Am 12.01.2012 um 20:20 schrieb Jack:
>
>> Loading UIDE at runtime instead of boottime is also possible, in some
>> theoretical CDROM.BAT for example ...
>
> Doubtful this would help at all, since UIDE is going to do exactly the
> same checks of the PCI bus for CD/DVD drives, whenever it gets loaded.
Correct. It takes the same amount of time. Fortunately the batchfile is run
whenever the user wants, which is more acceptable than such a long delay at
boot.
And the boot delay is not really acceptable. Stopwatch says 2min and 49sec.
This is much more than the 60sec I thought it would be.
>> Alternatives are creating and using an ISO file:
>> OMI.EXE D: C:\FDBOOTCD.ISO
>>
>> Or replacing the CD-driver by the closed-source generic OAKCDROM.SYS or
>> VIDE-CDD.SYS drivers [http://www.opus.co.tt/dave/indexall.htm].
>
> I do NOT recommend any of the older "generic" drivers, since none of them
> have UltraDMA logic, and none use file/directory caching. Omitting both
> of these items will cause CD/DVD transfers to run 3 or 4 times slower!
>
> Also, a "generic" driver normally uses only "Legacy IDE" device addresses
> and cannot "see" a controller whose addresses might be assigned by PCI to
> other values. This is true for VIDE-CDD, OAKCDROM, my "old" XCDROM, and
> about all other "generic" CD/DVD drivers.
>
> Note also that GCDROM/XGCDROM (BAD "hacks" of XCDROM!) "claim" to support
> other addresses, but in fact they have PROBLEMS!
And we also should not suggest in our WIki that our users should use unfree
software illegally to use FreeDOS. So this is not really an option anyway.
>> Jack's UIDE.SYS driver performs chipset initialisation which is
>> apparently still implemented in a buggy way in the VirtualBox software.
>
> No other way possible for UIDE! CD/DVD drives are not part of the BIOS,
> so UIDE must "detect" them by (A) finding all SATA/IDE controllers on the
> PCI bus, then (B) examining each controller's device slots for "ATAPI CD"
> drives.
>
> If some of the VirtualBox "chipset" options exhibit LONG delays when UIDE
> issues an "Identify ATAPI Device" command, VirtualBox needs to get FIXED!
As DOS seems not really to be Oracles priority, we may have to wait. In the
meantime it is IMHO a good idea that VirtualBox users use Bernds batchfile to
mount the VirtualBox virtual CD drive whenever they can afford the time.
Thanks!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSA(R) Conference 2012
Mar 27 - Feb 2
Save $400 by Jan. 27
Register now!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsa-sfdev2dev2
_______________________________________________
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
