Thanks Bernie !!! You're a Champion!!! :-)
Michael, this "FIFO trigger level setting" is required because on some
machines (particularly using VESA video it seems), communications
is totally crap, if there is a fast response from the ISP. The problem
is corrupt/dropped packets, causing a 25-35K html page to take
about 8 minutes (!) to load, instead of just a few seconds. I assume
the problem is that interrupts are disabled somewhere for too long
and the FIFO overflows, because with existing FIFO trigger level,
only *half* the FIFO is effectively used to buffer RX data (the other
half is effectively being used to reduce the RX interrupt frequency,
thereby, theoretically, reducing CPU overhead a bit).
You have yourself reported that on some machines, even Pentium
class, Arachne is *very* slow. That is why you recommend not to
use VESA video. However, I believe the *actual* problem is the FIFO
overflow problem described above.
Therefore, two FIFO trigger level settings are required :
1. Theoretically optimum setting (FIFO trigger level = 8). [Existing]
2. Most reliable setting (FIFO trigger level = 1). [New]
Bernie - if you are having trouble connecting, perhaps you could
try FIFO setting #2 to see if this works better for you?
Best regards,
Joe.
PS. On the memory issue, an extra 10k requirement is still OK for
me, although it is starting to be "difficult" for some people, I'm sure.
I wonder if at this point, 32-bit should be a *requirement* for using
Arachne? After all, it's very difficult to get a lot of memory without
using EMM386, anyway ... right?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Polak [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Friday, 20 October 2000 4:16
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: one urgent issue - epppd 0.7 or higher ?
>
> On Thu, 19 Oct 2000, Bernie wrote:
>
> > Michael wrote:
> > > I am extremely interested in saving some DOS memory, because it looks
> like
> > > Arachne will require more memory once again, if it should support all
> new
> > > required features....
> >
> > Well since EPPPD seems buggy as it is (the version I haven't touched
> > failed to connect twice in a row yesterday) there might not be anything
> > wrong with my version ;-)
> > I'll test my version again in the evening. If it works this time (it has
> > worked sometimes) I think it's good if we could test it on more
> machines.
> > Michael, we need a variable to write to pppdrc.cfg - I can't remember
> what
> > it should be called in pppdrc.cfg but it would be good if we would add
> it
> > ASAP. This is required so the user can change the FIFO trigger level
> (new
> > in my version of EPPPD).
>
> I don't understand what is "FIFO trigger level", but I am sure that many
> people will get confused and will be asking me how to set this value ;-)
> But adding it to ARachne-generated pppdrc should be little problem
> anyway...
>
> --
> http://arachne.cz/
> (Arachne WWW browser for DOS+Linux / Webhosting / MP3streaming)
