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Testing.

The program has largely been tested as it was developed, with bugs being fixed as they came up. Usually, each time I got the program working properly or added a new function, I discovered more bugs which needed to be fixed, or at least I had new ideas about what I could make it do next.

The following is a demonstration of DEVLOAD being used to load an expanded memory driver. The memory map function, MEM.EXE, is called both before and after loading EMM.SYS to confirm the addition of the expanded memory function. DEVICES.COM is called last to show the position of EMM.SYS in the device chain.

C:\ >mem


    655360 bytes total conventional memory
    655360 bytes available to IBM DOS
    495072 largest executable program size

C:\ >devload /v emm.sys
DEVLOAD.EXE v3.0  (C) 1992, 1993 David Woodhouse.
 Loads device drivers from the command line.

Filename     : C:\MSDOS\EMM.SYS
Load address : 2718:0000


Expanded Memory Manager  Version 4.0S
Size =  384 KB, Page Frame = D000
Port(s) = 0208 0258 

Init function return status : 0100
1 character device installed.
Size of driver (paragraphs) : 021A
Interrupt vectors changed   : 67h.
Driver staying resident.

C:\ >mem


    655360 bytes total conventional memory
    655360 bytes available to IBM DOS
    486448 largest executable program size

    393216 bytes total EMS memory
    393216 bytes free EMS memory

C:\ >devices

DEVICES.COM v2.2 (C) 1991, 1992 David Woodhouse.
 Lists drivers in DOS device chain.

Table invar located at 011C:0026

Device    Attr. Str.  Int.   Address      .SYS file
NUL       8004  0DC6  0DCC  011C:0048  
EMMXXXX0  8000  0016  0023  2718:0000  EMM
Block:03  0002  0039  004F  1C10:0000  NETUNITS
Block:02  4842  0126  0131  0B61:0000  STACKER 
CON       8013  06F5  0700  0070:0023  
AUX       8000  06F5  0721  0070:0035  
PRN       A0C0  06F5  0705  0070:0047  
CLOCK$    8008  06F5  0739  0070:0059  
Block:04  08C2  06F5  073E  0070:006B  
COM1      8000  06F5  0721  0070:007B  
LPT1      A0C0  06F5  070C  0070:008D  
LPT2      A0C0  06F5  0713  0070:009F  
LPT3      A0C0  06F5  071A  0070:00B8  
COM2      8000  06F5  0727  0070:00CA  
COM3      8000  06F5  072D  0070:00DC  
COM4      8000  06F5  0733  0070:00EE  
  
C:\ >

I have no character device drivers that could easily be demonstrated. I have tested ANSI.SYS and found it to work when loaded by DEVLOAD, but cannot easily show screen dumps of this. The next example is of DEVLOAD being used to load the SuperStor compression software which I use to compress my hard drive. The VOL command is used to show the absence and later the presence of the specified drive. Whenever I install either SuperStor or Stacker on any system, I always keep a copy of DEVLOAD in the uncompressed part of the drive, for loading the compression device driver after booting from a floppy disc.

C:\ >vol d:
Invalid drive specification

C:\ >devload /v sstordrv.sys
DEVLOAD.EXE v3.0  (C) 1992, 1993 David Woodhouse.
 Loads device drivers from the command line.

Filename     : C:\SSTORDRV.SYS
Load address : 171B:0000

SuperStor Data Compression Driver (DRI) 1.06
Copyright (C) AddStor Inc. 1991. All rights reserved.

Block header for drive D: at 21EA:0000
Init function return status : 0100

Last drive in use : D:
Last drive avail. : Z:
1 block installed.
Size of driver (paragraphs) : 0AD2
Interrupt vectors changed   : 21h, 26h.
Driver staying resident.

C:\ >vol d:

 Volume in drive D is SuperStor  

C:\ >

The last example presented here is DEVLOAD attempting to load a block device driver when the LASTDRIVE array is already full. This demonstrates how it asks whether to terminate installation.

C:\ >devload /v driver.sys /d:2
DEVLOAD.EXE v3.0  (C) 1992, 1993 David Woodhouse.
 Loads device drivers from the command line.

Filename     : C:\MSDOS\DRIVER.SYS
Load address : 2E32:0000

Loaded External Disk Driver for Drive K

Init function return status : 0103
1 block(s) not installed - LASTDRIVE= parameter in CONFIG.SYS too small.

No blocks or INTs installed - terminate (Y/N) ? y
Size of driver (paragraphs) : 0000

C:\ >

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Devload Project Writeup - David Woodhouse (Dave@infradead.org)