DOS ain't dead

Better 11-22-2009 UIDE Available. (Announce)

posted by Jack , Fresno, California USA, 24.11.2009, 08:48

Johnson Lam has posted another DRIVERS.ZIP file, now dated 11-22-2009, on
his website at --

http://johnson.tmfc.net/dos/driver.html

The 11-22-2009 UIDE/UIDEJR, and all later releases, shall now be supplied
without UPX packing. This prevents DOS system loaders, FreeDOS DEVLOAD,
and other loaders from placing the drivers in too-small a memory area due
to their "packed" size. When the drivers are unpacked, this can DESTROY
whatever follows them in memory! If UIDE/UIDEJR are "seen" full-size by
DOS loaders, this unpacking problem is eliminated.

The 11-22-2009 UIDE also has more optimal cache-block sizes. My testing
showed that when UIDE copied my 63-MB WINNT\SYSTEM32 directory to another
hard-disk area, the total 126-MB (input and output data) needed 180-MB of
cache to compare at XMS-memory speeds, i.e. all files were "in cache" and
compared quickly. Since this is only 70% efficient, I tried 32K and 16K
cache-block sizes. 32K blocks required only 150-MB of cache, 16K blocks
needed only 140-MB! MUCH more efficient!

So, UIDE shall now use 16K-byte cache blocks for 40-MB to 1023-MB caches,
32K blocks for 1024-MB (1 Gigabyte) to 2047-MB caches, and 64K blocks for
2-GB caches or more, which must use 64K blocks. I noted no visible loss
of speed in my tests, from reading or writing smaller blocks. UIDE also
has a new /F switch to set 64K blocks as before, for "odd" cases when 64K
blocks may provide a tiny bit more speed.

My apologies to all, for failing to realize until now that smaller blocks
in fact DO provide up 25% better cache capacity for UIDE!

Note that these changes are for the standard XMS-memory caches only. /P
protected mode caches have far more limited binary-search table space and
their total blocks cannot be doubled/quadrupled! So, the /P caches will
continue to use 64K blocks for all caches above 50-MB.

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(Account disabled on user's request.)

Complete thread:

• New 11-16-2009 UIDE Available. - Jack, 20.11.2009, 13:50 (Announce)
  • Steve Burd Says 4-GB UIDE Works Fine! - Jack, 21.11.2009, 00:59
  • New 11-16-2009 UIDE Available. - Rugxulo, 22.11.2009, 00:42
    • Comments On New 16-Nov-2009 UIDE. - Jack, 22.11.2009, 04:35
      • Comments On New 16-Nov-2009 UIDE. - RayeR, 23.11.2009, 01:11
        • Comments On New 16-Nov-2009 UIDE. - Jack, 23.11.2009, 07:41
  • Better 11-22-2009 UIDE Available. - Jack, 24.11.2009, 08:48
    • Better 11-22-2009 UIDE Available. - Zyzzle, 25.11.2009, 02:52
      • Comments On 11-22-2009 UIDE. - Jack, 25.11.2009, 08:26