AST RESEARCH Rampage 286 User manual

Rampage ”‘ 286
Enhanced Expanded Memory Board
for the
IBM Personal Computer AT ii
and XT Model 286
and Other AT-Compatibie Computers
Addendum
0004327002 A
January 1988
AST RESEARCH, iNCV
Irvine, California
(714) 86371333

First Edition [January 1988)
AST and Rampage are registered trademarks ol AST Research. Inc. Advantage
Premium, lASTram. Preview, SuperPak. SuperSpool. and tASTdisk are
trademarks of AST Research. Inc.
IBM and AT registered trademarks and Operating System/2 is atrademark of
InternationalBusiness Machines Corporation DESOview is atrademark ol
Ouarterdeck Ottice Systems Concurrent PC DOS XM is atrademark of Digital
Research. Inc Intel is aregistered trademark ol lntel Corporation. Microsoft is a
registered trademark oi Microsolt Corporation, Lotus. 128 and Symphony are
registered trademarks oi Lotus Development Corporation FRAMEWORK it is a
registered trademark ol Ashtoanate. Paradox is atrademark ol Ansa
Corporation. SuperCalc is aregistered trademark of Computer Associates
International. Inc Hercules is atrademark of Hercules Computer Technology.
Inc.
in view ol demonstrated product reliability and comprehensive warranty policies.
AST Research. Inc does not normally provide schematics or material lists. AST
recognizes that some customers with alarge installed base oi AST products
want supportive documentation lor their own service organizations In such
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Changes are periodicallymade to the informationcontained in this manual:
these changes will be incorporated into new editions
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ADDENDUM TO THE RAMPAGE 286
USER’S MANUAL
This addendum updates miscellaneous packaging information
and corrects technical details not covered in the current user‘s
manual.
Please replace the original page with new pages from this
addendum as follows:
Original Pages Replacement Pages
iii to viii iii to viii
171t0172 171t0172
1—5t01-10 175t01~10
2-1 to 2—14 24 to 2-14
34 to 36 3-1 to 3—8
4-5 to 4—6 4-5 to 4-6
A-3 to A-10 A-3 to A-10
8-1 to 86 8-1 to 8-2
0-1 to C-4 01 to 076
Please remove the following original pages from the user's
manual:
F-t to F2

NOTES

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION. ......................................................... 1-1
1.1 Features ............................................................................
1-2
1.1.1 Hardware Features... 1’3
1.1.2 Software Features 14
1.2 Memory Allocation Example ........................................... 1-5
1.3 Getting Started...................................................................
1A8
1.4 Checklist ..................................................................
........ 1-10
1.5 System Requirements .....................................................
1-10
1.6 How To Use This Manual.
1.6.1 Format Notation
1.6.2 Related Documentation.
1.6.3 Manual Outline .......................................................1-12
2. CONFIGURING YOUR RAMPAGE 286 BOARD ................. 21
2.1 Default Configuration .........................................................
21
2.2 Basic Configuration ............................................. ...2-4
2.2.1 What You Need to Know Before You Start .24
2.2.2 SW1 Location and Default Settings ............
2.2.3 Conventional/Extended Memory Size Setting
(SW14 through SW1-4)...... .. ,. ,”.278
2.2.4 Base l/O Address Settings
(SW1 -5 through SW178)
2.2.5 Dual Page Mode (SW19) .....
2.2.6 SW2 Location and Default Settings. ..... 2712
2.2.7 Conventional/Extended Memory Installed
(SW2—1 through SW27?) ., ... .. .. . . 2713

CONTENTS
22.8 Parity Checking (SW2-8),.. ......................... 2-14
3. INSTALLING RAMPAGE 286 IN YOUR COMPUTER ......... 3-1
3.1 Opening Your Computer ...................................................
3-1
3.2 Disabling System Board Memory ..................................... 3-4
3.3 Installing Rampage 286 in Your Computer... ............. 376
4. RUNNING SETUP .............................................................. 4-1
4.1 SETUP Examples...............................................................
4-5
5. INSTALLING RAMPAGE 286 SOFTWARE ......................... 51
5.1 Example SuperPak Configuration ..................................... 5-3
52 Starting the INSTALL Program.......................................... 574
5.3 Installing Options...............................................................
5-8
5.4 Save the Installation .................................... 5-9
A. SWITCH SETTING SUMMARY.......................................... A71
A.1 Rampage 286 Conventional/Extended
Memory Size .............................................................. A1
A2 Base l/O Address .............................................................
A-4
A.3 Dual Page Mode .............................................. ......... A76
A4 Conventional/Extended Memory Already Installed ....... A77
A5 Parity Checking ........................................................... A-10
B. MEMORY ALLOCATION FOR EEMS SOFTWARE ............ B—1

CONTENTS
C. ADDING OR REMOVING MEMORY ................................. C—1
01 Valid Memory Configurations.......................................... C-t
C2Memory Chip Specifications.............. 02
03 Rules for Handling Memory Chips .................................. 0-2
CA Installing Additional Memory ........................................... CA4
D. ADVANCED INSTALL PROCEDURES ............................. D-l
Del Using INSTALL. .............................................. D—S
D2 Running the INSTALL Program ......................................D-5
0.3 Installing SuperPak Software for Another Computer D6
D4 INSTALL Main Menu .......................................................DB
05 Installing fASTdisk........................................................ D-9
D.6 Installing SuperDrive ...................................................... D-12
D7 Installing the AST Expanded Memory Manager ........... D-15
D.8 Installing SuperSpool..................................................... D-17
D.9 Saving the Installation .................................................... 0-18
0.10 Example of Completed Installation ............................. D-20
E. HOW RAMPAGE 286 WORKS ........................................... E-l
E71 Memory Paging ...................................................... E-t
E2 Expanded Memory Manager ~REMM SYS .................... E4
E3 Extended Memory Emulator ~REX.SYS ., V,. E4

CONTENTS
E.4 Modilying REMM and REX
E.4.1 DEVICE :REMM.SYS Parameters. ..E-7
E.4.2 DEVICE :REX.SYS Parameters E-9
54.3 Modifying CONFIGSYS for IASTdisk .. .. E—iO
GLOSSARY ................................................................... Glossary-1
FIGURES
Figure 1-1. Example Memory Map ............................................... 1-7
Figure 2—1. Rampage 286 Board Layout ....................... 272
Figure 272. Rampage 286 Switch SW1 (Default Setting).. ...2-7
Figure 2—3. Rampage 286 Switch SW2 (Default Setting) ........... 242
Figure 371, Removing the PC XT Model 286 Cover ..................... 3-2
Figure 3-2. Removing the PC AT Cover
Figure 3—3. Setting the PC AT System Board Jumper.
Figure 3-4. Installing the Rampage 286 Board ..............
Figure 571. Initial INSTALL Screen...
Figure 5-2. Main INSTALL Menu ......
Figure A71. Rampage 286 Conventional/Extended
Memory Size ........................
Figure A~2. Rampage 286 Base I/O Address Settings.
Figure A-8. Dual Page Mode Configuration
Figure A~4. Conventional/Extended Memory Already Installed .A-B
Figure A75, Parity Error Checking.............................................. A-10
Figure 0-1. Rampage 286 Memory Configuration... ..... 01
Figure (3-2. Installing Rampage 286 Memory Chips. ..... 03
Figure D-1. Main INSTALL Menu ..... D78
Figure D~2. INSTALL with fASTdisk Edit Box... D»11
Figure D~3. INSTALL with SuperDrive Edit Box.... D44
Figure D—4. INSTALL with SuperSpool Edit Box ..................... D717
Figure E71. Paging Technique ,. E73
vi

CONTENTS
TABLES
Table 2-1‘ Flampage 286 Default Configuration ........................... 23
Table 2-2 Rampage 286 Conventional/Extended Memory Size.2—9
Table 273. Rampage 286 Base l/O Address ............................... 2-10
Table C-1. Compatible 256-KB Memory Chips ........................... C—2
vii

NOTES
Viii

INTRODUCTION 1
Rampage 5" 286 is aflexible and powerful memory enhancement
board. It represents anew generation of products to expand the
available memory for the IBM Personal Computer XT (PC XT)
Model 286‘ PC AT 7"
,and compatible computers. Rampage 286
offers these features:
Conventional memory. Computer memory from 0to 640
kilobytes (KB) is called conventional memory.
Your computer's system board contains acertain amount
of conventional memory, and addeon boards (such as
Rampage 286) can provide additional conventional
memory, No matter how much memory you install in your
computer, you can never have more than 640 KB of
conventional memory. The Disk Operating System (DOS)
can directly use all the conventional memory installed in
your computer.
Extended memory. Memory in the 1» to 16vmegabyte
(MB) address range is called extended memory.
(Extended and conventional memory are also called
linear or nonepaged memory.)
Extended memory is used by the 80286 microprocessor
when it operates in protected mode. (The Technical
Reference Manual for your computer provides further
information on protected mode.) Extended memory is
used by the Operating System/2TM (08/2) and XENIXTM
operating systems, random access memory (RAM) disks
and print spoolers, However. current versions of DOS
and most application programs cannot Lise extended
memory directly.
Rampage 286 User's Manual Change Page (January. 1988) 1-1

introduction
0Expanded memory. Memory above 640~KB that is made
available by swapping segments of RAM in and out of
conventional memory is called expanded or paged
memory. Rampage 286 expanded memory supports
expanded memory specification (EMS) software,
including Lotus" 1-23 Release 2and Symphony® 1.1.
These applications use expanded memory by working
with AST's expanded memory manager software, which
is supplied with your Rampage 286 board.
Rampage 286 also supports the enhanced expanded
memory specification (EEMS), providing superior
performance with software written to support it, including
Microsoft “‘ Windows 2.0 and Quarterdeck DESQview“.
AST expanded memory software allows your computer to
access up to 8MB of memory (using four 2‘MB AST
expanded memory boards, including Rampage 286 and
Advantage Premium"), while maintaining DOS
compatibility.
NOTE
To ensure compatibility, use only AST expanded
memory products (such as Advantage Premium)
with Rampage 286.
aFull compatibility with the Lotus/intei/Microsoft (LIM)
version 3.2 Expanded Memory Specification (EMS). In
addition, AST's EEMS offers a more flexible paging
scheme that maximizes software performance and
exceeds the capabilities of the UM EMS,
1.1 Features
Rampage 286 hardware and software features are described in
this section.
1-2 Rampage 286 User's Manual Change Page (January. 1988)

introduction
-- SuperSpoo/T", an intelligent print spooler that allows
you to send files to aprinter while freeing your
computer for other tasks.
-- INSTALL, asoftware installation utility that allows
easy installation of the fASTdisk, SuperDrive,
SuperSpool, and expanded memory software.
NOTE
You must use aversion 6.10 (or later) SuperPak
diskette with Rampage 286. All your SuperPak
software is fully compatible with earlier versions
of AST products.
1.2 Memory Allocation Example
Atypical example of how Rampage 286 memory can be allocated
is presented in this section. Suppose your computer has 512 KB
of conventional memory installed and your Rampage 286
provides 2MB of RAM. You would like to use Rampage 286 to do
the following:
0Fill out conventional memory to 640 KB.
0Allocate extended memory to create a384-KB fASTdisk.
0Use all remaining Rampage 286 memory as expanded
memory for use with EMS or EEMS application
programs.
Rampage 286 User's Manual Change Page (January. l988) 1-5

introduction
Set Rampage 286 for 512 KB of conventional/extended memory
already installed in your computer and allocate 512 KB of
Rampage 286 memory as conventional/extended memory, -- 128
KB are used to round out conventional memory and 384 KB as
extended memory. The remaining 1536 KB (1.5 MB) of
Rampage 286 memory would be used as expanded memory.
Memory addressed between 640 and 1024 KB, called high
memory, is reserved for video graphics adapters and other DOS
utilities. This memory comes from the read only memory basic
input/output system (ROM BIOS), display adapter, disk controller.
and other peripheral devices in your computer. Rampage 286
uses aportion of high memory for paging expanded memory.
High memory is not counted as part of conventional or extended
memory.
Figure 171 shows how the different types of memory are used in
the computer. in this example, your computer has atotal of
2560 KB including 512 KB on the system board, 2048 KB on the
Rampage 286 board, and 384 KB of reserved memory. When you
start the computer, it counts only the total conventional and
extended memory. Therefore, you will see 1024 KB in the upper-
Ieft corner of the screen when you boot the computer (640 KB
conventional memory plus 384 KB extended memory),
1-6 Rampage 286 User's Manual Change Page (January. 1988)

Introduction
mExtended memory
I:Expanded memory
2560 KB
Rampage 286 memory
used as expanded
2048 KB
1536 KB
1408 KB
Rampage 286 memory
a
used as extended
1024 KB Reserved high memory
640 KB
Rampage 286 memory
512 KB backiilling conventional‘
512 KB syslem board
memory
0KB
Computer Rampage 286
memory memory
Figure 1-1. Total Memory.
Rampage 286 User's Manual Change Page (January, 1988) 1-7

Introduction
1.3 Getting Started
This section tells you how to get started with your Rampage 286.
STEP 1
Check the contents of your Rampage 286 package. Section 1.4
provides a checklist of what should be included with your
package.
STEP 2
Review the system requirements for Rampage 286. Read
Section 1.5 to make sure your system meets the requirements for
using Rampage 286.
STEP 3
Decide on the configuration you need. How you configure
Rampage 286 depends on the following:
oHow much memory is already installed in your computer.
aHow much Rampage 286 memory you want to allocate
as expanded memory.
0Whether you have an AST Advantage Premium or
another Rampage 286 board installed in your PC.
Section 2provides further help in determining how to configure
your Rampage 286 board.
STEP 4
Configure Rampage 286. Based on the requirements you
determined in STEP 3, set the switches on your Rampage 286
board You can use the configuration set at the factory (the
default configuration) under these circumstances:
aYou are installing Rampage 286 in acomputer that has
512 kilobytes (KB) of conventional memory installed.
0No other expanded memory board is installed in your
system,
1-8 Rampage 286 User's Manual Change Page (January, 1988)

introduction
If the default configurationdoes not meet your needs, reconfigure
the board as shown in Section 2.
STEP 5
Configure the PC AT system board. To improve the performance
of EEMS software, you may disable part of the system board's
memory and backfill it with Rampage 286 memory. This
procedure gives the EEMS software more conventional memory
to use for paging. See Section 3for instructions on setting the
system board's iumper or switch block for the amount of
memory.
STEP 6
Install Rampage 286. Once the Rampage 286 board is
configured, you must install it in your PC. Follow the instructions
in Section 3,
STEP 7
Run the SETUP program. Whenever you change your memory
configuration, and you plan to add aSuperDrive RAM disk drive,
you need to run the SETUP program provided with your
computer. Section 4gives examples of what parameters you
should supply while you are running SETUP.
STEP 8
Install the Rampage 286 software. Section 5shows you how to
use lNSTALL to configure and install the Rampage 286 software.
STEP 9
Start your application software package. Rampage 286 is
compatible with EMS and EEMS software. Follow the instructions
provided with your software to install and use it.
Rampage 285 User's Manual Change Page (January. 1988) 1-9

Introduction
1.4 Checklist
In addition to this user's manual (AST part number 000432-001),
your Rampage 286 package includes the following items:
0Rampage 286 full-size expanded memory board.
0SuperPak diskette (version 6.10 or later).
0SuperPak User’s Manual (0003007001).
1.5 System Requirements
The minimum hardware requirements using Rampage 286 is an
AT—compatible computer with at least one floppy drive, an unused
dual—connector expansion slot, and abus speed of 8megahertz
(MHz) or less. (See your computer's user manual for the bus
speed.) Compatible computers include the IBM PC XT
Model 286, PC AT, and other computers with AT»equivalent
expansion buses.
Rampage 286 will also run in aPC XT (or compatible) with the
AST’s Xformer/286TM replacement system board with abus speed
of 10 MHZ (requires Rampage 286 version 02A or later),
Rampage 286 is compatible with DOS 2.0, or later, or 08/2 on
machines that support it.
1-10 Rampage 286 User 3Manual Change Page (January. 1988)

CONFIGURING YOUR
RAMPAGE 286 BOARD 2
This section gives astep~by»step procedure for configuring the
Rampage 286 board. It provides the information you need to
configure your board in most circumstances.
Section 2.1 shows the Rampage 286 default configuration (how
the board is configured at the factory). lithe default configuration
meets your needs. you can skip directly to Section 3.
If you need to change any of the settings, Section 2.2 leads you
step-byestep through each switch and jumper setting.
2.1 Default Configuration
Rampage 286 is shipped from the factory in this configuration:
0Your computer has 512 KB of conventional memory
already installed.
0Rampage 286 uses 128 KB to backfill conventional
memory, The rest of the Rampage 286 memory is used
as expanded.
oMultitasking is enabled.
0The base l/O address is 0218h
lithe default settings are appropriate for your system‘ you can
skip directly to Section 3. with no further configuration. Figure 271
shows the default configuration which is explained in Table 271.
Rampage 286 Users Manual Change Page (January. 1988] 2-1

Configuring Vom Rampage 286 Board
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Rampage 286 Usefs Manual Change Page (Januaty. 1988)
2—2