How to use toram option


Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: How to use toram option
started by: venkriss

Posted by venkriss on Jan. 07 2005,00:21
Hi friends,
I am completely new to DSL.  I came to know about this when I was searching for an ejectable bootCD.  I found from these forums that if I use "toram" boot option I can make the DSL CD ejectable.  However I was not successful.  Can somebody suggest me on howto use "toram" option and make the CD ejectable.  Following is the unsuccessful process I went through.

1) Booted DSL cd using "knoppix26 toram" option.
2) After booting, at the rootshell I said
    $:> eject /mnt/cdrom
3) CD was ejected, however if I try to use some commands (Example "more filename") it kept on saying Input/Output error.

Please let me know where the process went wrong.

Thanks,
VK

Posted by ke4nt1 on Jan. 07 2005,00:33
Try using the command

    dsl toram

Even better , if your drives support it, is

    dsl dma toram

There is not a 2.6.X kernel in DSL, only 2.4.26.
Let us know if it works..

73
ke4nt

Posted by Mechcozmo on Jan. 09 2005,07:33
Quote (ke4nt1 @ Jan. 06 2005,19:33)
Try using the command

    dsl toram

Even better , if your drives support it, is

    dsl dma toram

What do those commands do?  I know that if you are starting off of a USB flashdrive, you have a limited number of writes before a block goes bad.  So those are good options for a USB-stick, but what do they do?

Posted by mikshaw on Jan. 09 2005,15:42
dsl toram loads the whole filesystem into RAM, so you can eject the DSL CD and also access your applications faster.  If you're running from CD applications are individually loaded into RAM the first time you use them.

dsl dma enables Direct Memory Access for your disks.  If your disks support it, this allows for accelerated throughput (faster access).
< http://www.science.unitn.it/~fiorella/guidelinux/tlk/node87.html >

Posted by Caspar_s on Jan. 09 2005,17:02
Quote
I know that if you are starting off of a USB flashdrive, you have a limited number of writes before a block goes bad.  So those are good options for a USB-stick, but what do they do?


But surely you're not actually changing much when you're running dsl off your usb stick?  I mean, you don't have a swap partition on it, and it mainly just reads all the os off the drive, it doesn't change it.  Would it be faster with toram?

Posted by ke4nt1 on Jan. 09 2005,21:56
Quote (Guest @ Jan. 09 2005,11:02)
Quote
I know that if you are starting off of a USB flashdrive, you have a limited number of writes before a block goes bad.  So those are good options for a USB-stick, but what do they do?


But surely you're not actually changing much when you're running dsl off your usb stick?  I mean, you don't have a swap partition on it, and it mainly just reads all the os off the drive, it doesn't change it.  Would it be faster with toram?

A USB key is MUCH slower than a hard drive..
A hard drive is MUCH slower than a ramdrive..

Running your OS completely loaded into ram
improves performance on any machine,
and reduces writes to ALL your devices,
It also improves write times..

73
ke4nt

Posted by mikshaw on Jan. 10 2005,04:59
Quote
Running your OS completely loaded into ram
improves performance on any machine,

Unless your machine is very low on RAM to begin with...loading the whole system into 16mb could present a problem.

Posted by venkriss on Jan. 10 2005,22:39
Guys,
Thanks for all the support.
dsl toram option works.

Thanks,
VK

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