STraTOS 1997 April & May

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Text File | 1995-07-12 | 17.3 KB | 339 lines

Ralf Biedermann Ortfeld 3 27299 Langwedel Germany (49) 4235-8407 Maus:Ralf Biedermann @ HB uucp:rb@rbsoft.bias.uni-bremen.de Short documentation of TCache It is only allowed to distribute the version TC_TEST.LZH without changes. With version 6.3 I released two versions of TCache. One is the testversion which displays a long text every time you boot your system. In the registred version there will be only a text before you configured the parameters of TCache. It is possible that there will be further restrictions in the next version. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0. General information ! TCache is share-/charityware which means that if you like TCache and use it regulary you have to make a donation for an animalcharity (>=10 german marks or equivalent) if you don't want to make a donation then TCache is shareware (>=30 german marks) . If you send me a proof of your donation you'll receive the latest version of TCache including commented sourcecode of version 6.0 (comments in german sorry). If you write from inside germany include a stamped self addressed envelope. If you write from outside germany include 2 IRC and a self addressed envelope. And of course in both cases a 3.5'' double density disc. Because it is very difficult to send money to a foreign country I am always open for other ideas for example a pack of HD-disc or a CD or some candy but in these cases write me a letter with your idea because when I eat even more candy I can't move anymore and there will be no version 6.4 of TCache ;-{)} --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What is TCache ? TCache is a very fast Harddisk-Cache for the Atari range of computers (ST/STE/TT/Falcon). A cacheprogram stores sectors from disk/harddisk in ram and increases the speed of repeated access quite dramaticly. Speedimprovements up to a factor of 6 is nothing special. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. How to install TCache ? You must copy TCache64.PRG into the autofolder of your bootdrive. Because TCache is deactivated after the first installation you have to make some configurations using the accessory TC_ACC64.ACC. You can rename TC_ACC64.ACC to TC64_ACC.PRG and start it from the desktop or you put TC_ACC64.ACC into the rootdirectory of your bootdrive and perform a reset. Now you have to make the apropriate changes to the configuration of TCache und save it directly in the programcode of TCache64.PRG. The meaning of every option will be explained in the next chapter. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Options of TCache With the programm TC_ACC64.ACC (.PRG!) you can change every option of TCache. In this chapter I will try to explain every possibility in simple words, because I can't explain it in detail in english. - If you click on the top-button you will receive the following informations: 1. Name of the author (me). 2. Bootdevice, the single letter in the top row. 3. over all memory requirement, in the button. - on the right are five radiobuttons. If you press one of the buttons the information in the big area on the left side will get a new contents. - 'Options' will let you change the options for every drive. These options must be set for every drive. More about every single option later in this document. - 'Parameter' shows some global values of TCache, this means that these option are valid for all drives. - 'Statistics' gives statistical informations about the success of cacheing for every drive. - 'Special' hides two interesting features of TCache. One denies access for choosen drives without a password and the second redirects access from one drive to another one. - 'Utilities' hides some global options and more special features. - under the radiobuttons are 16 more radiobuttons labeled with 'A'..'P', with these buttons you can select a drive for wich you want to see the local options ('Options') or the statistics ('Statistics'). If you have selected either 'Parameter' or 'Special' or 'Utilities' these buttons will have no effekt. In the last row of the accessory are three buttons. The 'Abbort'-button means leave the accessory without any changes, 'OK' means apply all changes and leave the accessoy and save means apply all changes, save the changes in the program TCACHE64.PRG (name can be entred with a fileselectorbox) and leave the accessory. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now some explanations of 'Options' 'Options' must be configured for every drive (click on 'A'..'P'). - 'drive supported' means that the drive selected (bottom right) will be cached according to your further configuration. If this button is not selected none of the other option for this drive will be active. - 'write changes only' means that only sectors with a changed contents will be written to disk. - 'delayed write' means that a writeoperation will be delayed for a while. This is a bit dangerous because not every information will be immediatly on disk, if the computer crashes before the information is written it can result in a loss of data. But this option is very usefull because a lot of datahandling will be speeded up quite a bit. The best example is deleting a lot of files with 'delayed write' it will have the speed of most ramdiscs. If you want to change this option for one or more drives you must enter the correct password in a separate menu under 'Utilities'. - 'writeprotected' is a softwareprotection of a writeaccess for the selected drive. If you want to change this option for one or more drives you must enter the correct password in a separate menu under 'Utilities'. - 'calculate checksum' informs TCache to calculate a checksum for every sector. This option is only usefull while testing new programs or during programdevelopment because the speed will go down dramaticly. - 'lock Fat & Root-Dir' means that sectors belonging to either FAT (file allocation table) or the rootdirectory will be locked in cache, they can't be overwritten. If you use only 32..256K for cache this option can speed up things a bit. - 'Mediach() when HIT' means that for every cachehit (sector is found in cache) the program checks if the media was changed in the meantime. This option must be activ for every medium which could be changed, for example floppydiscs. On harddiscs it's faster to leave this option unselected. - On the bottom is a row of radiobuttons labeled '0'..'9'. Theses buttons are used to configure the so called readprefetch. Readprefetch means reading more sectors in one call than GEMDOS wants to. If GEMDOS wants only one sector TCache reads more sectors and stores them in cache, if GEMDOS wants the next sector it is already in ram and the speed will be very high. With these buttons you can select the number of sectors TCache reads instead of only one sector. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now some explanations of 'Parameter' - 'cachesize' is the amount of ram you wants to use for TCache. TCache is very fast even if you try >1MB so don't be afraid to test large amounts of memory. This size is only used for storing sectordata, but for every sector there is an overhead of around 40 bytes so the total memory usage will be higher than entered here. - 'hashtable' needs a value between 8 and 16. This number is responsible for the searchspeed when looking for a new sector. If you choose a number n then the memoryrequirement ist 4*2^n byte which means that 16 needs 256K of memory. The best price/performance value in my opinion is between 10..12. - 'max. prefetch' is the size of the prefetchbuffer. This buffer is used for sectorprefetch and for cache write back. A value between 10..99 is usefull. 32 is a good choice. - 'readblock' contains the largest blocksize for reading which will be held in cache. For example if you enter the value 32 every readaccess with less than 33 sectors will be load into the cacheram if there is enough room. - 'writeblock' contains the largest blocksize for writing which will be held in cache. For example if you enter the value 32 every writeaccess with less than 33 sectors will be load into the cacheram if there is enough room. - 'flushdelay' is the time which will be spent between the last discaccess and cache write back (castoff or flush). This value is multiplied by 5 and the result is a number of VBI (vertical blank interrupts) to wait before starting writing back. For example if you enter the number 20 and you use a monochrome monitor with 70hz the delay will be 20*5/70==1.43sec. - 'usage' shows how full the cache is. If the number is inverted than the cache is full of locked data. The second number shows the percentage of Cache used by locked data, for instance FAT-sectors if you have selected 'lock FAT & RootDir' for at least one drive. - 'LED' let your floppy-led flash for every harddiscaccess. - 'CLR' will flush and clear cachememory. - 'LOCK' all sectors will be locked in cache (see 'lock Fat & Root-Dir') - 'ACTIVE' enables or disables TCache completly. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now some explanations of 'Statistics' 'Statistics' can be seen for every drive (click on 'A'..'P'). - 'read access' number of readaccesses since start of TCache or last 'CLR'. - 'readhits' readhits since start of TCache or last 'CLR'. Number of saved readaccesses. - 'write access' number of writeaccesses since start of TCache or last 'CLR'. - 'writehits' writehits since start of TCache or last 'CLR'. Number of saved writeaccesses. - 'checksum errors' number af checksumerrors since start of TCache. This value is only of interest if 'calculate checksum' is active for one or more drives. - 'access odd address' shows the number of reads/writes to/from odd addresses. This can be of interest for program testing/developing because a normal ST/STE is a lot slower in accessing odd adresses. - 'free memory' shows the amount of free memory on the selected drive. - 'sectorsize' shows the size of one sector for the selected drive. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now some explanations of 'Special' - The top half of this area is used for a security option. 'no access for drive' can protect one or more drives against unwanted accesses from your boss/brother. You must make your configuration AND enter the password. You won't see the password because it's hidden. On delivery the password is set to 'TCRB'. The password must be entered in the menu Utilities-Password. If you want to change this password you must enter the menu Utilities-Password and enter the old password in the top line and the new password twice in the last two lines in this menu. - The bottom half allows you to redirect the access from one drive to another drive. With the arrows you can select the drive you would like to be redirected. With the radiobuttons beneath you can select the drive to which the accesses will be redirected. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now some explanations of 'Utilities' - 'ramdisc' shows another menue which allows you to install a ramdisk. Just select the drive and the amount of ram and press 'install'. If there is already a ramdisk installed press 'remove' to remove this one. The ramdisc is very fast but not resetresident. If you have started the konfigurationprogram (TC64_ACC) as an application and you are using MinT or Mag!X than it is impossible to install or remove the ramdisc. - 'ACC-folder' shows another menue from which you can select a folder from which the ACC's will be loaded after the next reset. Of course you must save the configuration for the desired result. To select the path simply click on the pathname and a fileselectorbox will apear. The button 'load from folder' must be selected as well. - 'steprate' allows you to switch the steprate for drive 'A' or 'B'. Simply select the desired steprate for drive 'A' (top row) and 'B' (second row) and select 'apply steprate'. If you save the TCache-configuration the steprates will be set on boot. - 'virtual' shows a menue which lets you install logical drives, these are drives which aren't physicly attached to your computer. Together with 'Special' 'driveredirection' you can create almost every harddisc configuration. This option is especially usefull if you want to install a programm which is configured for drives which are absent on your computer. - 'information' shows another menu with further global informations. These informations are: 'read absolut' Rwabs()-readmode >= 8, 'write absolut' Rwbas()-writemode >= 8, 'write-error' number of problems during delayed write, 'single sector' number of singlesectoraccesses, 'multiple sector' number of multisectoraccesses, 'total access' total number of accesses, 'Fat & Rootaccess' number of accesses for the FAT or the rootrirectory and last but not least 'total saved' number of saved accesses. - Turbo ;-{)} disables the statistical functions and some safetyroutines for every drive but 'A' and 'B'. This switch will speed up TCache a little but the option should only be used if there are no changeble devices but drive 'A' and 'B' in your system. This options should only be used if you are shure that your media and programeviroment is perfectly ok. - 'del delayed' is a switch which is responsible for the behaviour of handling delayed sectors. If this switch is active every delayed sector is deleted from a linked list. This switch is only usefull if cachesize is >1MB and 'delayed write' is activated. - 'LRU' is a switch for another way to handle the cache. LRU means 'last recently used'. This option has this name because when activated (selected) space for a new sector is taken from that sector which is not accessed for the longest time, otherwise space is taken from a round-robin behaviour. This option is most usefull with small cache (<=128K) and without 'lock Fat & RootDir'. - 'bootsector' is a switch to allow write-access to the bootsector. If this Button is enabled every attempt to write to the bootsector is answered with an errormessage. - 'Flush all' means that all delayed data ist writen in one go. If this button isn't selected between blocks will be a little break. - 'sectortest' means that TCache validates the sectornumbers. If someone tries to access a sectornumber outside of the partition an error 'sector not found' (-8) will be returned. - 'absolut' allows or denies accesses to a drive in an absolut manor which means access to a drive without using partitioninformation. If you want to partition your HD absolut must be allowed. - 'testing' shows if the ACC should test TCache every five seconds or not. - 'PUN-INFO' is a flag which tells TCache to use the so called PUN-INFO structure to get informations about the largest sectorsize. If is not selected TCache makes a Getbpb() for every supported drive on startup. - 'NOX !' is a very special thing. If you have a cookie called 'NOX!' and the value of this cookie is a pointer to a subroutine then on start and end of a Rwabs()-call this routine will be called. - 'Drvbit-Check' checks the systemvariable '_drvbits' and denies every access to a drive which isn't in '_drvbits' (anymore). It's main interest is in program testing/developing. - 'XBra-Check' is an option for TCache. TCache checks its programcode everytime you leave a program. TCache uses the XBRA-standard and if anyone changes something in the programmcode TCache deinstalls itself. With this switch you can select whether TCache should allow manipulations in his XBRA-structure or not. - 'etv_term' means that every time you leave a program the cache will be flushed. Only of interest if 'delayed write' is activ for one or more drives. - 'WriteReset' if selected TCache tries to flush the cache even if someone has pressed 'CTRL+ALT+DEL' (warmreset). Only of interest if 'delayed write' is active for one or more drives. - 'Gemdos' if selected even the directories of folders are locked in cache. Attention this option needs a lot of ram, even on small harddiscs I recommend >512K. - 'Clock' reads a special version of a realtimeclock on normal ST's during booting.