Author Topic: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...  (Read 15093 times)

Sigurd Fastenrath

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Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« on: November 11, 2014, 09:07:48 pm »
Hi,

I do have the QSINIT 301 running with my sony Vaio Pro 13. As it is equipped with 8 GB RAM I would like to build an 4 GB RAM Disk with QSINIT.

The best would be, if this RAMDISK is automatically created during the boot process.

I read through the documentation and tried my best, without success.

- tried it with typing the command in the QSINIT Shell    ramdisk /q nohigh size=4096 R:   but that seemed to do nothing.
- as I tried to find ramdisk.exe inside the qsinitfiles and did have no success I downloaded the ramfs and added the ramfs.ifs to config.sys . But this changed nothing - as I expected because the config.sys is loaded after the QSINIT Loader startet...

Well, I know that Doug Bissett played around with this but was not able to find it in this forum.

Help is really appreciated!

Thanks

Sigurd
« Last Edit: November 12, 2014, 07:39:49 am by Sigurd Fastenrath »

Andreas Schnellbacher

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2014, 10:09:00 pm »
Maybe you mean this discussion on page 3: http://www.os2world.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=172;area=showposts;start=30

Yes, search in the forum won't list most threads/postings. I was more successful by search for walking_x' posts.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2014, 12:33:53 am by Andreas Schnellbacher »

Doug Bissett

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2014, 01:40:52 am »
Quote
ramdisk /q nohigh size=4096 R:

Well, the first thing that you did wrong, was to tell it to create a 4 GB RAMDISK BELOW the 4 GB mark. You really don't want to do that. Then, "size" is not a valid parameter, and even if it was, you don't have 4 GB free below the 4 GB mark. The command that you want is: "ramdisk R:" (without the quotes). That will create a FAT32 drive (but I never tried more than about 1.5 GB, since I only have 5 GB on my biggest system).

I think the previous post takes you to the wrong place. There is some discussion, but that is not the thread where i described how to do it. The thread where I described how to do it is a bit confusing because it was created as I worked my way through the project.

A simple (I hope) summary:

1) Get the package. The latest should always be; ftp://212.12.30.18/public/QS/QS_LDR.ZIP.

2) UnZip it someplace.

3) Use ATTRIB -H -R -S to make OS2LDR visible, and not protected (you can put that back later, if you like, but it is not necessary). COPY your original OS2LDR file to OS2LDR.IBM

4) Put OS2LDR and QSINIT.LDI in the root of your boot drive (replacing the original OS2LDR file).

5) Put \ramdisk\hd4disk.add into \OS2\BOOT.

6) Create a file os2ldr.ini in the root of the boot drive. It should contain something like:
Code: [Select]
[config]
default=2
timeout=4
[kernel]
OS2LDR.IBM=Original boot, RESTART
os2krnl=Default boot
os2krnl=Show driver names, ALTF2
This creates your QSINIT boot menu, and it will default to make QSINIT boot the os2krnl (unless you hit a key), after 4 seconds. READ the docs for the details.

7) Create a file QSSETUP.CMD. This is effectively the STARTUP.CMD for the QSINIT loader. It resides in the root of your boot drive. You want a RAMDISK, above the 4 GB mark, using all available memory. QSETUP.CMD should contain one line:
Code: [Select]
RAMDISK R:
7a) (I almost forgot) Put the line:
Code: [Select]
BASEDEV=hd4disk.addin CONFIG.SYS. I put it immediately after AHCI, or Danis (depending on what I use).

8 ) Okay, now you should be able to boot, and a drive R: should be a FAT32 drive on your system (you do need the FAT32 driver installed, but I suggest that you do NOT use the FAT32 cache program (no point, and it only causes trouble).

9) I find that using FAT32 is probably not the most desirable solution, so I take a few extra steps to convert it to JFS. The trick here is that you need to format the drive, before the WPS starts up, then, you need to unmount, and mount, it again after the WPS starts up, but before you attempt to use it.

10) Make a file called makeR.cmd in the root of the boot drive. It should contain:
Code: [Select]
format R: /FS:JFS /V:RAMDISK < RAMFMTRESP.TXT
11) RAMFMTRESP.TXT contains the "Y" response to the format command. It should contain one character, a "Y", without the quotes.

12) Put the line:
Code: [Select]
CALL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE /Q /C C:\makeR.cmdnear the end of CONFIG.SYS. i suggest before you define %TEMP% (which can point to the RAMDISK, just don't try to use that until it  finishes doing step 13), and before you run DMT.EXE (if you use it).

13. Now, add the lines:
Code: [Select]
lvm /hide:[ Vol.00 ]
sleep 2
lvm /driveletter:[ Vol.00 ],R:
to the top of STARTUP.CMD (create the file if it doesn't already exist).

Now, a boot should cause the drive to be formatted as JFS, and the WPS should be educated to use it as a JFS drive. On really SLOW machines, you may need more than a 2 second sleep. It seems that all of my systems need at least 2 seconds. (SLEEP is a command that exists on newer versions of eCS - you may need to use REXX to do that on older versions of OS/2 and eCS).

Note, that is is possible to use HPFS, BUT, it seems that there is some sort of problem, that JFS does not have, so I suggest avoiding that option.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2014, 01:46:11 am by Doug Bissett »

Sigurd Fastenrath

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2014, 07:39:11 am »
Thanks to both of you, espacially to Doug - I think your post should go directly into the WIKI!!!

Really great, I already had the steps 1 to 6 and 7a before (as shown in my Video  :)  ) and followed your next steps. I still do something wrong with the steps 10 to 13, so I do have a crash with these - have to figure out exactly why. I need some more time for this and will report.

Attached a screenshot with DFSEE and the Driveletter R:   :)

Explanation:
In DFSEE you see the Partitions I created on the internal 256GB M2SSD of the Vaio Pro 13, where

ID 01 is HPFS386 with OS/2 Warp 4.52 + my additions + parts from eCS 2.2b2 (Driveletter C:)
ID 02 is Windows 7 Pro 64 (Driveletter C:)
ID 03 is Windows 8.1 Pro 64 (Driveletter C:) (so the Windowsversions do not see each other)
ID 04 and 05 are NTFS Drives for use with Windows, ID 05 is used to store the Imagefiles I create with DFSEE in Windows 7 from the OS/2 Partition to have backups
ID 06 is FAT32 drive to share files between Windows and OS/2 (as no WLAN is working with OS/2)
ID 07 and 08 are JFS Drives for OS/2
ID 09 is the RAMDISK created for OS/2 with QSINIT
AirBootManager is used for booting the three Operating Systems

It took me some time to sort out how to create the disks and install Windows 7 and 8 to not see each other  :)


Sigurd



« Last Edit: November 12, 2014, 07:52:41 am by Sigurd Fastenrath »

Doug Bissett

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2014, 05:37:40 pm »
Quote
I think your post should go directly into the WIKI!!!

Let's get it right first.

Quote
I still do something wrong with the steps 10 to 13, so I do have a crash with these - have to figure out exactly why. I need some more time for this and will report.

Time. Yes, we all need more of that.   :( 

Where does it crash? What does it do? Chances are that the system is trying to do something with it, at a time when it isn't going to work, or, you are running into a startup conflict.

You might try using my LCSS package to sort CONFIG.SYS. It is in ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/util/config/.  Be sure to READ the instructions.

Quote
ID 01 is HPFS386 with OS/2 Warp 4.52 + my additions + parts from eCS 2.2b2 (Driveletter C:)

I would suggest scrapping HPFS386, and use JFS for your boot drive. One MAJOR advantage is that you will eliminate a LOT of shared memory usage. I quit loading HPFS support a few years ago, and shared memory has not been a problem, until recently, when Firefox seems to be using a LOT more than it did earlier. I don't know how HPFS386 compares to HPFS, for shared memory usage, but it may be worth trying.

Sigurd Fastenrath

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2014, 09:10:38 am »

Quote
I still do something wrong with the steps 10 to 13, so I do have a crash with these - have to figure out exactly why. I need some more time for this and will report.

Time. Yes, we all need more of that.   :( 

Yes - the time problem -  ::)

Besides my OS/2 things I am working on old Thinkpads -mostly later equipped with OS/2 as well, Like the

IBM Thinkpad 365ED
https://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkpad-forum.de%2Fthreads%2F178960-Viele-Bilder-Fragen-zum-Thinkpad-365ED&edit-text=
(see attached Pictures PCDOS7,WIN311,WARP3)

IBM Thinkpad 701c (Butterfly)
https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkpad-forum.de%2Fthreads%2F167801-Maximum-Warp-Thinkpad-701c-Schmetterling-fliegt-wieder!
(see attached Picture 701)

IBM Thinkpad Transnote
https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkpad-forum.de%2Fthreads%2F166112-IBM-Transnote-In-Action!
(see attached Picture Transnote)

Meanwhile I have got all 3 in good condition and running....   8)  but still some small or minor issues to solve.

It is esecially nice to see the Thinkpad Butterfly fueled by OS/2 Warp connect with WINOS2 with everything supported....  ::)

Then there is the "Maximum Warp DVD with QSINIT" project still in the pipe and the "OS/2 User Meeting Cologne 2014" at hand, besides my Project "OS/2 on modern Hardware (Sony Vaio Pro 13) via cloning"....

I will report as soon as I make progress, thanks so far!


Andy Willis

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #6 on: November 14, 2014, 11:33:05 pm »
I have been trying the ramdisk again and attempting to format it JFS but I guess the problem is that I have been trying to format it after WPS comes up because it just doesn't work at all here (see below).  The problem with setting the qsetup.cmd and the maker.cmd approach is that then the ramdisk cannot survive a reboot if you wanted it to. 
By manually building the ramdisk with the F3 (I think that is right) to get to the qsinit shell,  when I reboot and not create the ramdisk I find the ramdisk left in place with the files I copied to it. 

[D:\]format q: /fs:jfs
The type of file system for the disk is FAT32.
Warning!  All data on hard disk q: will be lost!
Proceed with FORMAT (Y/N)? y
SYS0528: The specified disk did not finish formatting.

[D:\]help sys0528

SYS0528: The specified disk did not finish formatting.

EXPLANATION: An operating system error occurred while the disk was
being formatted.  FORMAT was not able to finish formatting the
specified disk.
ACTION: Restart your computer and run FORMAT again.

walking_x

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #7 on: November 14, 2014, 11:54:35 pm »
SYS0528: The specified disk did not finish formatting.
I think - this is one of FAT32.IFS surprises ;)
You can try to use NOFAT32 key in RAMDISK command line.

Quote
By manually building the ramdisk with the F3 (I think that is right) to get to the qsinit shell,  when I reboot and not create the ramdisk I find the ramdisk left in place with the files I copied to it.
And, yes - this funny data saving after reboot is a feature, not a bug ;)
Actually, without hardware reset/power off - BIOS leave memory above 4Gb untouched, and HD4DISK.ADD can discover such disk on next boot if it will not be overwritten by RAMDISK or someone else :)
But, there is no any real guarantee of data safeness in this case..

Andy Willis

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2014, 02:38:20 am »
You can try to use NOFAT32 key in RAMDISK command line.
Indeed, I can now format it JFS.  The format throws an error but the format is complete by then:
Format completed successfully.

5172898 kilobytes total disk space.
5151288 kilobytes are available.
R6000
- stack overflow
SYS1811: The process has stopped.  The software diagnostic code
(trap number) is  000D.

Doug Bissett

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2014, 07:52:00 am »
Quote
Quote

    By manually building the ramdisk with the F3 (I think that is right) to get to the qsinit shell,  when I reboot and not create the ramdisk I find the ramdisk left in place with the files I copied to it.

And, yes - this funny data saving after reboot is a feature, not a bug ;)
Actually, without hardware reset/power off - BIOS leave memory above 4Gb untouched, and HD4DISK.ADD can discover such disk on next boot if it will not be overwritten by RAMDISK or someone else :)
But, there is no any real guarantee of data safeness in this case..

I have noticed that "feature", but it is not reliable (about 1 in 10 seems to go AWOL). It even survives booting to windows 7 (32 bit, but not the 64 bit version, of course). This may depend on the machine BIOS, and what it does on a soft boot.

Quote
Indeed, I can now format it JFS.  The format throws an error but the format is complete by then:
Format completed successfully.

5172898 kilobytes total disk space.
5151288 kilobytes are available.
R6000
- stack overflow
SYS1811: The process has stopped.  The software diagnostic code
(trap number) is  000D.

My guess would be that the disk geometry is not as OS/2 likes it. One suggestion: try limiting the disk size to something a little smaller.

Code: [Select]
RAMDISK Q: max=5000
Some experimenting may be required to find a good number. DFSEE may give you some useful information.

walking_x

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Re: Help for QSINIT Ram Disk appreciated...
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2014, 08:16:38 am »
R6000
- stack overflow
Is it works on normal drives?
This can be wrong UCONV fix, for example (I had stack overflow in UDF format, with such UCONV).