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Document ID: DJON-3G8Q9R |
Aptiva - Virtual memory icon when Stacker is installed
Applicable to: United States
When Stacker 4.0 is set up (SSETUP command), and a drive has been compressed, Stacker will add an icon to the Windows Control Panel for Virtual Memory. This icon is similar to the Virtual Memory button in the 386 Enhanced window, in that it provides all the function of the normal virtual memory setup that you can do via the 386 Enhanced icon in the Control Panel. One additional function that Stacker provides is to allow a permanent swap file to be set up on the compressed drive.
This is a big difference from other disk compression packages, which will not work correctly when the permanent swap file is placed on the compressed drive. In those packages, Windows regards the permanent swap file on a compressed drive as being corrupt during Windows startup and will require that it be deleted and recreated.
With Stacker compression, the Virtual Memory icon in the Windows Control Panel provides a means for the permanent swap file to be placed on the compressed drive and allow Windows to access it without problems. If the swap file is set up to be on an uncompressed drive or no swap file is set up at all, there is no difference in the operation of the Stacker Virtual Memory and the 386 Enhanced Virtual Memory.
If the Stacker Virtual Memory function is used, however, please note that you CANNOT use the normal virtual memory button in 386 Enhanced to undo or change the swap file. The normal Windows virtual memory function will not even recognize the swap file on the Stacker compressed drive via the Control Panel, and it may cause problems if you try to use both. If the Stacker Virtual Memory icon in the Windows Control Panel is used to set up the swap file on a Stacker compressed drive, use this icon for changing or removing the swap file.
There is no significant performance advantage in putting the permanent swap file on a Stacker compressed drive. The primary benefit is that it can be done without getting messages from Windows that the swap file may be corrupt. There is a slight performance degradation when using the Stacker Virtual Memory function to put the swap file on the compressed drive, but this will be insignificant and generally not noticeable.
Note: 32-bit Disk Access is not available with the Stacker virtual memory icon, but 32-bit Disk Access is generally not that useful other than for faster loading of DOS programs from Windows (reduces load time by 2-3 seconds on the average) and offers no other performance gain for the DOS program while it is running. Thus, the lack of support for 32-bit Disk Access is not anything that you'd be likely to miss. If you do need 32-bit Disk Access because you run many DOS programs from Windows and you run them often, don't use the Stacker virtual memory icon at all. The normal Windows 32-bit Disk Access support should still be available if the function is supported on your system.
Note: If you are using Windows for WorkGroups 3.11, you have the ability to use 32-bit File Access without conflicting with Stacker compression. Stacker 4.0 was enhanced to work with 32-bit File Access. 32-bit File Access is much more useful for general Windows performance for all programs, whereas 32-bit Disk Access is useful only for loading (but not running) DOS programs from Windows.
The above information was gathered from a typical setup of Stacker 4.0 with PC-DOS 7.0 installed, where the C: drive was compressed and the permanent swap file was placed on the compressed drive. Extensive testing and performance measurements were not performed, but it was confirmed to work without a problem for all types of Windows sessions, and for both short and long periods of time. No real performance difference was found between using the Stacker and the Windows Virtual Memory functions for the placement of the swap file during this testing period.
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Hint Category |
DOS/Windows 3.x, Utility Software | |
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Date Created |
17-04-97 | |
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Last Updated |
22-02-99 | |
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Revision Date |
22-02-2000 | |
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Brand |
IBM Aptiva | |
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Product Family |
Aptiva | |
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Machine Type |
2144, 2168 | |
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Model |
1R2; 66P; 67P; 86P; OR8; 1R1; 1R3; 1R5; 22P; 24P; 25P; 27P; 29P; 63P; 67P; 82P; 83P; OR6; OR7; OR9; 1R0; 1R1; 26P; 62P; 2R0; P30; 2R3; S15 | |
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