Re: announce: ext2 compression patch

Ryan Tucker (rtucker@crasher2.ttgcitn.com)
Tue, 2 Apr 1996 08:03:00 -0600 (CST)

Thus spake Michel LESPINASSE, splattered hither:
> When I was still using msdos, some years ago, I occasionnaly used a freeware
> disk compressor, named JAM. It had a really cool feature : it had several
> packing algorithms, so most of the time I used the FAST one, that allowed
> me to accelerate my hard disk access times, and then when I wanted to
> take a coffee-break, I launched a disk optimizer, that repacked all the
> recent data with a better packing algorithm - this was quite fast, because
> it only tried to repack the recent data that was still using the fast
> algorithm.
>
> I think this could be a great feature for those who run linux on
> low-power computers. perhaps the repack phase could be lauched in the night
> with a crontab program, or by a daemon when the load is low.

I'd like to see that implimented for Linux ... I'm planning installation of
Linux on a 386sx20 with 4mb of RAM and 40mb of disk space, which is a rather
masochistic task (at least we'll be using someone else's newsserver :-).

I'd be willing to test the patch if/when it's created.

Another idea... possibly have it run as a daemon? That would be easier for
me (and other low-disk users) because there's no room for compilers or linux
source on a 40mb disk. It could run kind of like kerneld ... uncompress files
as needed, and recompress when done.

Just my 6 cents worth (adjusted for inflation)... -rt

-- 
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