valladolid (Spain)

                                   Internet:  ciri@gui.uva.es
                                   FidoNet:   2:341/21.8

                              English of this file improved by:
                                 (C) 1993 Charlie Henze

              English

   - DESCRIPTION:

    TURBODSK is a Ram Disk controller for DOS  and  Windows 3  systems. This
 file contains information which is not available with online help. TURBODSK
 can dynamically allocate RAM to the disk.  It  requires  DOS  2.0 or above;
 XMS 2.0+, EMS 3.2+, and conventional memory is supported. In spite of using
 EMS 3.2, TDSK can take advantage of the power  of  386  and  better systems
 and can run programs which make use  of  EMS  memory,  unlike  most  public
 domain RAM disks.

 - NOTICE:

    An incorrect assignment of numeric  parameters  (except disk size),  may
 make a disk malfunction.  To  avoid  problems,  follow  the advice given by
 help (TDSK /?)  or  allow  TURBODSK  to  determine  the  numeric parameters
 automatically.

 - LICENSE:

    This program is FREEWARE and can be used without charge  by  individuals
 or corporations,  although  it  is  not allowed to charge something for the
 concept or it's usage.  Distribution  is  only  allowed  to  the  shareware
 distribution companies who charge less than or  equal  to  US $16  per disk
 (when 1 disk is requested).  Individuals  can  distribute  it  but  without
 charge.

 - WARRANTY:

    This program is  provided  "as is", without any explicit  warranty.  Use
 is free.  Therefore,  the author does not assume responsability for damages
 that may occur whether caused by bugs  or  incompatibility  with  any other
 software.

 - PERFORMANCE:

    Comparison between TURBODSK and the DOS RAM disks:

                                         RAMDRIVE       VDISK      TURBODSK
                                       (WINDOWS 3.1) (DR-DOS 6.0)    v2.2
                                       哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪哪
  Maximum size:                             32 Mb        32 Mb        64 Mb
  Conventional memory support:               Yes          Yes          Yes
  EMS support:                               Yes          Yes          Yes
  Extended memory drived by INT 15h:          No          Yes           No
  XMS memory support:                        Yes           No          Yes
  Files can hold the root directory:       4-1024       4-512       1-65534
  Sector size supported:                  128-1024     128-512      32-2048
  Dynamic memory allocation:                  No           No          Yes
  Cluster programmable size:                  No           No          Yes
  takes advantage of 32-but bus in 386+:      No           No          Yes
  Conventional memory used (DOS 5.0):    1184-1232     2096-2608    432-608

    Data  transfer  rate  (in  Kb/sec)  measured  by  KBSEC.C,  on  machines
under  MS-DOS 5.0,  without any TSR's  (except  KEYB  and  DOSKEY).  Sectors
are 512 bytes-sized:
                                             VDISK    RAMDRIVE   TURBODSK
                                            哪哪哪哪 哪哪哪哪哪 哪哪哪哪哪
   8088-8 MHz:
      + Conventional memory................     563        573        573
   286-12 MHz (0 WS):
      + XMS extended memory (1)............    1980       4253       4253
      + Conventional memory................    4169       4368       4368
   386-25 MHz (without cache):
      + XMS extended memory (1)............    6838      17105      17095
      + EMS expanded memory (1)(2).........    1261       8308      14937
      + Conventional memory................    7297       6525      14843
   486-25 MHz (8 Kb internal cache):
      + XMS extended memory (1)............    7370      10278      10278
      + EMS expanded memory (1)(2).........    2533       7484       9631
      + Conventional memory................    8256       8454      11664

    Total..................................   40267      67348      87642

    Relative index.........................    45,9       76,8        100

                         (1) HIMEM.SYS from MS-DOS 5.0 installed.
                         (2) EMM386.EXE from MS-DOS 5.0 installed.

 - UNDOCUMENTED SWITCHES:

 + With  /F  is  possible to select the number of FAT copies (1 by default),
   up to a maximum of 2.
 + With the /I option, it is possible to set  the  international  telephonic
   code of any country  to  select  the language used by TDSK.  In this v2.2
   only the Spanish  (Spain  and  Spanish  language  countries),  German and
   English (the other nations) are used.  If  system  is property configured
   (with  COUNTRY  order  in  config.sys)  TURBODSK  will  use  the  correct
   language.  /I=34,  for example, forces the Spanish;  /I=49 the German and
   /I=1 the English.
 + In DOS 5.0 it is possible to force the use of  upper  memory  if  loading
   with  LOADHIGH,  provided  that  the amount of memory requested  does not
   exceed the available (in other case,  conventional memory will allocate).
 + /M parameter  switch  output  from color  to  monochrome  (redirectable),
   while in CONFIG monochrome will be used by default.
 + After execution, an ERRORLEVEL code is returned with these meanings:

      0:  Disk not defined
    255:  Driver not installed from CONFIG.SYS
    254:  Incorrect drive letter indicated
    253:  Attempt to define inside Windows
    252:  Syntax error

    Other values below 128, are related to  the  handle  used  in  both  the
    extended or the expanded memory.

 - WARNING:

    With  4085 to 4087 cluster  disks,  the  CHKDSK /F  command  (except  in
 MS-DOS 3.3 and DR-DOS 6.0)  are  not  able  to  correctly determine the FAT
 type of the disk.  Additionally,  it  will  report  nonexistent errors, and
 will destroy stored data.

 - BITDISK:

 If TURBODSK still should require too much memory, BITDISK can be used instead.
 It requires only 256  bytes instead of 408.  Most probably this driver is the
 smallest resizeable ram disk controller in the world. However, its usage still
 has some downsides:
 + Only XMS is supported.
 + To save memory, some variables were placed directly into the code. This may
   lead to errors under protected mode. But under testage no errors concerning
   this point occured.
 + Some internal or undocumented  features of MS-DOS were  used. In most other
   MS-DOS  compatible  operating  system these  features still  are supported:
   BITDISK was  tested  under MS-DOS 6.20,  DR-DOS 6.0 and NOVELL-DOS 7.0, and
   no errors occured there.
