#3DS, OS2 & Disk Swapping
15 messages in this thread
Okay, here's your weekly chance to dance around the edges of another platform
holy war <g>.
I met someone who told me that they used 3DS under OS2 and that one of the main
reasons they did was that by assigning more RAM to the program than the machine
physically had, they were able to get OS2 to handle any disk-swapping, not 3DS.
They claim that OS2's disk-swapping was much faster and more efficint than
Studio's.
Now, I know, I know: "Avoid Disk-Swapping Like a Nasty Plague!"
And I do. I'm just curious as to whether what they said was true or not. Does
anyone have any thoughts on this?
Bruce Meikle
WZMH Architects
If you are using an HPFS formatted disk, then let OS/2 do the swapping. Since
the HPFS is more efficient than FAT there will be an improvement. Also, some
Phar Lap function calls will have to be translated to the equivalent HPFS calls
introducing a little overhead. If you have a FAT formatted disk, then the
speed differences will probably be minimal.
OS/2, in either case, uses a 32bit paging scheme. I have heard confilicting
information about how Phar Lap (3DS) does paging, so I cannot say for sure
which is faster. It does seem logical, however, that having the OS do the
paging would be more effecient method by its nature (since the OS is
ultimately responsible for HD access anyway).
In a nutshell, I would recommend that you let OS/2 handle the paging — I do
and it works great!
— James E. Coulter — Mindscape Animation Productions —
Thanks for the answer.
Though we have about 20 CAD stations here at the office, we do have one machine
that is primarily a 3DS workhorse. Switching all of them to OS2 is out of the
question, but I'm tempted to look into converting the 3D machine. Hmmm..
Bruce Meikle
WZMH Architects
Check out the thread called "Targa2000 news" starting at message #122040. Ana
describes some amazing new features of a new OS/2 product soon to be released.
I think you might be interested.
— James — MAP —
Hi James,
I saw that you mentioned you use OS/2 with 3DS R3. Was this difficult to set
up? I have purchased a copy of OS/2 2.1 recently and am seriously considering
installing it only I'm a little worried that this may be a very difficult thing
to accomplish. If you have any special words of advise, I'd love to hear 'em! I
really like what I read about OS/2 and feel it has a lot to offer, moreso than
MS-DOS.
Thanks for your help,
Jack
>> I have purchased a copy of OS/2 2.1 recently and am seriously considering
installing it <<
Interesting theory.
Anyway, OS/2 is "not for the faint of heart" as someone once told me. I
recommend you back-up everything, install OS/2, install 3DS, and then post here
or e-mail to me when and if you should encounter any trouble.
— James — MAP —
Bruce, PMJI I think OS/2 is great but I don't think OS/2 will help you. The
great advantage of OS/2 is the multi-tasking ability, not the speed that you
can run a single application. Using OS/2 for its better swapping ability will
not pay off. You may get some speed advantage from paging but this will
probably be offset by the GUI overhead. I don't use 3DS but I do run ACAD12DOS
on OS/2. From my primitive benchmark tests running a script on the same dwg
file in OS/2 and the DOS enviornment it appears to me that OS/2 runs ACAD about
8-10% slower than DOS. That is still about double the speed of ACADWIN despite
ADESK's BS early press releases about the speed of acadwin! I'll say it again,
I think OS/2 is great but I don't think it will help your situation unlesss you
plan on using the 3d workstation for other applications too ! At the same time!
I'm not trying to disuade you from using OS/2, I just don't want to see someone
react negatively to a great operating system that I hope will have a long
future. So by all means try OS/2 on some of your other systems and buy more RAM
for the 3d machine.
Larry
Actually, buying more RAM is the only way to deal with disk swapping. It's not
so much of a problem for me and I'm not looking at OS/2 for that particular
reason. I was just curious about the claims of someone else.
The idea of true multitasking is pretty attractive for someone who spends a
great deal of time staring at "rendering in progress…" <g>
Do you find many problems running ACAD under OS/2? That's the other main app
we'd be concerned with.
Bruce Meikle
WZMH Architects
Bruce, Sorry to have taken so long to reply.
"The idea of true multitasking is pretty attractive for someone who spends a
great deal of time staring at "rendering in progress…" <g>
Do you find many problems running ACAD under OS/2? That's the other main app
we'd be concerned with. "
But I've been sitting in the corner crying in my non-alcohol fatfree beer. I
can't get ACAD to render or do a hidden line removal in the background ! I
posted a message on the OS2USER forum and someone with OS/2 after his name Team
IBM or something like that said that DOS graphics programs will not run in the
background ! That really sucks ! What better place to have it run ? Anyway back
to your original question, no I haven't had any problem , other than the
aforementioned one, runnind acadr12DOS under OS/2. In fact I really like the
OS. I have a need for a multitasking enviornment, plotting, sending a fax,
uploading or downloading files, developing a lsp program in a text editor
without closing and going back to acad thru the pgp file, any number of things!
But, if you spend all day in acad and never need to leave it you would be
better off staying in DOS. What with the learning curve of a new OS and the
additional software that you will end up needing. OS/2 uses Extended Attributes
with files and your DOS utility programs will not recognize the link between
these EA's and the OS/2 files, thus your DOS defragger and file management
programs will cause trouble and require replaceing with OS/2 aware utilities. I
still think it's a good deal though. I just read yesterday that MS Chicago
won't really be out 'till mid-95. which means probably another year after that
before the OS works reasonably well! Sorry, I can't or don't need, to wait that
long!! If you are going to upgrade to OS/2 I would wait a couple of weeks for
the shipping version of the WARP OS/2 BETA instead of going with 2.1. Might as
well just do one install instead of one install and an upgrade.
Good luck and let me know what you decide.
Larry
Thanks for the info on ACAD and OS/2. I think I'll take your advice and wait
for WARP.
But I am worried. With a name like that, it's not going to be sold dripping
with trekie paraphanalia, is it? <shudder & g>
Bruce Meikle
WZMH Architects
Bruce,
"But I am worried. With a name like that, it's not going to be sold dripping
with trekie paraphanalia, is it? <shudder & g> "
I would hope not! The name "warp" probably comes from it's ability to run a lot
faster on less hardware. Also as a furniture designer it has bad connotations
but I can overlook that!
Where are you located? I'm in San Diego,CA.
see ya ! Larry
Larry:
>>The name "warp" probably comes from it's ability to run a lot faster on less
hardware. Also as a furniture designer it has bad connotations but I can
overlook that!<<
But on the other hand, if you're re-doing benchmarks on it, are you doing the
time warp again? Sorry, this is degenerating <g>.
I'm in Toronto, by the way.
Bruce Meikle
WZMH Architects
> But on the other hand, if you're re-doing benchmarks on it, are you doing the
> time warp again?
Possibly. "…But it's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane…"
RiffRaff
Bruce:
>> are you doing the time warp again? Sorry, this is degenerating <g>.
Past tense: has degenerated!
Ah, yes, the midnight show at the old Balboa Theater in Newport Beach…
Greg Pyros
Have you tried the parameter "/BGEXEC" on your Device=C:\os2\svga.sys line in
config.sys? Some (most?) os/2 video drivers seem to support this for allowing
graphics operations to run in the background. If the video driver for the
software does reprogramming of the video card, you'll have other problems
though. LAM