[bookport] Re: Sluggishness with too many books in a folder
- From: Sandy Licht <slicht@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2005 22:14:34 -0500
How large a file is the troublesome book? I have been told the BP doesn't
like books over 4 megabytes in size.
At 01:10 PM 4/30/2005, you wrote:
>Rob,
>
>Thanks for the clear explanation of what is going on when a folder contains
>too many files and one experiences sluggishness in reading/navigation. This
>certainly seems to explain most of what is going on.
>
>However, there still seems to be something unexplained in the behavior I am
>seeing with my Bookport.
>
>I already performed the test you describe in item 4 (below. Here is what I
>did in detail:
>
>1. I had a folder, lets call it folder "A", with about 32 books in it.
>They were all DAISY formatted books downloaded from Bookshare.
>
>2. The last 3 books in folder "A" exhibited the sluggish performance
>you describe.
>
>3. I deleted all but 8 books in folder "A", including one of the last 3
>books which exhibited the sluggish performance. This book was a book about
>Enron, so, lets call it the Enron book.
>
>4. I re-downloaded the Enron book from Bookshare and used the Bookport
>Transfer program to put it into folder "A" again. Now, folder "A" contains
>9 books, with the Enron book being number 9.
>
>5. I noted that the Enron book in folder "A" still exhibited the
>sluggish performance (and was surprised).
>
>6. Thinking that the Enron book itself might be the problem, I created
>a new folder, call it folder "B", at the same level (root) as folder "A". I
>used the Bookport Transfer program to put the newly downloaded copy of the
>Enron book into folder "B". Thus, folder "B" now contains only the Enron
>book.
>
>7. The Enron book in folder "B" does not exhibit the sluggish
>performance when reading/navigating. Thus, the Enron book itself does not
>appear to be the cause of the sluggish performance.
>
>8. Now I am checking to see what files are actually in folder "A". I
>mis-spoke - One of the books is actually a one volume BRF file from NLS -
>the rest are DAISY from Bookshare.
>
>9. Using Windows Explorer to see what is in folder "A", I see 28 files
>for the 9 books I have in the folder (including the *.aa files you described
>below).
>
>Summary: With only 9 books in the folder, I am still experiencing
>sluggishness with the Enron book. When the Enron book is in a folder by
>itself, there is no sluggishness.
>
>Now you and Larry indicated that when one gets on the order of 30 books in a
>particular folder the user will experience sluggishness. Is this like
>falling off a cliff or does the sluggishness slowly get worse with the
>number of books in a particular folder? Thus, would you expect the
>sluggishness with 9 books in a folder to be about 1/3 as much as when there
>are 27 books in a folder? Maybe the sluggishness I'm still experiencing
>with 9 books in the folder is actually less than what I remember when there
>were 30 books in the folder. My next experiment will be to delete all but
>the Enron book from this folder and test the versions in folders "a" and
>"b", but I still need some of the books in folder "a".
>
>I would use Windows Explorer to copy the extra books from folder "A" to
>another folder, but the way that Bookshare DAISY books get transferred to
>the Bookport places books in a folder with names that are not representative
>of the titles of the books. Thus, I can't tell from Windows Explorer (or
>the Bookport Transfer program) which book is the Enron book. For example,
>when I use Bookport Transfer to copy a book to the Bookport entitled
>"Enron", it shows up in the Transfer program as "bookshare_1234..." or
>something strange. It would be nice if the name which appeared in the list
>of books to be transferred showed up as the name in the folder when it is
>viewed using the transfer software.
>
>Well, sorry for the long note. I hope this explains the situation.
>
>-- Pete
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 08:51:29 -0400
>From: "ROB MEREDITH" <rmeredith@xxxxxxx>
>Subject: [bookport] Re: bookport Digest V2 #116
>
>Pete:
>
>Most everything you have said so far does not surprise me. Flash card
>speed plays a big roll in this, and speed ratings seem to be pretty
>useless at best. Let me clear some things up:
>
>1. Book Port Transfer cannot effect this issue. So, Beta 432 would be
>the same as 1.6.0.0.
>
>2. It is doubtful, but not impossible, that firmware 27 or 28 has
>anything to do with this.
>
>3. When you put a lot of books in a folder and begin reading them, the
>third file created for each book, the ._aa file, will be created last in
>the folder. For example, if you load 50 books into a folder, you will
>have 100 logical files. But as you read each book, another file is
>created for each. Let's say you read books 1 through 5, and the card
>becomes sluggish with book 5. Deleting books in the folder will not
>help, because book 5 has a file which is way down in the directory
>listing; it is at position 105. This file is accessed when
>starting/stopping that book, so sluggishness will occur.
>
>4. The only thing that surprises me is that deleting a bunch of books,
>including the problem book, then resending the problem book does not
>clear up the problem.
>
>I think at this point I would delete the folder, and resend some of the
>books. If the problem book is always a problem no matter where it is
>placed, let us know.
>
>Rob Meredith
>
> >>> ptorpey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 04/28/05 07:53PM >>>
>Well, I don't understand this behavior either for a CF card. Maybe I
>can
>never use this folder again and must eventually delete it? This would
>mean
>that you can't keep on putting books in a particular directory, wiping
>them
>out, putting more, etc. without leading to degraded responsiveness.
>
>In either case, this is very strange performance. Maybe the folks at
>APH
>can enlighten us.
>
>-- Pete
Sandy Licht
Phone: 409-898-8218
Jeremiah 29:11 - 14A
11For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They
are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
12In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13If you look for me in earnest,
you will find me when you seek me. 14I will be found by you," says the
LORD...
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