cohen@cs.Buffalo.EDU (Alexander Cohen) (12/08/88)
My thanks to all the fine folks at apple for answering a question
which is, apparently, only partially answerable.
The Desktop Manager, an init which comes with the AppleShare Software,
they inform me, is *only* intended for use on AppleShare Servers, they say
it has never been adequately tested on user machines and they say that there
are certain anomalies in using it for any other purpose than for what it was
intended.
One problem they mentioned is that you can't unmount volumes, but, as
it turns out this isn't true. They could not tell me of any other anomalies
that they know of. Just that we can use it at our own risk.
It speeds up access to desktop information because it replaces the
normal desktop file which uses the Resource Manager and replaces it with
"B-Trees".
One person from Apple claimed that the current OS/Finder could not
utilize the Desktop Manager, but two others said that the Finder was
correctly written to test for the existence of new HFS calls on volumes
that provide the calls. This makes sense of course since the Finder on
an AppleShare "Workstation" must use the desktop from the Server which
is using the Desktop Manager.
I was assured that future versions of the Finder will deal more
effectively with the desktop issue, but that for now its use at your own risk
if you want the speed up the Desktop Manager can provide.
As for myself, I'm going to test it out, if anyone else is using it
please write to me and tell me if you've seen any problems or can
report anything really in favor of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Who put these fingerprints on my imagination?" Elvis Costello
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Brian Martin) (12/09/88)
I recently installed the Desktop Manager (DM) on a 620MB CDC WREN
drive. Without it, my system would crash whenever I tried to copy
files from floppy to the hard disk. The crashes were apparently caused
by an attempt to exceed some sort of limit in the desktop file when
copying files to the hard disk. My system seems to be much more
reliable now that I've installed DM.
I have discovered that DiskExpress won't optimize a disk or partition
if the Desktop Manager INIT is in the system folder of the boot disk.
To partially get around this problem, I created a large partition on
which I store most of my applications. All of the data files are stored
in the root partition. Although I'm unable to optimize the application
partition with DiskExpress, at least the root partition with its system
folder gets defragmented. Interestingly, I have to disable the
"automount on boot" feature for the application partition if I plan to
boot without the Desktop Manager INIT installed, else the system
crashes when trying to automount the applications partition.
System Configuration:
Mac II/5MB RAM/Apple Color monitor w/ 8 color planes. MicroNet 620i
(CDC WREN 620MB internal disk) LaserWriter II NTX desktalk II 2400EC
modem INITs/CDEVS: Suitcase II, Moire, HD Partition, Shield,
SFVolInit, Vaccine, Coach Helper, Desktop Manager
--- Brian
====
Brian K. Martin, M.D.
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