Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Oh, for the time being and if that TAPE drive problem should also get me,
the disks are also available at FRAMBO::BZOEVFL:[BALZER.FISH].

<CB>_who's_talking_to_himself_again...

> <CB>_who's_talking_to_himself_again...
 

But we like to listen to you talk to yourself CB :-)

john

re       <<< Note 4435.1 by FROCKY::BALZER "Christian Balzer DTN:785-1029" >>>
>                   -< Also on FRAMBO::BZOEVFL:[BALZER.FISH] >-

> Oh, for the time being and if that TAPE drive problem should also get me,
> the disks are also available at FRAMBO::BZOEVFL:[BALZER.FISH].

> <CB>_who's_talking_to_himself_again...


	Please check this, I've tried all my usual mistakes in trying 
to address this (zeroes vs letter o's, etc.) but still can't get it 
from here.

	Reg

    
    	Well I'm copying all the files now...from
    
    Frambo::bzoevfl:[balzer.fish]
    
    	Steve G

    
    A little parallel effort here, but I also uploaded 411-420 last night.
    
    Unable to complete a copy to TAPE:: due to forced errors (looks like
    the drive is going away - hope there is a backup).
    
    The files are also available at CGFSV3""::amiga:[fish].
    
    wayne
    

    
    
    	I have moved the files from [upload] into
    
    		[amiga.fish.z400]ff4xx.lzh
    
    
    		Steve Peters
    
    P.S. I too hope the forced errors are gone. I'm still working with
    field service to get the disk replaced.
    
    

There are two copies of FF416 on tape, one in upload and one in
[amiga.fish.z400]. One of them has zero blocks allocated - the other one is
an incomplete copy and gives an error on unpacking. I'm afraid I can't
remember which is which - but neither is of any use. 

Could some kind person recopy please?

Nick

    

I've just started the upload of ff416.lzh on tape::user2:[upload].

In 15 minutes should be completed.

Ciao
	Roberto.

    My copy just finished...

Thanks - I have a working FF416 now.

BTW: More than one file seems to be in error on TAPE:

TAPE""::USER2:[AMIGA.FISH.Z400]
	FF414.LZH;1               0/1170    17-JAN-1991 08:57:28.00
	FF415.LZH;1               0/957     17-JAN-1991 11:20:17.00
	FF416.LZH;1               0/777     17-JAN-1991 12:23:43.00
	FF417.LZH;1               0/921     17-JAN-1991 12:32:32.00
	FF418.LZH;1               0/945     17-JAN-1991 12:54:36.00
	FF419.LZH;1               0/780     17-JAN-1991 13:14:15.00
	FF420.LZH;1               0/690     17-JAN-1991 13:22:14.00

all look truncated.

Nick

 I just u/led Zoom V3.9 to WJG::AMIGA: (due to problems on tape:).
 It's a replacment program for LHwarp (slow) and Regular Warp.
    It's WJG::AMIGA:ZOOM39.LZH to download.
    The following is an extract of one of the txt files.
                                                          Ed
=============================================================================

         Why use Zoom! instead of other disk compression utilities?

=============================================================================

   - Zoom!   performs much  faster and compresses  better than any other
     currently available disk archiving utility.

                            Workbench1.3D:

                Tool   | Output file  | Duration
                -------+--------------+--------------
                Warp   | 508226 bytes | 11:49 minutes
                LhWarp | 399187 bytes | 16:39 minutes
                DMS    | 389270 bytes | 11:00 minutes
                Zoom!  | 378602 bytes |  6:23 minutes


                       TRISTAR KICKSTART 1.37:

                Tool   | Output file  | Duration
                -------+--------------+--------------
                Warp   | 204110 bytes | 07:57 minutes
                DMS 3  | 164471 bytes | 04:05 minutes
                Zoom!  | 158498 bytes | 03:10 minutes


                          DINO WARS DISK #2:

                Tool   | Output file  | Duration
                -------+--------------+--------------
                Warp   | 860XXX bytes | XX:XX minutes 2 FILES
                DMS 4  | 803756 bytes | 16:24 minutes
                Zoom!  | 804054 bytes | 06:32 minutes


               �� If you don't trust us: TEST IT OUT!! ��
		  ------------------------------------

   - Zoom!  recognizes  about 66 different viruses. Not only lousy 15!!!

   - Zoom!  has both an Intuition and a Shell interface.
                ��  No need to buy an extra version!! ��

   - Zoom!  works with Kickstart 2.x!

   - ZOOM!  can check if it is infected by a LINK VIRUS.
	    If you crunch ZOOM! with Imploder using the explode.library,
	    the selftest still works.

   - Zoom!  will also work with an MC68020/30 --> INCREDIBLE SPEED UP!!!
                ��  No need to buy an extra version!! ��

   - Zoom!  saves the  current Intuition interface settings in a default
	    enviroment variable which is used again when you quit  Zoom!
	    and restart it later again.

   - ZOOM!  can check a .zom file if it's still a valid ZOOM! file.

   - ZOOM!  can display the  Zoom!.txt ( like wrp.txt ) as  often as you
	    want. No need to 'unwarp' the whole file to read text again!

   - ZOOM!  supports  multiple  selection when decoding a  row of files!
	    Very  usefull, if you have  to decode a  bunch of new stuff.


   		 Why_use_ZOOM! was typed by SMURF of TRISTAR/RED SECTORmake

    re: .11
    
    About the ZOOM. When using ZOOM the simple test archive option that it
    has is not perfect, so even when the ZOOM checks the archive *.ZOM and
    reports it to be OK, there's a good chance that is not valid, specially 
    when you crunch DOS disks. ZOOM somehow doesn't retain the DOS disk 
    structure correctly, and when un-packed the directory has only few files 
    out of many files and it cannot be corrected with recovery utility.
    
    Best way to see if the packed disk(DMS,ZOOM) is OK, is that you de-pack 
    it back to disk and check out if the files structures are OK.
    
    The latest version of ZOOM is 4.0 and it still has the same "feature"
    as said above, so even if DMS is slow, it is more reliable than ZOOM.
    
    The virus selftest on ZOOM really works, everytime you start ZOOM
    it check itself's HUNK structure and reports if there is any changes.
    Although even if you Crunch it with Imploder v3.1 and use
    EXPLODER.LIBRARY, ZOOM will work but reports that it might have been
    infected by virus.
    
    -Kari-

    re: .12
    
    Latest release of Zoom is v4.1, on the documents it said that the
    bug that I told on .12 has been corrected, although the author
    wasn't sure, cause the bug generated randomly...
    
    I haven't had time to test this version, but hopefully to end of this
    week I'll know if it's working correctly.
    
    -Kari-
    

Re .10:

	FF414.LZH, FF415.LZH and FF416.LZH are in [UPLOAD] and unpacked
    successfully.  Thanks.  Is there any chance that 417-420 can be reuploaded?

RE: .14

I just started a re-upload. 
(Tape-Maintainer(s), purge as appropriate).

Cheers,

<CB>

    Here's something that came across Usenet.  It caught my attention
    because I had recently been thinking of almost exactly the same
    idea...
    
    Appears to work as advertised.
    
    
    
                        Cache-Disk
                        ----------
License Agreement
-----------------
    Cache-Disk and the entire contents of the archive it came in 
are (C) copyrighted 1991 by Terry Fisher.  You may not use, 
modify, or distribute them except as expressed by this license 
agreement.

    You may not disassemble, reverse engineer, or in any way 
modify the programs contained in the archive.  

    Cache-Disk is distributed as shareware.  Permission is 
granted to distribute Cache-Disk provided

    1)  the entire contents of the archive it came in are 
        distributed with it.

    2)  it is not uploaded to any bulletin board services that 
        claim ownership of the all uploaded software.

    3)  it is not distributed for profit without my written 
        permission.

    4)  if it is included in any collection of freely 
        distributable software, the charge for the disk may not 
        exceed twice the current rate charged by Fred Fish.  
        Fred Fish is granted explicit permission to include the 
        contents of the archive in his library of freely 
        distributable software.

    5)  it is not distributed with any commercial program without 
        my written permission.


    If you try Cache-Disk and, after two weeks, decide to use 
it, please become a registered user by sending a cheque or money
order for $25 to:

    Terry Fisher
    102-401 Hazel St.
    Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
    N2L 3P7

    Phone #: (519) 885-2785

    All registered users will receive one free upgrade.  See the 
section on future improvements below.  Further upgrades will be 
available at a cost of $5.

Introduction
------------
    The Amiga's multi-tasking operating system makes the Amiga 
one of the most flexible personal computers currently available.  
Unfortunately, the power provided by this multi-tasking operating 
system is greatly reduced when multiple processes try to access 
resources such as the floppy disk drives simultaneously.  The 
usual result of disk access by multiple processes is thrashing.  
Almost everyone who owns an amiga has experienced this thrashing, 
and until now have had to put up with it.  Now, Cache-Disk 
reduces disk thrashing to a minimum.

How Cache-Disk Works
--------------------
    When a program requests a sector to be read from a floppy 
disk, the Amiga's trackdisk.device always reads the entire track 
containing the requested sector from the disk.  By performing 
reads in this fashion, the trackdisk.device creates a miniature 
cache in that if the next sector requested is on the same track, 
no disk activity is required.  In most cases, files are stored 
sequentially on the disk and the above cache provides a 
significant optimization to disk access.

    Unfortunately, when two or more processes are reading from 
the disk, the requests are rarely sequential.  Each disk read or 
write requires the trackdisk.device to flush its single track 
cache to read the track containing the data for the next read 
request.  This freshly read track is often flushed almost 
immediately, to recover the track that previously occupied the 
cache.  As more processes are added to the cycle, the situation 
becomes even worse.

    Cache-Disk patches the trackdisk.device and intercepts all 
read and write operations.  Whenever cache-disk receives a 
request for a sector on the disk, it requests that the 
trackdisk.device read the entire track.  The contents of this 
track are then placed in one of cache-disks buffers.  Any further 
requests for data on this track are performed out of cache-disks 
buffer.  If a request for another track is received, that entire 
track is placed in another cache-disk buffer.  Now, access to 
either of these tracks requires no activity.

    Since memory is often a limited resource, cache-disk lets 
the user specify the number of buffers it should allocate for 
each floppy disk drive.  Once all buffers have been filled, the 
contents of the least recently used buffer are either written to 
disk (if the buffer has been modified by a write operation), or 
discarded to make room for a new track.  Substantial performance 
increases can be realized from as few as two or three buffers, 
but the more buffers made available to cache-disk, the more 
noticeable the speed increase.

    Cache-Disk flushes modified buffers whenever it receives a 
CMD_FLUSH command.  The Amiga automatically generates such a 
request after approximately 2 seconds of disk inactivity.

A Few Benchmarks
----------------
    The results of a few benchmarks to demonstrate the speed 
increase realized by using cache-disk are listed below.  In all 
cases, the benchmark was performed with the cache-disk buffers 
empty.  Times were recorded without cache-disk installed, and 
with cache-disk installed with 2, 5, 10, and 20 buffers.

    1)  Copying the Workbench disk.  The first of these 
        benchmarks was the simple copying of the standard 
        Workbench1.3 disk from drive 0 to a freshly formatted 
        diskette in drive 1 using the AmigaDOS 'Copy' command.  
        The same number of cache-disk buffers were used for 
        source and destination disk drives.

    2)  File creation.  200 empty files were created on a freshly 
        formatted diskette in drive 0.

    3)  Multi-process access.  To perform this test, a program 
        which sequentially read each sector on the disk in drive 
        0 was used.  This program, diskscan, and a batch file 
        which was also used to perform the test can be found in 
        the test subdirectory.


    Cache-Disk     Test 1       Test 2      Test 3
    Buffers       (seconds)    (seconds)   (seconds)
    ----------    ---------    ---------   ---------
       0            669           418        1004
       2            594           419         180
       5            307            62         174
      10            295            48         174
      20            276            30         123


How to use Cache-Disk
---------------------
    Cache-Disk may be run form either the Workbench or the CLI.  
When run from the CLI, Cache-Disk accepts command line arguments 
of the form dn=buffers where
    n           is the drive number
    buffers     is the number of buffers to allocate for this 
                drive.  Note that each buffer uses close to 6K 
                of chip memory.

    eg.  To use Cache-Disk with 5 buffers for drive 0 and 10 
buffers for drive 2, the command is "Cache-Disk d0=5 d2=10".  
Cache-Disk detaches from the CLI, so it is not necessary to "run" 
it.

    To disable Cache-Disk once it has been executed, simply 
execute it again.

    When running Cache-Disk from the Workbench, the number of 
buffers is specified by using the "Info" menu item, and setting 
tool types of the form "DRIVEn=buffers" where
    n           is the drive number
    buffers     is the number of buffers to allocate for this 
                drive.  Note that each buffer uses close to 6K 
                of chip memory.

    Cache-Disk is then enabled by double-clicking on its icon.  
Double-clicking on its icon a second time causes Cache-Disk to 
terminate.

Cache-Disk Features
-------------------
    - Buffers disk reads and writes for maximum speed gain.
    - Detaches from the CLI, and can be run from the Workbench.
    - Can be turned off by re-running the program.
    - User setable number of buffers for each drive.
    - Works with the Messy-Dos (MSH) File System (another 
      wonderful piece of shareware software).

Known Problems
--------------
    - Uses precious chip memory.
    - Does not support the AbortIO() function.
    - Disabling Cache-Disk while there is disk activity may 
      corrupt the diskette.  Always wait for disk activity to stop 
      before disabling the cache.



Planned Enhancements (to be included in next release)
-----------------------------------------------------
    - Buffer allocation from Fast RAM.
    - Support for hard-disks.
    - More efficient flushing algorithm.
    - Fix to support the AbortIO() function.

    If you find a problem with Cache-Disk which is not listed, 
please inform me at the address given above.

Disclaimer
----------
    I provide no warrantee, either written or expressed as to 
the usability of Cache-Disk.  I am not responsible for any damage 
or loss of data caused directly or indirectly by its use.

Trademarks/Copyrights
---------------------
Amiga (tm) is a registered trademark of Commodore-Amiga Inc.
AmigaDOS (tm) is a registered trademark of Commodore-Amiga Inc.
Workbench (tm) is a trademark of Commodore-Amiga Inc.
MSH (C) is copyright Olaf Seibert.

	Is anybody planning to upload fish disks 481-490 any time soon?
    I would appreciate it if you would.

					Max Woodbury