Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS smartdrv, CDROM and DVD drivers
Thanks Eric, for all the help. Sorry I haven't answered before. Right now, I am using the original config files from the installation. It means I am using: xcdrom.sys, lbacache and cdrcache. I'll change these 3 options for UIDE. Let me read a little about UIDE before I ask about its best options. I have to heavily edit my fdconfig.sys because I also want to use JemmEx instead of FreeDOS' Himem.sys and Emm386.exe *Santiago* On Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 8:27 PM, Eric Auer e.a...@jpberlin.de wrote: Hi all, below I copy a message from Jack, the author of UIDEJR, with more details and some corrections to my previous mail here. I think 3280 bytes is still very small for an universal SATA and IDE/ATAPI CD/DVD/BD driver. And you can even put part of the driver in the HMA if your UMBs are already too full :-) Details about my caches: The maximum lbacache and cdrcache sizes are a bit less than 32 MB or 64 MB, respectively. As lbacache, cdrcache, uide and uidejr all cache data in XMS, you have to load himemx, jemmex, xmgr, himem or similar. For cdrcache, you need 1 kB of DOS RAM for each 2 MB cache plus 5.5 kB for the base module while lbacache needs 2 kB of DOS RAM for each 1 MB cache plus a bit more than 5 kB for the base module. ...cache size is rounded to N*128 kB but less than the default 2 MB will not be very helpful in the lbacache case. For cdrcache, even 128 kB is already a lot more than 1 sector cached by SHSUCDX, of course ;-) As Jack already mentions, UIDE makes more use of XMS, so it uses less DOS RAM than my caches but might be a bit slower. On the other hand, UIDE allows you to make very big caches. Regards, Eric To correct Eric's sizes for UIDEJR, they are -- * 3280 bytes for the full disk/CD/DVD UIDEJR, or 768 bytes in upper-memory and 2512 bytes in the HMA when its /H switch is given. * 3280 bytes (or 768/2512 bytes with /H) for the CD/DVD only UIDEJR. As its disk logic is in the middle of the driver, and may not be cut off during loading, the CD/DVD only driver is same size as the full UIDEJR. * 1600 bytes for the hard-disk only UIDEJR, or 768 bytes in upper-memory and 832 bytes in the HMA if its /H switch is given. In this case, the CD/DVD logic gets cut off during loading, making the driver smaller. Otherwise, all of Eric's comments are correct. UIDEJR is intended to be a device-driver only for hard-disks and CD/DVD drives.It has all of the full UIDE's features except caching (so it does not address diskettes at all), and thus it uses less memory than loading UIDE with a /B switch. UIDEJR usually sets an XMS buffer, which handles I-O when a user's buffer is misaligned for UltraDMA. This gives disks/CDs/DVDs full-speed I-O, without calling the BIOS for disks or using PIO mode for CD/DVD drives. UIDEJR has been upgraded in step with UIDE and thus has no known bugs nor any unresolved issues. Users who prefer LBAcache for disks and/or CDRcache for CDs/DVDs can load UIDEJR as their device-driver, and it will perform well.Systems using protected-mode (JEMM386/JEMMEX) and needing only a smaller cache may find LBAcache/CDRcache to be slightly faster than UIDE. UIDE must issue more XMS moves, which are always a bit slower when protected-mode is active. For big caches of about 256-MB or more, UIDE should be used in all cases. Note that without caching, UIDEJR loses some hard-disk speed and a LOT of CD/DVD speed. SHSUCDX/SHCDX33E, the CD Redirector programs, will only cache the last directory sector plus the last 10 file entries for every CD/DVD drive. Using CDRcache or the full UIDE, much more is cached, and the user's system achieves much higher CD/DVD throughput speed. Thus, the preferred disk/CD/DVD driver choices are -- * UIDE by itself, or * UIDEJR plus LBAcache and/or CDRcache. Users should not load both UIDE and LBAcache/CDRcache, as this is double caching and is unneeded. One or the other choice above should be used. Also, it is true that all older UDMA/XDMA/XCDROM/GCDROM/XGCDROM drivers are obsolete, cannot detect the full range of devices on the PCI bus, and the xxCDROM drivers still contain many CD/DVD audio and other bugs [all are clones of XCDROM, which had no upgrades after early 2006!].More ancient drivers such as VIDE-CDD.SYS and OAKCDROM.SYS, with no UltraDMA nor PCI device-detection logic, are also obsolete and should not be used. Users should load only UIDE or UIDEJR as their driver for disks/CDs/DVDs. -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list
Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS smartdrv, CDROM and DVD drivers
Hi Santiago, list, to follow-up myself on caches and CDROM: Of course it does not help to have two caches in parallel, so if you use lbacache or cdrcache, you should switch off the caching functionality in UIDE. The XCDROM / GCDROM family of CD / DVD / BD drivers is too outdated to be recommended any more, so I am happy to find out that UIDEJR, a reduced variant of UIDE, can be loaded either in harddisk-only mode or in CD/DVD/BD-only mode for less than 2 kilobytes each! And it has regular updates :-) So a special reminder to distro experts like Bernd Blaauw: Please have a look at UIDEJR as an universal CD/DVD driver! Of course you still add SHSUCDX after UIDEJR to let DOS understand the CD/DVD/BD ISO9660 filesystem and let you access the files on CD/DVD/BD using a DOS drive letter. Eric PS: Maybe somebody else could write a few words about state, speed, quality and stability of the two DOS USB drivers by http://bretjohnson.us/ and www.dosusb.net/ as more details would be quite interesting for me :-) -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] FreeDOS smartdrv, CDROM and DVD drivers
Hi all, below I copy a message from Jack, the author of UIDEJR, with more details and some corrections to my previous mail here. I think 3280 bytes is still very small for an universal SATA and IDE/ATAPI CD/DVD/BD driver. And you can even put part of the driver in the HMA if your UMBs are already too full :-) Details about my caches: The maximum lbacache and cdrcache sizes are a bit less than 32 MB or 64 MB, respectively. As lbacache, cdrcache, uide and uidejr all cache data in XMS, you have to load himemx, jemmex, xmgr, himem or similar. For cdrcache, you need 1 kB of DOS RAM for each 2 MB cache plus 5.5 kB for the base module while lbacache needs 2 kB of DOS RAM for each 1 MB cache plus a bit more than 5 kB for the base module. ...cache size is rounded to N*128 kB but less than the default 2 MB will not be very helpful in the lbacache case. For cdrcache, even 128 kB is already a lot more than 1 sector cached by SHSUCDX, of course ;-) As Jack already mentions, UIDE makes more use of XMS, so it uses less DOS RAM than my caches but might be a bit slower. On the other hand, UIDE allows you to make very big caches. Regards, Eric To correct Eric's sizes for UIDEJR, they are -- * 3280 bytes for the full disk/CD/DVD UIDEJR, or 768 bytes in upper-memory and 2512 bytes in the HMA when its /H switch is given. * 3280 bytes (or 768/2512 bytes with /H) for the CD/DVD only UIDEJR. As its disk logic is in the middle of the driver, and may not be cut off during loading, the CD/DVD only driver is same size as the full UIDEJR. * 1600 bytes for the hard-disk only UIDEJR, or 768 bytes in upper-memory and 832 bytes in the HMA if its /H switch is given. In this case, the CD/DVD logic gets cut off during loading, making the driver smaller. Otherwise, all of Eric's comments are correct. UIDEJR is intended to be a device-driver only for hard-disks and CD/DVD drives.It has all of the full UIDE's features except caching (so it does not address diskettes at all), and thus it uses less memory than loading UIDE with a /B switch. UIDEJR usually sets an XMS buffer, which handles I-O when a user's buffer is misaligned for UltraDMA. This gives disks/CDs/DVDs full-speed I-O, without calling the BIOS for disks or using PIO mode for CD/DVD drives. UIDEJR has been upgraded in step with UIDE and thus has no known bugs nor any unresolved issues. Users who prefer LBAcache for disks and/or CDRcache for CDs/DVDs can load UIDEJR as their device-driver, and it will perform well.Systems using protected-mode (JEMM386/JEMMEX) and needing only a smaller cache may find LBAcache/CDRcache to be slightly faster than UIDE. UIDE must issue more XMS moves, which are always a bit slower when protected-mode is active. For big caches of about 256-MB or more, UIDE should be used in all cases. Note that without caching, UIDEJR loses some hard-disk speed and a LOT of CD/DVD speed. SHSUCDX/SHCDX33E, the CD Redirector programs, will only cache the last directory sector plus the last 10 file entries for every CD/DVD drive. Using CDRcache or the full UIDE, much more is cached, and the user's system achieves much higher CD/DVD throughput speed. Thus, the preferred disk/CD/DVD driver choices are -- * UIDE by itself, or * UIDEJR plus LBAcache and/or CDRcache. Users should not load both UIDE and LBAcache/CDRcache, as this is double caching and is unneeded. One or the other choice above should be used. Also, it is true that all older UDMA/XDMA/XCDROM/GCDROM/XGCDROM drivers are obsolete, cannot detect the full range of devices on the PCI bus, and the xxCDROM drivers still contain many CD/DVD audio and other bugs [all are clones of XCDROM, which had no upgrades after early 2006!].More ancient drivers such as VIDE-CDD.SYS and OAKCDROM.SYS, with no UltraDMA nor PCI device-detection logic, are also obsolete and should not be used. Users should load only UIDE or UIDEJR as their driver for disks/CDs/DVDs. -- Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
