nigel@minster.UUCP (nigel) (04/23/86)
References: Sender: Reply-To: nigel@minster.UUCP (nigel) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: University of York, England Keywords: I have an pre-production Atari 20 Mb hard drive, and am now starting to encounter problems. The documentation says to be careful not to copy too many files at once (no limit suggested), and to not have more than about 40 subdirectories across all drives. This slightly worried me. When I created my 20th yesterday, I could not run any application, let alone copy files. The former generated the error "couldn't find application", and the latter "not enough memory to run that application". These I reckon are wide of the mark, as GEM is not expecting the underlying operating system to fold up, so guesses. When I tried to copy files using the command interpreter, I got two bombs (bus error), but the interpreter survived to accept another command. When I removed the 20th directory, everything worked again. Conclusion - GEMDOS is broken. According to show info, I have only 1 Meg of the disk used. According to show (using command.tos), I have used about 4Meg, which is more believable. Without subdirectories, I couldn't find my way about more than about 1 Meg anyway. I need subdirectories. I might also mention that this problem has been rumbling away, because about 3 directory creations ago, the ISV assembler stopped working. It either couldn't find the irritating AS68SYMB.DAT, or created as many temporary files as it could before running out of directory entries..... Arrggghhh. Thinks - "this is ludicrous - I wish I had time to write my own operating system, which doesn't pale at the the task of handling directories." First year students who've just learnt about operating systems might also be wondering what's so difficult. My system is a 1 meg upgraded 520st with OS roms, 1 floppy, and one hard drive. Why has this happened at 20 and not 40 subdirectories? Why is 40 a limitation anyway? Is this a known problem? Have I really got to have huge directories? Any suggestions? Please! Nigel Roles Department of Computer Science University of York ..!ukc!minster!nigel
dyer@atari.UUcp (Landon Dyer) (04/24/86)
In article <755@minster.UUCP>, nigel@minster.UUCP (nigel) writes: > I have an pre-production Atari 20 Mb hard drive, and am now starting > to encounter problems. Aha! Please contact Richard Frick or John Feagans, at Atari, or Robert Katz, at Atari in Britain, for a new hard disk driver. You *need* it. Right now. > First year students who've just learnt about operating systems might > also be wondering what's so difficult. Tee hee. Talk to DRI.... :-) > Why has this happened at 20 and not 40 subdirectories? The number is small and arbitrary. 20 is about the limit -- actually, I suggest 16 or so. This covers *all* directories on the hard disk. > Why is 40 a limitation anyway? The DOS that DRI wrote uses a form of static allocation. It permanently allocates structures that describe the disk hierarchy; if you have a lot of directories, GEMDOS runs out of memory -- with potentially disasterous results. > Is this a known problem? Yes. The production 20-Megabyte hard disk driver will alleviate the problem somewhat. Atari is working on a more permanent solution (actually, a couple different ones). > Have I really got to have huge directories? Yup. 16 of them, until you get the new driver. Then it's 40 or 50. > Please! You're welcome. (You think we /like/ this kind of problem?) -- Landon Dyer "If Business is War, then I'm a Prisoner of Business!" Atari Corp. "Gee, 20 mushrooms? That's a record!" ... {hoptoad, lll-crg!vecpyr}!atari!dyer "Quantity is Quality."
bammi@case.CSNET ("Jwahar R. Bammi") (04/25/86)
There is a new version of the hard disk driver (ahdi.prg) that is in the auto folder, which relieves some of these problems. It may be downloaded from CompuServe (ataridev) or your favorite BBS. If you have any problem getting a hold of it, i can mail you a uuencoded version. Jwahar R. Bammi Usenet: .....!decvax!cwruecmp!bammi CSnet: bammi@case Arpa: bammi%case@csnet-relay CompuServe: 71515,155
alexande@drivax.UUCP (04/28/86)
In article <209@atari.UUcp> dyer@atari.UUcp (Landon Dyer) writes: >In article <755@minster.UUCP>, nigel@minster.UUCP (nigel) writes: > >> First year students who've just learnt about operating systems might >> also be wondering what's so difficult. > >Tee hee. Talk to DRI.... :-) > Tee hee. Talk to Jason ("Born To Code") Loveman, the original author of GEMDOS (TOS). The "number of subdirectories" limitation is the result of one of his brilliant ideas on how to make a "better" OS. Jason no longer works at DRI; he started his own company, Awesome [sic] Technology, just before the ax was about to fall on him here. >You're welcome. (You think we /like/ this kind of problem?) You're welcome. (You think WE like this kind of problem too?) -- #include "disclaimer.h" #include "quote.h" -- Mark Alexander {ihnp4,mot,ucscc,ucbvax!hplabs!amdahl} !drivax!alexande -- -- #include "disclaimer.h" #include "quote.h" -- Mark Alexander {ihnp4,mot,ucscc,ucbvax!hplabs!amdahl} !drivax!alexande
rb@ccird1.UUCP (Rex Ballard) (05/08/86)
In article <209@atari.UUcp> dyer@atari.UUcp (Landon Dyer) writes: >In article <755@minster.UUCP>, nigel@minster.UUCP (nigel) writes: > >The number is small and arbitrary. 20 is about the limit -- actually, >I suggest 16 or so. This covers *all* directories on the hard disk. > >> Is this a known problem? > >Yes. The production 20-Megabyte hard disk driver will alleviate the >problem somewhat. Atari is working on a more permanent solution >(actually, a couple different ones). > Any chance of HINTS as to what some of those solutions might be? Any plans for true multi-tasking? Any plans for true hierarichal file systems? Any chance of micro-Unix? Rather than let the imagination wander, I'll let Landon, or some other Atari person give us facts.