[syslinux] memdisk, free memory

[Michael Redinger]

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Bernd Blaauw wrote:
> Michael Redinger wrote:
>> I am having trouble with memdisk not freeing all all memory - mem /c
>> shows only about 570K memory (and I happen to need that extra memory in
>> DOS ... :-( ).
>>   
> Feel free to list the complete MEM /C output (and config.sys and 
> autoexec.bat contents) either in this list or for example the FreeDOS 
> development list.

Hm, not sure if this output is needed:

First, I boot from a floppy disk. mem /c says (at the end) that there
are 638 K total conventional memory ( 188K used, 380K free).
Then I take that floppy and write a floppy image (using dd) and boot
that floppy via PXE (kernel memdisk; append initrd=my.img keeppxe).
Now mem /c says that there is only 568K total memory (188K used, 380K
free) (the actual amount of total conventional memory found depends on
the network card).

> That way you can see if it's a PXE issue or not. When using MEMDISK on 
> top of Isolinux, only 2KB of conventional RAM is eaten away.

See above - it is much more with pxelinux. 2KB (that's what the memdisk
webpage says, too) would be perfect! :-)

Btw., I just tried a Siemens laptop with a Realtek network card (just to
add one more to the list that does not work).

> The rest is eaten away by plain old DOS programs (kernel, shell, 
> drivers) which can be optimised using old DOS tricks.
>
> How much memory do you need in DOS, and does that include network access 
> as well through MC Client?
> Or are you just booting from network, then doing something on local 
> machine instead? (get rid of the KEEPPXE statement then in pxelinux's 
> config file).

Well, I need keeppxe because I want to load the Microsoft IP stack.
This used to work, but to access certain fileservers, I have to replace
net start workstation
with
net start full
because I need full redirector support. With the floppy, there is enough
 free memory available, but after PXE boot it is simply not enough.
I tried optimizing the DOS part, but I don't manage to get enough free
memory - the network part and the missing memory together are simply too
much ...

Btw., I am using the "MSNET" version of the nwdsk boot floppy (which is
based on the bart bootdisk, IIRC).


Thanks,
Michael

- --
Michael Redinger
Zentraler Informatikdienst (Central IT Services)
Universitaet Innsbruck
Technikerstrasse 13                    Tel.: ++43 512 507 2335
6020 Innsbruck                         Fax.: ++43 512 507 949 02335
Austria                                Mail: Michael.Redinger at uibk.ac.at
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http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/~c102mr/mred-pubkey.asc
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