29 Jul
2003
29 Jul
'03
3:56 p.m.
On Mon, 28 Jul 2003, Bob Shannon wrote:
But non-FAT based DOS's have been implemented, and
once SQUEEZED, appear
to be just as efficient
as other schemes. Yes, fragmentation is an issue, but this is more
easily solved (via SQUEEZE) then the code
needed to maintain the FAT.
Ok, so when it comes time to do a SQUEEZE, how long is it going to take,
and on a sufficiently large drive with very large allocation units, how
are you going to do an effective SQUEEZE with only 16K words?
Simplicity suggests that if its not needed, its not
implemented.
There is the possibility that this is being over-simplified.
I think there is a lot to be learned from vintage file
systems like
TSS-8, RT-11, Northstar DOS, etc.
Me too: how NOT to design an OS :)
There seems to be a real lack of any objective
anatomical dissection of
different methods in print, at least in a
readable (approachable) form. This is proably the only place such a
discussion could ever take place, as so
few people new to file system internals ever develop new approaches.
There have probably been dozens of books covering this topic written
throughout the 1960s, 1970s and into the 1980s. One such title that comes
up from my current catalog is titled _File Structures For On-line Systems_
by David Lefkovitz (1969). I can guarantee there are many more.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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