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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/ide')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt | 79 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 79 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt b/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt index 658f271a373f..51f596b282cd 100644 --- a/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt +++ b/Documentation/ide/ide-tape.txt | |||
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ | |||
8 | * interface, on the other hand, creates new requests, adds them | 8 | * interface, on the other hand, creates new requests, adds them |
9 | * to the request-list of the block device, and waits for their completion. | 9 | * to the request-list of the block device, and waits for their completion. |
10 | * | 10 | * |
11 | * Pipelined operation mode is now supported on both reads and writes. | ||
12 | * | ||
13 | * The block device major and minor numbers are determined from the | 11 | * The block device major and minor numbers are determined from the |
14 | * tape's relative position in the ide interfaces, as explained in ide.c. | 12 | * tape's relative position in the ide interfaces, as explained in ide.c. |
15 | * | 13 | * |
@@ -45,83 +43,6 @@ | |||
45 | * | 43 | * |
46 | * | Special care is recommended. Have Fun! | 44 | * | Special care is recommended. Have Fun! |
47 | * | 45 | * |
48 | * | ||
49 | * An overview of the pipelined operation mode. | ||
50 | * | ||
51 | * In the pipelined write mode, we will usually just add requests to our | ||
52 | * pipeline and return immediately, before we even start to service them. The | ||
53 | * user program will then have enough time to prepare the next request while | ||
54 | * we are still busy servicing previous requests. In the pipelined read mode, | ||
55 | * the situation is similar - we add read-ahead requests into the pipeline, | ||
56 | * before the user even requested them. | ||
57 | * | ||
58 | * The pipeline can be viewed as a "safety net" which will be activated when | ||
59 | * the system load is high and prevents the user backup program from keeping up | ||
60 | * with the current tape speed. At this point, the pipeline will get | ||
61 | * shorter and shorter but the tape will still be streaming at the same speed. | ||
62 | * Assuming we have enough pipeline stages, the system load will hopefully | ||
63 | * decrease before the pipeline is completely empty, and the backup program | ||
64 | * will be able to "catch up" and refill the pipeline again. | ||
65 | * | ||
66 | * When using the pipelined mode, it would be best to disable any type of | ||
67 | * buffering done by the user program, as ide-tape already provides all the | ||
68 | * benefits in the kernel, where it can be done in a more efficient way. | ||
69 | * As we will usually not block the user program on a request, the most | ||
70 | * efficient user code will then be a simple read-write-read-... cycle. | ||
71 | * Any additional logic will usually just slow down the backup process. | ||
72 | * | ||
73 | * Using the pipelined mode, I get a constant over 400 KBps throughput, | ||
74 | * which seems to be the maximum throughput supported by my tape. | ||
75 | * | ||
76 | * However, there are some downfalls: | ||
77 | * | ||
78 | * 1. We use memory (for data buffers) in proportional to the number | ||
79 | * of pipeline stages (each stage is about 26 KB with my tape). | ||
80 | * 2. In the pipelined write mode, we cheat and postpone error codes | ||
81 | * to the user task. In read mode, the actual tape position | ||
82 | * will be a bit further than the last requested block. | ||
83 | * | ||
84 | * Concerning (1): | ||
85 | * | ||
86 | * 1. We allocate stages dynamically only when we need them. When | ||
87 | * we don't need them, we don't consume additional memory. In | ||
88 | * case we can't allocate stages, we just manage without them | ||
89 | * (at the expense of decreased throughput) so when Linux is | ||
90 | * tight in memory, we will not pose additional difficulties. | ||
91 | * | ||
92 | * 2. The maximum number of stages (which is, in fact, the maximum | ||
93 | * amount of memory) which we allocate is limited by the compile | ||
94 | * time parameter IDETAPE_MAX_PIPELINE_STAGES. | ||
95 | * | ||
96 | * 3. The maximum number of stages is a controlled parameter - We | ||
97 | * don't start from the user defined maximum number of stages | ||
98 | * but from the lower IDETAPE_MIN_PIPELINE_STAGES (again, we | ||
99 | * will not even allocate this amount of stages if the user | ||
100 | * program can't handle the speed). We then implement a feedback | ||
101 | * loop which checks if the pipeline is empty, and if it is, we | ||
102 | * increase the maximum number of stages as necessary until we | ||
103 | * reach the optimum value which just manages to keep the tape | ||
104 | * busy with minimum allocated memory or until we reach | ||
105 | * IDETAPE_MAX_PIPELINE_STAGES. | ||
106 | * | ||
107 | * Concerning (2): | ||
108 | * | ||
109 | * In pipelined write mode, ide-tape can not return accurate error codes | ||
110 | * to the user program since we usually just add the request to the | ||
111 | * pipeline without waiting for it to be serviced. In case an error | ||
112 | * occurs, I will report it on the next user request. | ||
113 | * | ||
114 | * In the pipelined read mode, subsequent read requests or forward | ||
115 | * filemark spacing will perform correctly, as we preserve all blocks | ||
116 | * and filemarks which we encountered during our excess read-ahead. | ||
117 | * | ||
118 | * For accurate tape positioning and error reporting, disabling | ||
119 | * pipelined mode might be the best option. | ||
120 | * | ||
121 | * You can enable/disable/tune the pipelined operation mode by adjusting | ||
122 | * the compile time parameters below. | ||
123 | * | ||
124 | * | ||
125 | * Possible improvements. | 46 | * Possible improvements. |
126 | * | 47 | * |
127 | * 1. Support for the ATAPI overlap protocol. | 48 | * 1. Support for the ATAPI overlap protocol. |