bamford@cbnewsd.att.com (harold.e.bamford) (08/15/90)
Greetings gurus of the net! I have a 6386 running SimulTask 2.0 and a large problem. Specifically, the D: DOS volume is getting too large. I have deleted files such that the total size of the files (according to chkdsk) is about 9 megabytes. But the D: file (in the unix dosapps directory) is still 15 megabytes. How can I shrink the D: file to a more appropriate size? I tried exiting DOS and then re-invoking it. No good. I tried rebooting Unix and then entering DOS. No good. I have been unable to find anything in TFM, which is not to say it isn't there; I just couldn't find it. When the hotline for SimulTask questions was called, they wanted $150 to talk to me with no assurance that a satisfactory answer would be forthcoming. That's absurd! Any ideas? -- Harold Bamford ihlpf!bamford
tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) (08/15/90)
In article <1990Aug14.181508.10655@cbnewsd.att.com> bamford@cbnewsd.att.com (harold.e.bamford) writes: >Specifically, the D: DOS volume is getting too large. I have >deleted files such that the total size of the files (according to >chkdsk) is about 9 megabytes. But the D: file (in the unix dosapps >directory) is still 15 megabytes. How can I shrink the D: file to >a more appropriate size? The manual does mention (on page 3-13) that pseudo-volume fixed disk files don't shrink. It doesn't give a workaround, though. For this we will have to appeal to that rarest of resources, Common Sense(tm). 1. Create a new pseudo-volume by copying 'cdisk' to something like 'NEWD:'. 2. Edit your 'vpix.cnf' to point C: to your new D pseudo-volume, and D: to your old one. 3. Boot Simul-Task with this configuration -- if your old D: was not bootable, you may need to boot from floppy with 'dos -b'. 4. Use XCOPY to copy all the files from D: to C:. 5. Quit DOS and rename NEWD: to D:, deleting the old one. 6. Re-edit your 'vpix.cnf' to restore the settings for C: and D:. This will do the trick. I recommend you don't use pseudo-volumes for applications involving a lot of file creation and deletion, because it's a pain to garbage collect the wasted space. Use the UNIX file system if possible, or if the software balks use a physical DOS partition instead. -- "Nature loves a vacuum. Digital \O@/ Tom Neff doesn't." -- DEC sales letter /@O\ tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM
tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) (08/16/90)
In article <1990Aug16.153309.28653@cbnewsd.att.com> bamford@cbnewsd.att.com (harold.e.bamford) writes: >In article <15749@bfmny0.BFM.COM> tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) writes: >>[procedure for garbage collecting a pseudo-volume fixed disk (PVFD) file] > >A wonderful procedure. Doesn't work if you don't have enough space >in /usr however. I suspect that copying D: (via unconditional >backup??) to floppy is the way to go... There is nothing special about the /usr file system as far as VP/ix (aka Simul-Task) is concerned. If there is enough free space on /usr2 or any other mounted file system, the new D: file can be placed there, and mv'd back to the original location after compacting. If there is insufficient free space anywhere on any UNIX filesystem, then indeed the procedure can be done by running BACKUP from the old D: to a stack of floppies, then rm'ing the old D:, creating a new one by cp'ing 'cdisk', and RESTORE'ing from the floppies to the new D: pseudo-volume. Only be careful to verify the floppies before rm'ing the old PVFD file! In general I recommend against letting a PVFD file get bigger than the amount of free space on its file system. Use the UNIX file system instead if you can get away with it, or a real DOS partition if sector level stuff is involved. -- Psychoanalysis is the mental illness \\\ Tom Neff it purports to cure. -- Karl Kraus \\\ tneff@bfmn0.BFM.COM
bamford@cbnewsd.att.com (harold.e.bamford) (08/16/90)
In article <15749@bfmny0.BFM.COM> tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) writes: >The manual does mention (on page 3-13) that pseudo-volume fixed disk >files don't shrink. It doesn't give a workaround, though. For this we >will have to appeal to that rarest of resources, Common Sense(tm). > > 1. Create a new pseudo-volume by copying 'cdisk' to something like 'NEWD:'. > > 2. Edit your 'vpix.cnf' to point C: to your new D pseudo-volume, and D: to >your old one. > > 3. Boot Simul-Task with this configuration -- if your old D: was not >bootable, you may need to boot from floppy with 'dos -b'. > > 4. Use XCOPY to copy all the files from D: to C:. > > 5. Quit DOS and rename NEWD: to D:, deleting the old one. > > 6. Re-edit your 'vpix.cnf' to restore the settings for C: and D:. > >This will do the trick. I recommend you don't use pseudo-volumes for >applications involving a lot of file creation and deletion, because it's >a pain to garbage collect the wasted space. Use the UNIX file system if >possible, or if the software balks use a physical DOS partition >instead. A wonderful procedure. Doesn't work if you don't have enough space in /usr however. I suspect that copying D: (via unconditional backup??) to floppy is the way to go... -- Harold
cmilono@netcom.UUCP (Carlo Milono) (08/17/90)
I had this same problem before, and what I did was to create a DOS partition and a UNIX partition so that I could boot the beast in either mode with the use of 'fdisk'. I then issued the 'dosslice' command which made the DOS partition available to Simultask...simply edited the vpix.cnf to point to the partition rather than a pseudo-vol. This way, I can 'have my cake' and run in native 386 mode if desired by booting up in DOS rather than UNIX... I must admit, I was scared to issue the 'dosslice' command, fearing that it would somehow make DOS unbootable from a cold-start, but it works perfectly. -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Carlo Milono | | Personal: netcom!cmilono@apple.com or apple!netcom!cmilono | | Business: cmilono@iliad.att.com | |"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere | | in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." B.Watterson | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
fmcgee@cuuxb.ATT.COM (~XT6561110~Frank McGee~C23~L25~6326~) (08/20/90)
In article <1990Aug14.181508.10655@cbnewsd.att.com> bamford@cbnewsd.att.com (harold.e.bamford) writes: > >I have a 6386 running SimulTask 2.0 and a large problem. >Specifically, the D: DOS volume is getting too large. I have >deleted files such that the total size of the files (according to >chkdsk) is about 9 megabytes. But the D: file (in the unix dosapps >directory) is still 15 megabytes. How can I shrink the D: file to >a more appropriate size? The ability to shrink pseudo-volumes is one of the features of Simultask 3.0, which is in Beta now. In the mean-time, here's how you can shrink the volume. Note that it's a good idea to back up the /usr/vpix tree before you do this. Basically, what you want to do is create a new copy of the pseudo-volume, then delete the old volume. An original, pristine, pseudo-volume can be found in /usr/vpix (the file Cdrive). To make a copy of the pristine Cdrive, you could do something like : # cp /usr/vpix/Cdrive /usr/vpix/defaults/D: To make this available under Simultask, you need to edit the /usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf file. In that file, near the bottom, you should see an entry like : # D /usr/dosapps/D: To make your new copy of the D drive available under Simultask, you would change that to : # D /usr/vpix/defaults/D: Then, start Simultask. # dos Then, format the new D drive : C:\> format D: /s This will format the new pseudo volume. It will behave exactly like the normal MSDOS format of a hard disk, except in this case your hard disk will be the UNIX filename you put in the C line of /usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf. MAKE SURE you aren't formatting a volume you've made available through dosslice (ie, your D line in /usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf does not contain an entry that starts with /dev/rdsk). If you've followed the instructions above you'll be okay. Don't forget the /s parameter so that the volume is bootable. When this completes, execute the following command : C:\> xcopy c:\ d:\ /s This will take a few minutes. Then exit out of Simultask, and execute the following command : # cp /usr/vpix/defaults/D: /usr/vpix/defaults/C: At this point, you should now see lots of space freed up. Then re-edit /usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf so that the D entry looks like it did originally. Then restart Simultask; everything should boot as normal, except now you're pseudo volume should be almost exactly the size of the files you have in it. Hope this helps you out. Highly recommend you take a look through the Simultask manual and read up about the contents of /usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf if you aren't familiar with editing that file before you attempt this. -- Frank McGee, AT&T Entry Level Systems Support attmail!fmcgee (preferred) att!cuuxb!fmcgee (those that can't reach attmail)
tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) (08/22/90)
In article <1990Aug22.172036.17300@mccc.uucp> pjh@mccc.edu (Pete Holsberg) writes: >In article <4928@cuuxb.ATT.COM> fmcgee@cuuxb.UUCP (Frank W. McGee, attmail!fmcgee) writes: >=The ability to shrink pseudo-volumes is one of the features of >=Simultask 3.0, which is in Beta now. > While you're at it, how about fixing S-T so that Windows 3 > runs under it?? I don't think it's Simul-Task's fault. Goddamn Windows 3 goes out and tries to run various protected mode things to "figure out" what its environment is, EVEN when you tell it to shut up and use -R mode!! God how I hate programs that think they're smarter than you are. -- To have a horror of the bourgeois (\( Tom Neff is bourgeois. -- Jules Renard )\) tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM
pjh@mccc.uucp (Pete Holsberg) (08/23/90)
In article <4928@cuuxb.ATT.COM> fmcgee@cuuxb.UUCP (Frank W. McGee, attmail!fmcgee) writes:
=The ability to shrink pseudo-volumes is one of the features of
=Simultask 3.0, which is in Beta now.
While you're at it, how about fixing S-T so that Windows 3
runs under it??
Pete
--
Prof. Peter J. Holsberg Mercer County Community College
Voice: 609-586-4800 Engineering Technology, Computers and Math
UUCP:...!princeton!mccc!pjh 1200 Old Trenton Road, Trenton, NJ 08690
Internet: pjh@mccc.educmilono@netcom.UUCP (Carlo Milono) (08/24/90)
The next version of S-T *should* permit Windoze 3.Oh to work. -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Carlo Milono | | Personal: netcom!cmilono@apple.com or apple!netcom!cmilono | | Business: cmilono@iliad.att.com | |"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere | | in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." B.Watterson | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
pjh@mccc.uucp (Pete Holsberg) (08/24/90)
In article <15783@bfmny0.BFM.COM> tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) writes: =In article <1990Aug22.172036.17300@mccc.uucp> pjh@mccc.edu (Pete Holsberg) writes: => While you're at it, how about fixing S-T so that Windows 3 => runs under it?? = =I don't think it's Simul-Task's fault. Goddamn Windows 3 goes out and =tries to run various protected mode things to "figure out" what its =environment is, EVEN when you tell it to shut up and use -R mode!! God =how I hate programs that think they're smarter than you are. Especially when they're right! ;-) OK - I'll redirect my complaint to Microsoft. Pete -- Prof. Peter J. Holsberg Mercer County Community College Voice: 609-586-4800 Engineering Technology, Computers and Math UUCP:...!princeton!mccc!pjh 1200 Old Trenton Road, Trenton, NJ 08690 Internet: pjh@mccc.edu