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From: blgardne@esunix.UUCP (Blaine Gardner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Facc mini-review
Message-ID: <326@esunix.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 30-May-87 20:36:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: esunix.326
Posted: Sat May 30 20:36:17 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 2-Jun-87 02:50:13 EDT
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Lines: 42
Keywords: facc cache disk accelerator nice program


			A mini review of Facc.
 
Facc is ASDG's Floppy ACCelerator. It is an intelligent disk cache
program. It comes packaged in a Compact Disk jewel box. There is a small
insert showing the Facc window, but the main documentation is on the
disk. The documentation does a good job of explaining Facc, and disk
caching in general. One thing not mentioned is that one buffer = 544
bytes, useful for setting the number of buffers desired.
 
Facc couldn't be easier to use, simply run it from the Workbench or CLI.
Facc is now active, and opens a window that shows free memory, number of
buffers, reads, writes, hits, and percentage of hits. The number of
buffers is controlled by two gadgets, and the window can be shrunk by
another.
 
Facc comes up with 256 buffers (139,264 bytes) as the default. This is
easily changed from the Facc screen, but I wish there was a command line
argument for setting the number of buffers. As long as memory is
assigned to buffers, it can't be used by anything else (unlike the
maximum size of the RRD). If you run short of RAM, click on the "Fewer"
gadget.
 
One nit-pick. It is stated that "Facc presents a graphic display
detailing cache effectiveness...". Um, no. Facc puts up a display all
right, but it's a text display, not a graphic display.
 
I don't have any benchmarks, but the subjective speed increase is
incredible. After the first read that is, there's no change in speed on
the first time data is read in. I have 2.5 Meg of RAM on my Amiga, and
I've been running with 512 buffers (278K). I don't know how useful Facc
would be on a 512K Amiga, but with plenty of memory, it makes a huge
difference in the way the Amiga feels. 
 
Another important fact is that Facc buffers come out of Fast RAM, not
Chip RAM.
 
Highly recommended!
-- 
Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland
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