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NOEMS (Users)

posted by Arjay, 02.02.2013, 11:13

> I am using MS DOS 7.0. The question I have is what difference does the
> NOEMS parameter make when adding it to emm386?
In brief, using that switch pretty turns of the main reason for running EMM386 in the first place which is to support Expanded MeMory. To quote:

cc722864:
"...Provides access to the upper memory area but prevents access to expanded memory..."

fdos.org: EMS
"...Do not enable expanded memory. Use NOEMS to get more free UMBs if you need no EMS..."

Yahoo Answers: What is the difference between extended and expanded memory?

> Some programs do not seem to work anymore when this parameter is set. They
> do work if emm386 is run without it.
 The programs that are not working will be the programs requiring EMS (Expanded Memory Specification) and the ones that are still working will likely be using XMS (eXtended Memory Specification) via HIMEM.SYS instead or not caring in the sense of using DOS memory or running with limited more support not immediately obvious, e.g. you might not be able to open as large files in these applications due to not having enough memory of the expected type, e.g. DOS memory and EMS (so the app just uses DOS mem).

Personally for years I've opted to always find alternatives of anything using EMS where at all possible as it slows machines down and many DOS Demo's won't run with it loaded. I'd liked Demo's and Windows 3.0+ never needed EMS... So for years I've not needed it either. EMS is one of those things that quickly went legacy that some programmers continued to use after they should of stopped and switched to using XMS or DPMI instead. /rant!

In closing, personally if you can avoid using EMS I'd always recommend NOT using it. Others may disagree...

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