[comp.sys.next] proc: table is full

flynn@pixel.cps.msu.edu (Patrick J. Flynn) (03/12/90)

Is there any easy way to increase the process table size on the
cube, under the 1.0 release?  I suspect the answer is 'no',
since NeXT didn't ship kernel-building toys with the system
software.  I run into situations where I fill up the process
table with copies of a program which displays images.  The correct fix
for my situation is to to rewrite my image display program to use the
Speaker and Listener, but I don't have time to redo it right now.
Maybe there's a magic kernel variable I can tweak??

TTFN- Pat
--
Patrick Flynn, CS, Michigan State University, flynn@cps.msu.edu

flynn@pixel.cps.msu.edu (Patrick J. Flynn) (03/14/90)

If I can briefly interrupt all the fun rumors about the new 100 MHz
68090-equipped NeXT with the 16GB, 8-ms optical drive, 128MB RAM,
64-bit color with Renderman running on a one-chip RISC hypercube
multiprocessor inside the box... (hmm, maybe it'll be water-cooled :-P)

Recently I asked whether there was a way to increase the size of the
process table without building a new kernel (which one cannot do because
the kernel-building stuff didn't come with 1.0).

The answer MAY be yes.  I haven't tried it yet, but I was told that
rebooting the cube with the clause "nproc=NNN", where NNN is the number of
process slots you want, will do the correct thing.  My source wasn't
sure that this would work on a customer software release, but apparently
they use it internally at NeXT.

The obvious follow-up question is:  what else can we tweak with these
clauses?

TTFN- Pat
--
Patrick Flynn, CS, Michigan State University, flynn@cps.msu.edu

"I notice your oeuvre is monochromatic." -- Hobbes

eht@f.word.cs.cmu.edu (Eric Thayer) (03/14/90)

When I go into the NMI monitor (<Command>-<Command>-`), and type

	nproc=

I get the answer that it is 0x54.  I can also type

	nproc=88

and apparently increase it to 0x58.  I have no idea whether nproc is the
right thing to be banging on to increase your proc table size.

Also, there are some other useful values you can inspect/modify:

	dspregs=

can occasionally be fun if you are trying to debug wayward 56K code.


Anyone know any more?  Let's really bugger up the kernel ;-)
-- 
Eric H. Thayer      School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
(412) 268-7679      5000 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

mmeyer@next.com (Morris Meyer) (03/15/90)

In article <6902@cps3xx.UUCP> flynn@pixel.cps.msu.edu (Patrick J. Flynn) writes:
>Recently I asked whether there was a way to increase the size of the
>process table without building a new kernel (which one cannot do because
>the kernel-building stuff didn't come with 1.0).
>
>The answer MAY be yes.  I haven't tried it yet, but I was told that
>rebooting the cube with the clause "nproc=NNN", where NNN is the number of
>process slots you want, will do the correct thing.  My source wasn't
>sure that this would work on a customer software release, but apparently
>they use it internally at NeXT.
>
I just rebooted one of my machines with nproc=200. I forked about 80
or so shells, bringing the number of processes up over a hundred or
so before I got bored.  It works.  The current limit on a 1.0 system
is 84.

Hope this helps.

		--morris

		morris meyer (mmeyer@next.com)
		software engineer
		NeXT OS Group

eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) (03/16/90)

Is raising nproc sufficient, or are there other kernel variables
that need to be raised as well?  Will the setting stick on auto
reboot?
					-=EPS=-