Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!pyramid!hplabs!well!ewhac
From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: simple AmigaDos thrashing solution
Message-ID: <5282@well.UUCP>
Date: 22 Feb 88 21:49:45 GMT
References: <8504@sunybcs.UUCP> <1177@goanna.oz> <107@boing.UUCP>
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Organization: "Hip! Hip! Hooray!  We're orphans!"
Lines: 30
Summary: God Makes a Small Error

In article <107@boing.UUCP> dale@boing.UUCP (Dale Luck) writes:
>The trackdisk driver as originally written did have more than 1 track
>buffer. We had to limit it to 1 though to keep all those 265k
>systems working.  Maybe it is time to rethink this strategy and let it
>loose again.  [ ... ]

	O most exhalted and omnipotent one, methinks thine performance-
increasing strategies are misplaced.

	Personally, I'm a believer in functional seperation.  IMHO, the
trackdisk.device should not be trying to second-guess the guy making
requests of it.  Its sole responsibility should be to get them bits off the
media and into memory.  It should also know how to move the head around so
it can find them bits.

	If anyone should be responsible for caching disk data, it is the
client to the trackdisk.device (in this case, the filesystem).  Only the
client program "knows" what its behavior is going to be like, and only it
can make intelligent decisions regarding caching.  The client can also copy
its caches out to FAST RAM if it exists.

	The blame for poor filesystem performance rests squarely on the
filesystem.  The trackdisk.device shouldn't be mucked around with simply
because Tim King was a <insert your favorite insult here>.  Besides, you may
be shooting yourself in the foot if and when a new filesystem comes along.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	ihnp4!ptsfa -\
 \_ -_		Recumbent Bikes:	      dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	      The Only Way To Fly.	      hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor