[comp.sys.apple] buffer buffer who has the buffer?

TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL (08/04/89)

NOticed something interesting when running kermit under prodos 8.1 under
Sys disk 5.0 (whatever version of GS/OS that is) -- previously when
downloading the disk would be accesed about every other packet; it now
seemed to be accessed once or twice at the beginning, one in the middle
and again at the end.  (this was a 33kbyte file).  I assume SOMEBODY is
buffering up quite a bit -- is that teh new prodos 8 or something in
GS/OS itself?

TMPLee@dockmaster.ncsc.mil

dlyons@Apple.COM (David Lyons) (08/08/89)

In article <890804163352.555892@DOCKMASTER.ARPA> TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL writes:
>NOticed something interesting when running kermit under prodos 8.1 under
                                                         ProDOS 8 1.8
>Sys disk 5.0 (whatever version of GS/OS that is) -- previously when
                                                ^-- GS/OS 3.0
>downloading the disk would be accesed about every other packet; it now
>seemed to be accessed once or twice at the beginning, one in the middle
>and again at the end.  (this was a 33kbyte file).  I assume SOMEBODY is
>buffering up quite a bit -- is that teh new prodos 8 or something in
>GS/OS itself?

I can't explain the behavior you're getting, but GS/OS is not active while
you're running ProDOS 8, so that's out.  And ProDOS 8 has not been changed
to do large quantities of buffering, either.

Did you change Kermit versions or anything?

 --Dave Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc.          |   DAL Systems
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   My opinions are my own, not Apple's.

TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL (08/09/89)

I wonder what I've discovered?  To answer the specific questions, I am
not using any new version of kermit (its 3.85, unmodified.).  The hard
drive is an Everex 40D, using Apple SCSI card.

I have receive packet length set to 250 bytes.  I just downloaded a 32k
file and watched the hard drive's light very closely.  It flickered at
the start, after a couple of packets, then only after 21, 36, and 33 .
(my counts could be off one or two since I might have missed one or two
while I was writing them down.)  So that means some piece of software
has something like a 9,000 byte buffer.  Who?

Oh yes, I also have a Transwarp GS, but I can't think that would be
buffering anything going to the SCSI port.

I suppose I could revert back to system disk 4.0 and see if memory of
how it used to work is playing tricks on me, but I don't really want to
do that!  (I dont' think I ever bothered to configure a bootable system
disk that had the SCSI driver on it.)

TMPLee@dockmaster.arpa

TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL (08/09/89)

To quote Emily, "Never mind." I dug out some old old old copies of
ProDos8 (1.4) and Basic.System (1.1) and put just those and kermit on a
disk and tried it.  I didn't count all the intervals, but the one I did
kermit took in 58 250-byte packets before writing to the hard drive.
Sooooooooo, it has nothing to do with Sys Disk 5.0.  (I also turned the
Transwarp speed to "normal")

TMPLee@Dockmaster.NCSC.MIL

p.s.  -- of course, my original question still stands, but in a
different context.  Who's doing the buffering?