Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:38:52 -0600 From: CyberLeo Kitsana <cyberleo@cyberleo.net> To: James Phillips <anti_spam256@yahoo.ca> Cc: CyberLeo <cyberleo@cyberleo.net>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: [FreeBSD Questions] Filesystem image as root Message-ID: <4B011DAC.1090504@cyberleo.net> In-Reply-To: <620008.37163.qm@web65501.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> References: <620008.37163.qm@web65501.mail.ac4.yahoo.com>
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James Phillips wrote: > > --- On Sun, 11/15/09, CyberLeo Kitsana <cyberleo@cyberleo.net> wrote: >> James Phillips wrote: >>>> Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:29:59 -0600 >>>> From: CyberLeo Kitsana <cyberleo@cyberleo.net> >>>> Subject: [FreeBSD Questions] Filesystem image as >> root >>>> The single IDE connector is accessible via the >> legacy ISA >>>> ports, and is >>>> thus limited to PIO modes (about 1.6MB/sec max, >> even with >>>> an actual hard >>>> drive instead of a CF card). >>> You are off by an order of magnitude (base 2 or 10): >>> Pio mode 0 is ~3.3 MB/s >>> Pio mode 4 is ~16.7 MB/s >>> >>> http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/modesPIO-c.html >>> >>> You can probably set PIO mode 4 for with: >>> # atacontrol mode ad0 PIO4 >> If only that were true in this case. >> >> (85eef1f3)[root@ss4200 ~]# atacontrol mode ad0 PIO4 >> current mode = PIO2 >> (85eef1f3)[root@ss4200 ~]# atacontrol mode ad0 PIO4 >> current mode = PIO2 >> (85eef1f3)[root@ss4200 ~]# dd if=/dev/ad0 of=/dev/null >> bs=4096 count=4096 >> 4096+0 records in >> 4096+0 records out >> 16777216 bytes transferred in 10.111748 secs (1659181 >> bytes/sec) >> >> Nothing I've tried seems to boost the throughput, hence the >> desire to >> use a compressed cached filesystem image. >> >> Thanks for the suggestions, though! > Ouch! > > I thought the laptop I was "fixing" last week was bad: running Vista with a 10MB/s transfer rate :P > > The drive in my Pentium 166 gets 11-12MB/s. > > I actually looked up both the PIO modes: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_input/output > > And the spec sheet (assuming Tom's hardware was wrong) before composing my original reply: > Intel® Entry Storage System SS4200-E > Technical product specification [PDF] > http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/ss4200-e/sb/ss4200e_tps_11.pdf > > I noted that the ATA port is not listed as a feature, which is not a good sign. It does appear in the block-diagram labeled:DOM > Glossary definition: Disk On Module The model I have is the SS-4200EHW. Identical, save the lack of a DOM and firmware. And price. > If I had to guess: Intel did something "weird" or "non-standard" to the port, so the standard BSD driver does not work properly. > Have you read the ata(4) manual page? > The following /boot/device.hints are suggested for ISA: > hint.ata.0.at="isa" > hint.ata.0.port="0x1f0" > hint.ata.0.irq="14" This is actually how I got the amd64 build to recognize the port. These lines were present in x86, but missing in amd64 device.hints. > . . . port '1' probably not needed > I had a thought: it could just as easily be "pc98" if they don't intend for you to touch the "firmware." Hm. This might be something to look into. > The firmware has source code available under a GPL license. > EMCLifeLineOEMSW-1.0-GPLComponents.tar.gz > Ver:1.0 Date:9/24/2009 Size:125585 (KB) > > EMCLifeLineOEMSW-1.1-GPLComponents.tar.gz > Ver:1.1 Date:9/24/2009 Size:244406 (KB) I checked previously, and Linux has the same limitations. The port is recognized as a legacy ISA IDE port by the ide-generic driver, and maxes out at a ludicrously low throughput. The official firmware gets around this by preloading filesystems into RAM. > If you are worried about license contamination, you may have to get somebody to look through that and document any changes (to the ATA interface). Hopefully it is based on a well-know code-base like Linux and the "diff" utility can be used. > > Of course, the term "components" implies they only expose a HAL of some kind. > > Regards, > > James Phillips > > PS:"# atacontrol mode ad0" will simply print out the current mode. -- Fuzzy love, -CyberLeo Technical Administrator CyberLeo.Net Webhosting http://www.CyberLeo.Net <CyberLeo@CyberLeo.Net> Furry Peace! - http://wwww.fur.com/peace/
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