Hi, For about a year I have been using only programs which either are natively FDAPM-aware, or can become so with help of a TSR.
I just don't *like* CPUs running at 100% capacity when all we need is 2% or less, especially in notebooks with their tiny, hard-to-reach cooling fans. The TSR I currently use in connection with non-FDAPM-aware programs is DPAKBD, from the year 1997. CPU load often drops to 1-2% as reported by FDAPM. I have been able to configure it to work with almost all programs I need to use. However, DPAKBD is not without its problems: - Minimal documentation. In part for that reason, requires hours of trial and error to get the two parameters right for each program. - Must be unloaded after use to avoid slowing down other programs, but lacks an 'unload' option. The only workaround I know for the lack of the 'unload' option is the MARK/RELEASE pair of programs, suggested by Bret Johnson. MARK/RELEASE usually works as expected, but not always. Sometimes RELEASE will either fail to do its job of unloading the TSR, or else will unload it and drag along several others which were not supposed to be unloaded. In that case, rebooting is the only solution, and I now find myself rebooting my computer ten or fifteen times every day. So far I have no idea which circumstances cause this to happen. Even rebooting is not always very smooth: sometimes Ctrl-Alt-Del does not invoke JemmEx's 'fastboot', and a complete boot is required with a second Ctrl-Alt-Del press. Or, still worse, the keyboard may lock, and the reset button must be pressed. It is not very clear to me where we FreeDOS users now stand on this matter of CPU idleness. Here's what I could find. 1. Of course we have the 'DOSIDLE' option in the FreeDOS kernel, but so far I'm not very convinced of its efficiency. As mentioned in previous posts, I like to do the "ultimate" test of CPU idleness: removing the cooling fan and putting my finger on the CPU. As per this test, I would say DosIdle makes no difference at all -- but I may be wrong of course. 2. Japheth has something also called DosIdle: "Small tool to detect idle state in DOS. Useful if DOS runs in a virtual environment and causing a very high CPU load." Apparently does not work under pure DOS. 3. There is a third thing also called DOSidle, by Marton Balog, 1998, free for "non-commercial enviroments". It is "designed to operate under MS-DOS". I have been unable to make it work under FreeDOS. 4. There is the shareware Tamedos but it is extremely complicated to configure, in spite of its good manual, and you might say its support is nonexistent, even to registered users like me. Perhaps it would be a good idea to develop FreeDOS's own TSR (or any other approach) for non-FDAPM-aware programs. I realize that not many people use pure (Free)DOS as I do, but CPU load is also a problem in virtual environments, and there may be enough interested users to justify the effort. Since Eric, Japheth and others seem to be knowledgeable, may I suggest that the developers take a look into this matter. I'll be glad to help as a tester. Regards, Marcos -------------------------------------- Marcos Fávero Florence de Barros Campinas, Brazil ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
