Prism2 Netgear MA401 performance

[MarkWatson]

I'm only getting 70KB/s when using ftp (several versions including wget) over my Prism2. This is similar with Genesis and Miami. I have an 060 and the signal quality is good so I expected more like 400KB/sec. At least I saw that mentioned in a few threads on prism2.

Are there any software tweaks to improve this?

Thanks,

Mark

[patrik]

1. Use AmiTCP/Genesis.
2. Make sure the kickstart is mapped into fastmem - this is a hardware feature on Blizzard boards, for Apollo and the likes check RemApollo.
3. Make sure exec.library is in fastmem. This can be verified by for example checking the library list in SysInfo. If it is in chipmem, fix it with BlizKick or RemApollo, depending on what board you have.
4. Make sure you have properly recent 68060.library from the manufacturer of your board.

Point 2, 3 and 4, especially 2 and 3 are to make sure the OS performance of your machine is good, as the TCP/IP stacks are very sensitive to that.

Other than that the performance of file transfer clients varies a lot. Many can also need some tweaking of buffer settings etc.

Regarding wget I have a memory of it performing like a turd on storage with substantial seektimes, like harddrives and is only usable storage with minimal seektime like the ram-drive, which unfortunately consumes quite a lot of cpu time.

This simple HTTP GET client is the fastest I know of. It's biggest limitation is that it doesn't support redirects, but it is good for checking how fast you should be able to download files to your harddrive from a particular site.

Btw, when doing speedtests, make sure you try transferring something on your local network, as speed can detoriate pretty much when the latency grows, especially with older TCP/IP stacks.


/Patrik

[MarkWatson]

Thanks:). 1&4 were taken care of. I'd forgotten to remove the "MapROM" jumper on the 1260. So thats point 2.

That just leaves point 3. Unfortunately I'm having a few more issues with 3:-( I'm trying to use BlizKick with the following options - first entry in s:startup-sequence:

This works:
c:blizkick *

This fails:
c:blizkick * EXTRESBUS=32768
"object is not of required type"

I tried:
c:blizkick * module fastlocal

Unfortunately there isn't enough space. I'm wondering if this BlizKick issue is related to using 3.9 ROMs...

Thanks,

Mark

Edit: Looks like it is an OS3.9 on ROM thing. I can use the 3.1 + patches for now then. Until I get the EPROM burner out

[patrik]

There are some patches for AmigaOS which changes the interpretation of the * character in shells. Try and see if you get the same result if you boot without startup-sequence.

If not, there is a utility shipped with BlizKick which can rip your rom - rip it and use it as the first argument to BlizKick. It won't cost any memory or anything as you already have the motherboard kickstart in fastmem, it is just a bit ugly to reload it from file .

Btw, to use the LocalFast module you probably have to put BlizKick at the top of your S:Startup-Sequence, before the C:SetPatch line. Don't forget the QUIET argument, or else it will output text and open the shell, making stuff troublesome for iprefs.


/Patrik

[MarkWatson]

It seems that BlizKick doesn't like patching 3.9 roms build by Remus. I'm rebuiling the ROM images with the appropriate patches instead. Does this list look good:
Romfixes2 (do I still need romfixes?)
PatchMath020_All
HogWaitBlit
ColdResetCard
DosResetCard (I'm presuming I need both reset cards?)
FixGetMsg
MoveVBR
NoClick

I also want LocalFast, but it isn't having that one:-( Sounds like that is most important. Remus says "suitable memory header not found". Since that isn't working will running FastExec in the startup sequence instead give equivalent results?

Thanks,

Mark

[patrik]

Uhm, I don't know how you have configured your system, but if you use BlizKick, you do not need a patched ROM-file, just use the stock 3.1 rom as a file and then add modules to the BlizKick command line. Anyhow, just start small with the stock 3.1 kickstart and the LocalFast modules, when that is working, add more.

LocalFast is supplied with the BlizKick archive. Just copy the Modules drawer from the archive to DEVS:. There is a button to install everything in the Amigaguide manual for BlizKick actually, that the simplest way to install it.

If you are running 3.9, there is a tool to extract the 3.9-upgrade stuff from the the "DEVS:AmigaOS ROM Update" file. Then put these in DEVS:Modules/ and load them as regular BlizKick modules. You must enter the LocalFast module last of all modules btw, or else it will not have any effect. Also, dont forget to add more EXTRESBUF, or else there will not be enough room. All of this is described in the BlizKick manual.

If you load the 3.9 upgrades with BlizKick, you also need to supply the NOROMUPDATE argument to SetPatch in the Startup-Sequence, to stop it from trying to load them.

You only need one of the CardPatch modules, the dos one if I recall is most system friendly and works fine.

Make sure to verify with sysinfo that exec.library really ends up in fastmem.


/Patrik

[MarkWatson]

Sorry I wasn't clear. I'm using OS3.9 burned onto EPROMs, to avoid a reboot. Just OS3.1+ the rom updates, no further patches.

To try exec library in fastram I tried BlizKick, as you suggested. It was not having it though, I think due to my non-standard OS 3.9 ROM. I think it will work with an OS3.1 file + ROM updates + patches. I will try that shortly.

Instead I decided to burn a new ROM instead with all the patches. So I applied the BlizKick patches with Remus(tool to make ROM images for burning) instead. Unfortunately it didn't like LocalFast, the very module I wanted:-(

Anyway I have now burned a new 3.9 ROM with the other modules, which is a big improvement anyway. I have the card reset patch, noclick etc. So no more messing around unplugging the card each reboot! So I need to get Remus to understand LocalFast somehow. I'll ask Doobrey first...

I just tried another method of moving exec to fastram - fastexec, to avoid digging out the ROM updates! I checked it with sysinfo, with FastExec it was in fast RAM. Without it was indeed in chip RAM. Unfortunately it didn't really speed up the network card, though undoubtedly it will have improved the system generally. In AmiFTP I am still getting only about 70KB/sec.

Anyway thanks for the help so far. Really appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

[patrik]

Ok, now I understand.

From where are you downloading with AmFTP? If you are downloading from the internet somewhere, try to download from another machine on your local network.

Also, give AsyncHTTPGet a try and download a larger file with it, it is guaranteed _much_ faster than AmFTP.


/Patrik

[MarkWatson]

I'm downloading from my LAN. Its an 802.11g setup. Perhaps the 11b/11g stuff doesn't work well with the prism2 driver.

I just tried AsyncHTTPGet (while exec is in fast RAM) with a 1MB file. Similar performance, I get 60-70KB/sec. I tried downloading to RAM and to HDD.

Mark