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       Micro Channel Above Board Operating System Compatibility           
                                                                          
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 OPERATING SYSTEMS OVERVIEW

     The Above Board MC, Above Board MC32 and Above Board 2 are compatible
     with DOS, OS/2 (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 & 2.0), and Xenix. The Above Board 2
     Plus is compatible with DOS and OS/2 (1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, & 2.0).

     Installing an Above Board 2 Plus with OS/2 1.2 HPFS system requires the
     latest Intel software available from Intel Customer Support.  3COM's
     Server Modified OS/2 version 1.1 requires the same new software.

     Intel has not tested Xenix with the Above Board 2 Plus, and field
     reports are mixed (reports of both compatibility and incompatibility).

 NOVELL

     Novell will not allow the use of an initializing ADF on a dedicated
     file server.  An Above Board MC32 installed using the Option Diskette
     with Software Part Number 302477.001A uses an ADP, not an iADF, so it
     works fine. An Above Board MC with its normal installation will also
     work fine.

     For the Above Board 2 Plus to work with Novell, you must boot using
     either of the following methods:

        Boot up from the OS/2 Boot Diskette provided by Intel.  When
         prompted, remove the OS/2 Boot disk & press a key to boot from your
         usual boot disk.  The OS/2 Boot Diskette does not contain OS/2; it
         simply initializes the Above Board 2 Plus.

        Boot up from a DOS boot diskette you create as follows:
         -   For Above Board 2 Plus use:
               Format a diskette for DOS using the /S switch
               Copy the file EMM.SYS from the Above Board 2 Plus Option
                diskette to the formatted diskette.
               Create a CONFIG.SYS file on that diskette containing the
                command DEVICE=EMM.SYS

     If you have the early Above Board MC32 software, you can use the
     following method to install the Above Board MC32, or you can get the
     latest Above Board MC32 software from Intel.
         -   For early Above Board MC32 software:
               Format a diskette for DOS using the /S switch
               Copy the file ABMC32.SYS from the BACKUP subdirectory of the
                Above Board MC32 Option diskette to formatted diskette.
               Create a CONFIG.SYS file on that diskette containing the
                command    DEVICE=ABMC32.SYS

         -   Create an AUTOEXEC.BAT file which contains the commands
             required to start up the Novell programs.

 3COMM SERVER MODIFIED OS/2 VERSION 1.1 AND ABOVE BOARD 2 PLUS

     With this version of OS/2, SoftSet locks up when run from the
     compatibility box, displaying "invalid destination drive" error.  This
     error occurs because this operating system doesn't allow INT 13 reads
     or writes to the hard disk.

     If you have this problem, contact the Intel Customer Support BBS for
     the latest Above Board Micro Channel software.

 OS/2 V1.2 HPFS & ABOVE BOARD 2 PLUS

     The OS/2 Version 1.2 High Performance File System (HPFS) requires the
     latest version of Intel software to install the Above Board 2 Plus.
     DOS won't recognize a hard disk formatted for HPFS as a valid
     destination drive.  If your hard disk is formatted with HPFS and you
     are having problems installing your Above Board 2 Plus, contact the
     Intel Customer Support BBS for the latest software.

 OS/2 BOOTS WITHOUT THE DOS COMPATIBILITY BOX

     This usually occurs because of the statement PROTECTONLY=YES in the
     CONFIG.SYS file.  Edit the statement to read PROTECTONLY=NO, and then
     restart the system.

 OS/2 BOOTS WITH ONLY DOS COMPATIBILITY BOX

     This occurs when there is a shortage of extended memory in the
     computer.  OS/2 version 1.2 requires at least 1.5M bytes of extended
     memory (in addition to the 640K bytes of conventional memory).

 OS/2 2.0

     Customer Reports of compatibility with the Above Board 2 Plus and MC.
     We have not tested or heard of any compatibility issues with the Above
     Board 2 or the Above Board MC32 but do not forsee any difficulties.

     OS/2 Installation Note: When booting from the OS/2 2.0 Installation
     Diskette in a system where an Above Board 2 Plus Initializing Adapter
     Descriptor File (IADF) has already been installed, the Installation
     Diskette will first run any IADFs on the hard disk before attempting to
     install OS/2 2.0. In other words, the Above Board 2 Plus will be
     initialized and provide the memory the OS/2 installation requires
     without having to do anything extra.

     Tech Note: Although the Above Board 2, 2 Plus, and MC could provide
     expanded memory in the DOS Compatibility Box of earlier versions of
     OS/2, and even though technically it could be done under 2.0, IT IS NOT
     RECOMMENDED.  OS/2 2.0 has a more elegant solution, and that is to use
     the EMM functions built into OS/2 2.0 DOS sessions.

 IBM TOKEN RING 16/4 AND OS/2

     The first version of the Above Board 2 Plus installation software will
     not work.  Following versions will work using the steps below.  Use the
     Above Board 2 Plus Option diskette with Software Part Number 3001290-
     004A or later and do the following:

     1.  Uninstall the token ring card
     2.  Install the Above Board and OS/2 as per the manual
     3.  Boot to DOS, run SOFTSET, and set the Reserved Memory Address to
         D000.
     4.  Install the Token Ring card as per FaxBack document 1522.

 DOS 2.X

     All Microchannel Above Boards are incompatible with DOS versions 2.x.

 DOS 3.X

     All Microchannel Above Boards are compatible with DOS versions 3.x.

 IBM DOS 4.0

     IBM didn't follow the EMS specification when designing PC-DOS 4.0 and
     4.01, so when trying to use expanded memory, it didn't work correctly.
     IBM did release a patch to remedy this.  Microsoft's MS-DOS 4.1 does
     use EMS memory correctly.

 DOS 5.0

     Micro Channel Above Boards are compatible with DOS 5.0.

     For the Above Board 2, 2 Plus and MC:
         As always, place EMM.SYS before HIMEM.SYS.  Use the latest software
         version available from Intel Customer Support.  With an earlier
         release of Intel software (EMM.SYS ver 4.0 rev C), you may receive
         a message from EMM saying extended memory is already in use.  The
         NE parameter on the Device=EMM.SYS line in the config.sys file
         should get rid of that error, but you should upgrade to the latest
         Intel software.

         The "DOS=HIGH" command is compatible with Intel's EMM.SYS "MC"
         parameter.  DOS doesn't load into the HMA until HIMEM loads, HIMEM
         loads after EMM loads, so EMM has turned off the motherboard memory
         before DOS loads high, so it works.

     For the Above Board MC32:
         Use DOS 5.0's combination of HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE in place of
         ILIM386.SYS.



End of file                 Intel FaxBack # 1550          August 27,1992
