[iyonix-support] Re: File-core limit of 256GB - is it on the list?
- From: "David J. Ruck" <druck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: iyonix-support@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:10:45 +0000
On 19/03/2010 11:53, jess hampshire wrote:
On 19 March 2010 11:14, David J. Ruck<druck@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
If however we lift the 2GB limit, we have to take the huge step of
implementing an entire new filing system stack and along with a new API, and
only software re-written to use it will benefit from it.
If a new API were defined in advance, wouldn't it be possible to do a
longnames style hack? (In the short term at least).
i.e. have a module that implements the new api by mapping it to the
old one and chopping files that are too big into 2GB chunks. (when a
filesystem doesn't support it)
>
Anything that uses the new api would see big files, anything that
didn't would see a directory with 2GB files in
It's possible, but I don't see the point, the *one* application which
needs greater than 2GB of data already does it that way using multiple
files.
But again, such a change would entail an enormously disproportionate amount
of OS work to solve a problem affecting a small number of users.
Doing it properly would, but would the the intermediate system I described be?
It doesn't solve the problem of handling actual >2GB files which
requires both a new disc format, and a new API for applications to make
use of such files.
Is it a small number of users? Or is it a case of something else you
need a PC for?
For any OS change you need to weight up the cost of development against:-
a) The number of users and applications requiring the feature
b) The ease of doing it with an easily available alternative
Unfortunately this equation doesn't come out positive for much these days.
It is a shame, because CD burning is one of the things that RISC OS is good at.
it is only the filesystem limits that mess it up for DVDs (and
probably blurays too)
Is it? With burn proof drives you get less duds than before, but
compared to other systems it is a slow and tedious process. Remember
only hard drives use UDMA on the Iyonix, it has never been implemented
for CD/DVDs, they are still stuck with slow PIO. So you'd be talking
several hours for a BluRay.
The real need for>2GB files has been alleviated by the creation of FAT32FS.
Work like that is a far better use of the very limited development resources
still left on this platform.
Of course what happens when the Fat32 system has a 4GB file on it?
And the number of 4GB files which you can do anything useful with on
RISC OS is?
(Although should this subject be on this list?)
As long as this is about what development should be a priority of RISC
OS 5, it falls under the auspices of this list.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a modern disc format and new API on
RISC OS. But without new hardware capable of both accessing large discs
at full speeds, and with enough processor power to do something useful
with large files (such as video), there just isn't enough reason to put
in the development work with old slow hardware like the Iyonix, and no
application development to support it.
Cheers
--
David J. Ruck
email: druck@xxxxxxxxxxxx
phone: +44(0)7974 108301
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