(Quarterdeck EMM) A popular DOS and Windows memory manager developed by Quarterdeck that was very popular in the DOS-only days. It also managed memory efficiently under Windows. Symantec, which acquired Quarterdeck in 1999, no longer supports QEMM.
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Quarterdeck Expanded Memory Manager (abbreviated QEMM, sometimes pronounced /ˈkwɛm/, though not by those who developed it), was a memory manager produced by Quarterdeck Office Systems in the late 1980s through late 1990s. It was the most popular memory manager for the MS-DOS and other DOS operating systems.
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It is a memory manager for 286 or higher CPU. It supports Chips and Technologies chipsets.
2.02 added SHADOWRAM switch. QEXT now correctly reallocates XMS. It includes VIDRAM, Optimize, LOADHI from QEMM 6.02, Manifest 1.13.
It is a version of QEMM that includes Quarterdeck GameRunner. Patches for regular QEMM do not work on QEMM Game Edition.
In the version shipped with SideKick for Windows, it is a version with SideBar 1.00 (1994-08-22) and QEMM 7.5.
It includes DESQview and QEMM-386.
QEMM provides access to the Upper Memory Area (UMA), expanded memory (EMS) and extended memory (XMS), Virtual Control Program Interface and DOS Protected Mode Interface.
It relocates DOS kernel, COMMAND.COM interpreter, DOS resources (eg: buffers, file handles, stacks, lastdrive). It supports DOS 3.2 or higher.
It allows drivers to be loaded before loading QEMM and still allow the use of QEMM's Stealth feature.
It is a memory compression utility for Windows 3.1, Windows For Workgroups, Windows 95. MagnaRAM is included with QEMM 97.
MagnaRAM was also released as a separate utility.[1]
MagnaRAM worked by replacing a portion of Windows' virtual memory system. MagnaRAM would insert itself in the string of Windows Programs that determined what pieces of RAM will be moved to the hard disk. Instead of writing directly to the hard disk, the information to be written would go to MagnaRAM's own buffer as this was a faster process. During CPU idle, MagnaRAM would compress the information in its own RAM buffer. When the RAM buffer becomes full, it is then swapped to the hard disk taking both less time and less space.[2]
First released in 1990-01-11, it is a hardware information utility that displays information about user's system.
Similar to Memmaker, it is an utility that calculates, and allows user to choose optimal orders of loading drivers and TSRs. However, OPTIMIZE allows preview of adjustments be made without rebooting. It was first release in 1990-01-11.
It is shipped with QEMM and DESQView.
It is a DPMI 0.9 server driver. It requires 386 CPU and QEMM386.
It is a version of QEMM driver for IBM PS/2 Model 50 and 60.
Version 4.03 supports IBM Memory Expansion Option boards with 2-8MiB memory.
It can relocate memory assigned for CGA character set away from UMA.
Beginning with QEMM version 8, it allows ROM contents in UMA to be relocated to provide more memory for TSRs. Additional Stealth Windows compatibility is provided with VxDs.
Stealth D*Space allows DoubleSpace or DriveSpace to be loaded high.
It allows Toshiba laptops to work with QEMM's EMS manager.
First released in 1990-01-10, it can provide extra conventional memory in text mode programs, by reclaiming buffers located in UMA that are used in graphics modes. It requires EGA/VGA-comptible video card.
VIDRAMEMS supports DMA-based video memory access at the expense of EMS memory for buffer.
LOADHI.SYS loads up to 1 device driver at a time in QEMM 4.23, 2 in QEMM 5, 32 in QEMM 6.
Maximum compression threshold setting is 100% for all versions of MagnaRAM 2.00-2.02, except for MagnaRAM 2.00 included with QEMM 8.00, which has the maximum setting of 80%.
By default, QEMM 8.0 only provides total up to 64MiB XMS, EMS and VCPI memory, unless USERAM= parameter is used.[3]
QEMM only provides total up to 256MiB XMS, EMS and VCPI memory.[4]
Versions up to QEMM 6.01 can process batch files up to 9KiB, and 20KiB in QEMM 6.02.
Batch file line limit is 512 for QEMM versions up to 6.02.
Stealth D*Space does not support Windows 95 or later versions of DriveSpace.
Originally, the product was called QEMM-386, and was released with a complementary product called QRAM. The 386 suffix was dropped when the Intel Pentium was released.
It supports 2.88MB floppy drives. New Optimize switches include /COMMANDFILE (CMD), /LOADLOW (LOW), /QUICK (Q). Optimize supports default OPTIMIZE.EXC exclusion file.
New QEMM parameters include DISKBUFFRAME=xx (DBF), EXCLUDESTEALTHINT=xx (XSTI), SHADOWRAM=xxx (SH), UNMAPFREEPAGES=Y/N (UFP), WINSHRINKUMBS=N (WSU)
By default, EMS is unmapped when Stealth is active.
Optimize can support batch file up to 20KiB.
The 64MiB limit was removed from EMBMEM (EMB) parameter.
TESTBIOS's 'Dan and Larry' messages were removed.
Manifest was updated to 1.13.
Vidram now support systems with over 640KiB conventional memory under DOS 5 and had not allocated UMBs.
Vidram later than 6.04 uses EMS by default.
QEMM was rewritten with 32-bit code. Improved adapter RAM detection. Added configuration file support.
New features include DOS-Up, Stealth ROM, Stealth DoubleSpace. New utilities include SWAPECHO.COM, OPTIMIZE.EXE (replaced OPTIMIZE.COM), QDPMI (Quarterdeck DPMI 0.9 host), QSETUP (QEMM Setup for Windows), SCANMEM.COM (USERAM= memory scanner). Updated utilities include Manifest 2.0. Addd support of Virtual Mode Extensions and Page Size Extensions found in Pentium, later Intel 80486, or later CPUs; Bus-Mastering hard drives.
Optimize supports disk compression software, DOS 6 multi-config, AUTOEXEC.BAT IF statements.
Vidram can now operate in Windows Enhanced mode DOS windows.
QEMM 7.0x loads itself to shadow RAM by default.
VIDRAM no longer suppress Int 10, function 1B calls.
New Optimize switches include /NOFLUSH (/NOFL).
Stealth DoubleSpace virtualizes DOS Function 9.
DOSDATA improves compatibility with Stacker 3.1, supports PC-DOS 6.1 and XTRADRIVE or OS/2 2.x Boot Manager.
Stealth Windows driver was updated to 7.02.
QEMM driver now supports Compaq 20/e and 25/e.
DOS-Up now supports Novell DOS 7. In DR-DOS 6 and Novell DOS 7, only DOS resource is loaded high. Improved VCPI compatibility on systems with large amounts of memory. QEMM supports DESQView/X 2.0 server. Manifest now recgonizes STB processors.
New features include Stealth D*Space (replacing Stealth DoubleSpace). New tools include QPI.VXD. Improved Pentium support with DigiSpeech Portable Sound parallel port sound card. QEMM 7.5 no longer loads itself to shadow RAM.
Optimize now properly detects hardware on system with network card.
Optimize now finds EMS in hardware detection phase.
MagnaRAM 2.00 is included with QEMM 8.00.
4DOS.CMD was added.
Added Windows 95 support. New utilities include MagnaRAM, Manifest for Windows 95. Additional Windows 95 features include optimizing paging file.
Microsoft released comparable but simpler memory managers of its own - HIMEM.SYS for XMS and EMM386.EXE for EMS with MS-DOS 4.01 in 1989; earlier Windows/386 2.1 included a built-in EMM which offered EMS to DOS windows during Windows sessions only. These versions could not yet create Upper Memory Blocks. Digital Research's DR-DOS 5.0 (1990) was the first non-vendor-specific DOS to offer the UMB technology, incorporating a 386-mode XMS/EMS manager also called EMM386. MS-DOS finally offered UMBs in 1991 with version 5.0. MS-DOS's EMM386 required HIMEM to be loaded first, while DR-DOS's EMM386 fulfilled both roles and did not need a separate XMS driver, which was still provided but only needed on 80286-based machines (HIDOS.SYS).
When Microsoft finally automated the process of UMB optimisation in MS-DOS 6 with the memmaker utility, and QEMM's market share began to slide.
While popular when DOS programs were the mainstream, QEMM eventually became largely irrelevant as Windows programs replaced DOS programs for most users. On the other hand, some of the DOS users switched to operating systems unsupported by QEMM, such as Windows NT series and Linux.
The final version was QEMM 97, which was compatible with Windows 95 and later Windows 98/ME, but by this point, not only was DOS memory management no longer in high demand, but the remaining competitive DOS applications (including various GNU utilities, text editors) support EMS, XMS, DPMI, which would reduced demand for conventional memory, or had been ported to Windows 95 or higher. The availability of increasing RAM sizes at low cost served to reduce the need of MagnaRAM. Finally, modern PCI chipsets provide documented functionality to remove write protection from unused UMA; in many or most cases, this last fact eliminates the need for QEMM for even those relatively few users who use DOS applications and who might otherwise find QEMM essential.
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