What Is Conventional Memory on a PC?
MS-DOS and Windows have an area of memory called "conventional memory." Newer versions of the Windows operating systems no longer need to use this distinction. Conventional Memory is still used on the few computers still running PC- or MS-DOS.
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What is Conventional Memory?
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The term refers to the first 640 KB of memory that used to be the standard amount of memory that came with MS-DOS computers.
Why 640 KB of Memory?
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When Bill Gates programmed MS-DOS, one of its chief competitors was an operating system called CP/M. CP/M's maximum memory allocation was roughly 1/3 of that used by MS-DOS.
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Do Modern Windows Applications Use It?
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Programs that call for conventional memory do so for backward compatibility with older applications. This is especially true for older games that ran under MS-DOS.
High Memory and Extended Memory
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The days when programs needed less than 640 KB of memory only ended shortly after DOS was introduced. HIMEM.SYS and EMS.SYS were programs that allowed computers to use memory above the 640 KB limit.
An Interesting Bill Gates Quote
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Bill Gates, who is now retired, probably wishes people would forget he ever said this, but it is one of the great short-sighted quotes that so frequently dominate the computer industry. In the early '80s, he opined that 640 kilobytes ought to be enough for anybody. It should be pointed out in a spirit of fairness to Gates, that this statement was very true when he made it. No one realized how fast computers would evolve.
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