twistedpneumatic
Experienced Member
How do I find out how much RAM I have in my IBM PC w/ PC-DOS 3.1?
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Find RAM on IBM PC
- Thread starter twistedpneumatic
- Start date
Stone
10k Member
Put a DOS 5.x or 6.x in and use MEM.
MikeModifed
Veteran Member
chkdsk should give you what you want.
twistedpneumatic
Experienced Member
Can't do that. Don't have 5.25" copy of anything later than 3.3, or a disk drive that could write it.
SpidersWeb
Veteran Member
Use CHKDSK as Mike said.
It reports the total and free memory in the system (as well as checking your file system).
It reports the total and free memory in the system (as well as checking your file system).
JohnElliott
Veteran Member
Code:
A>[B]debug[/B]
-[B]a100[/B]
2E68:0100 [B]int 12[/B]
2E68:0102 [B]int 3[/B]
2E68:0103
-[B]g=100[/B]
AX=0280 BX=0000 CX=0000 DX=0000 SP=FFFE BP=0000 SI=0000 DI=0000
DS=2E68 ES=2E68 SS=2E68 CS=2E68 IP=0102 NV UP EI PL NZ NA PO NCThe value in AX is the size of memory in kilobytes (so AX=0280 means 280h, 640 decimal).
Stone
10k Member
Does CHKDSK v3.1 actually supply memory info?
Caluser2000
Banned
SpidersWeb
Veteran Member
I hadn't thought about that, but every time I haven't had MEM, CHKDSK has been there and given me the answer.
twistedpneumatic
Experienced Member
CHKDSK reports 640KB. No need to upgrade this puppy!
bobba84
Veteran Member
From memory (excuse the pun), PC DOS 1.1 shows the total and free memory!
Too much for pure IBM PC. I hate waiting 50 seconds from power on to boot when 640k is fitted. From my experiences, if you have only two floppies, 256k is enough to run anything on IBM PC. If you have hard drive, 512k is enough.
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Good grief! :shock: The memory test is part of the experience!
ibmapc
Veteran Member
You got that right!! Man, if you can't wait a few extra seconds what the heck are you doing messing around with this vintage stuff anyway?
vwestlife
Veteran Member
Time is money!
Ok seriously for what do you need 640k of RAM on IBM PC with two floppies and no hard drive?
So you can run Windows 2.0 from floppy disk, of course!
(Well, OK, it technically only required 512K of RAM, but close enough -- and it was the last version of Windows you could run from floppy disks.)
krebizfan
Veteran Member
Time is money!
Ok seriously for what do you need 640k of RAM on IBM PC with two floppies and no hard drive?
Seriously, for a RAM disk. A swap heavy program like UCSD Pascal will perform much better if the executable is located in a RAM disk. No RAM disk and every time one changes modes, there will be a delay long enough to get coffee or other consumable.
640kB with just a floppy was a fairly common system in the late 80s as Turbo XTs were transformed into network clients though those might count as having an external hard disk albeit on a longer cable.
Ruud
Veteran Member
Time is money!
Ok seriously for what do you need 640k of RAM on IBM PC with two floppies and no hard drive?
For the same reason someone buys a Ferrari with a zillion HP and is only allowed to drive a limited speed. (Unless you live in Germany)