ID:AU SuperSpool, FastDrive with QEXT.SYS
Quarterdeck Technical Note #118
by Stan Young

Q: How do I use AST's Superspool and FastDrive utilities with
QEXT.SYS?

   AST's SuperSpool and FastDrive utilities can be run with
Quarterdeck's QEXT.SYS driver, but require some special setup
parameters since the default for these utilities is to load at the
1 megabyte address, which is where QEXT.SYS must load.

   To have it work properly, you must have QEXT.SYS invoked in your
CONFIG.SYS file before loading FASTDRIVE.  Naturally, consult the
DESQview manual (Appendix B) concerning setting up some real
extended memory in which QEXT.SYS will be loaded.  The AST
utilities can be loaded either in the remaining real extended
memory or in "emulated" extended memory created by AST's REX.SYS
driver.  QEXT.SYS, as noted in the manual, can only use REAL
extended memory.

   As noted, the AST utilities default to load themselves at a 1
megabyte address and therefore, if allowed to load with the
defaults, will overwrite QEXT.SYS and disable both QEXT and
themselves.  In order to have them load above QEXT, it is necessary
to tell them with a command line parameter where to load.  If you
have difficulty with this, please consult the AST SuperPac software
manual, but the basic method for telling the AST software where to
load is as follows:

   Generally, under the default to load the utility in extended
memory, you put "/EXTM" as a parameter on the command line.  As
noted, this will load it at 1 meg.  If you want to be sure they
don't load on top of QEXT, you must enter the parameter as
"/EXTM=0,1088."  This tells the utility to load at a 1088K address. 
Since 1 megabyte is 1024K, setting the starting address to 1088
leaves the 64K that QEXT.SYS uses free.

   If you use both FASTDISK and SUPERSPL, you can use the
"/EXTM=0,1088" parameter for both of them.  This would appear to be 
a conflict; however, while these utilities do not detect QEXT or 
other VDISK-like utilities, they do detect each other and will not
overwrite each other. 

Note: The above setup information also applies to the AST's
SuperDrive utility.

        Copyright (C) 1991 by Quarterdeck Office Systems
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