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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!hookup!newshost.marcam.com!zip.eecs.umich.edu!caen!usenet.coe.montana.edu!bsd.coe.montana.edu!nate From: nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: [FreeBSD] - kernal hangs on disk wait Date: 10 Jan 1995 16:25:28 GMT Organization: Montana State University, Bozeman Montana Lines: 53 Message-ID: <3eucdo$s88@pdq.coe.montana.edu> References: <3eh9qa$1ie@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> <3ep1l6$s7n@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> <3esdho$gkj@pdq.coe.montana.edu> <3esolt$k0h@xanth.cs.odu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: bsd.coe.montana.edu In article <3esolt$k0h@xanth.cs.odu.edu>, Jonathan Sturges <sturges@violet.cs.odu.edu> wrote: > >I'd like to be able to get a new wd.c, too. >I'm still running 1.1Release, and I'm having the hang-ups. Your best bet is to upgrade to version 2.0R. I don't see any other options since you are now almost a year behind the times, and things have been happening very quickly in the FreeBSD realm. For example, the merged VM/buffer cache code went into the tree (it's still in testing, so I wouldn't recommend it yet), we've had a complete different tree to work with, and we no longer develop/support the 1.X series of software since we don't have the resources to do so and it might put us into some legal hot water. >I, too, am certain that the fault lies in FreeBSD's wd.c. See, the problem >only happens when I use my speedy VLB hard disk controller. If I >switch back to my generic ISA IDE/multi-io card, it works great. Is there much performance difference between the two controllers that justifies the card? >Also, I have DOS drivers for the VLB card, so there are no problems there. That's a no-sequiter. Just because something works under a single-tasking OS with a poor performing file-system doesn't mean that there isn't any problem, but I also suspect it's a race condition of some sort in the FreeBSD driver. >Is/has anyone developed drivers for any accelerated VLB cards? Mine's got >a Promise chipset on it, and is pretty common at computer shows, etc. > >any info would be helpful, since the VLB card increases my HD throughput >by a factor of 3 to 4... With 'real' loads, or just benchmarks? Try running something like iozone in one window/vty and run top in the other to see how your CPU is affected. People have been very suprised to notice that with IDE disks, the faster it goes the less CPU there is for the applications themselves. And, I suspect VLB controllers magnify this problem. Anyway, if it were me I'd backup the 1.1 system and upgrade to 2.0. Besides, you'll want the new features going into 2.1 and moving to 2.0 will make that jump easier. :) Nate -- nate@FreeBSD.org | FreeBSD core member and all around tech. nate@schizo.coe.montana.edu | weenie. work #: (406) 994-5980 | Got lots of offers for work, now I need to home #: (406) 586-0579 | decide which job to take. :)