Electric Shock with RCD

Expanded memory was a system where you could set a window under the 1Mb mark into the expanded memory bank. The window could be moved to expose a different section of the memory. It was developed to help store additional information (particularly spreadsheets) that just couldn't be squeezed in. There was no virtual memory on Intel processors at this time.

Extended memory was simply memory located above the 1Mb mark. This was only available on 286 processors or above, as previous processors only had a 20 bit address bus. (The 286 has a 24 bit bus, and the 386 a 32 bit one). Unfortunately, MS-DOS, the operating system of the time, did not allow the processor to be in the mode required to access this memory, so various memory extenders were required to switch the processor into and out of the mode as required. (HIMEM.SYS later helping out with this task).

Expanded memory come first, when pre-286 processors were common and the

640kB limit at its worst. Extended memory took over by the time 386s came along with their fast context switches (and Windows 386 Enhanced and DOS4GW). It is far easier to work with and much less limited in size and performance (and does not require additional hardware).

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle
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... with the Intel 'Above Board', IIRC. I remember buying one at work in

1980-something to run a upgrade release of Touchstone (1.4?) on our 12 MHz '286 PC-AT, with 20 MB HDD! The price for 1 MB ran to 4 figures.
Reply to
Andy Wade

When you think about the prices that applied way back then, each of our PCs today would be at least half a million quid today..... ;)

PoP

Reply to
PoP

You exaggerate; the PC-AT was 6MHz. The later AT-X was 8MHz but that had a massive 30MB drive.

Reply to
Elessar

Yeah. I remember when a 10Mb hard disk cost 1600 quid. It was marketed as being "ideal for file server". Must have been around 1985.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Ah. I remember the old AT with the really expensive EGA graphics upgrade. That was the third computer I used, after the PDP-11 and the Spectrum. The PDP-11 was fantastic. I learnt to program on it when I was five. We had two, sitting in the front room, with the teletypes sitting in the back room. I remember the excitement when the first VT100 arrived (must have been 1979). Such modern technology! You can still see the evidence of them now. My parents still have the holes in the floorboards where all the cables ran.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

You had an '11 at *home*. Jeez, I'm impressed.

(Mind you, so do I, but then I got it out of a skip.)

Reply to
Huge

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