AST RESEARCH TECHNICAL BULLETIN TB-0178                   5-19-86


            DESQVIEW COMPATIBILITY WITH VEMM SOFTWARE


Compatibility  testing  was  conducted  with  DESQview  and  VEMM 
software.   VEMM  (Virtual Expanded Memory Manager) developed  by 
Fort's  Software,  is a virtual memory software that uses  demand 
paging  similar to that found in IBM mainframe operating systems.  
It  allows  a  user  of a 2Mbyte EMS or  EEMS  board  to  get  an 
additional  6Mbytes of virtual memory.   The following  equipment 
and softwares were used:

     IBM PC/XT with 256Kbytes of memory and 10MB fixed disk
          Model 5160
     SixPakPremium/1000
     PC-DOS 3.10
     REMM 2.70
     VEMM 1.0
     DESQview 1.11
     LOTUS 123 Release 2
     SYMPHONY Release 1.1

VEMM  requires a device driver to be loaded immediately after the 
expanded memory manager device driver.

          Device=VEMM.SYS D=32 M=40

Where  "D" allocated the amount of 16KB demand pages for  virtual 
memory  and  "M" stands for the amount of expanded  memory  pages 
available.   Fort's Software claims that VEMM is compatible  with 
AST  Research's  RAMpage!  board and the RAMpage! Expanded Memory 
Manager.    No   problems  were  encountered  when   using   this 
combination  with LOTUS 123 Release 2 or SYMPHONY 1.1.   However, 
attempts  to enter DESQview causes DESQview to respond  with  the 
following:

     This version of DESQview requires:

     1.   An AST Enhanced Expanded memory board such as RAMpage!, 
          RAMpage! AT or SixPak Premium.

     2.   The line  Device=REMM.SYS  (at minimum) in the correct    
          order in your CONFIG.SYS file.

     Exiting...

The reason this occurs is because DESQview talks directly to  the 
hardware.  Possible solutions are being investigated.