Embedding problem (the next generation)

QNX Newsgroups (Archives) qdn.public.qnxrtp.os
#1

ok now i have basic functionality on my image file by compressing it.
but when i try to add all the photon stuff my image boats out to over
2.5 Megs!! all im including is photon phfont, fontsleuth, pwm,
io-graphics, some fonts and my app…
I dont understand , if QNX can squeze the demo onto a 1.44 meg floppy
how come i can’t seem to get the gui and a few other files onto one?
what am i doing wrong here? i figure that i have to split the image
into two parts the boot and the photon stiff… but i would still wind
up with an image that can’t be fit onto a floppy.
is there come kind of super compression utility that i dont know
about?

Vince

#2

vince <lab-101@usa.net> wrote:
: ok now i have basic functionality on my image file by compressing it.
: but when i try to add all the photon stuff my image boats out to over
: 2.5 Megs!! all im including is photon phfont, fontsleuth, pwm,
: io-graphics, some fonts and my app…

OK, but your original question was how to fit everything into a 72 meg
disk image. If you are down to 2.5 meg, I don’t think you are doing too
bad.

: I dont understand , if QNX can squeze the demo onto a 1.44 meg floppy
: how come i can’t seem to get the gui and a few other files onto one?
: what am i doing wrong here? i figure that i have to split the image
: into two parts the boot and the photon stiff… but i would still wind
: up with an image that can’t be fit onto a floppy.
: is there come kind of super compression utility that i dont know
: about?

I am not sure you are going to get a lot closer than you are. Certainly I
don’t expect you will get it all on the floppy. The QNX4 demo disk is
using Photon 1.13 and took some very amazing people quite a bit of time
to get it to all work. As it is, I don’t believe they can even upgrade
it to Photon 1.14 and still have it all fit.

You want to use a larger Photon version (2.0) and a less optimised system
and you are complaining that you are only at 2.5 meg? I think you are
doing great to be there, and you need to now look at whether the effort of
getting another 500k (which I am not sure is possible) is worth the effort.
If you really have a large flash disk, then work with that and only spend
the effort on reducing the size more if you need it.

Rick…

–
Rick Duff Internet: rick@astra.mb.ca
Astra Network QUICS: rgduff
QNX Consulting and Custom Programming URL: http://www.astra.mb.ca
+1 (204) 987-7475 Fax: +1 (204) 987-7479

#3

sorry… i wasnt intending this to sound like complaining…
i guess after i saw the qnx demo floppy i thought that this could be
done on a regular basis… oh well it was a nice delusion while it
lasted :slight_smile:

i am VERY impressed that ive got it down to 2.5 megs . the problem
that i have is that i have install this off of a floppy. but the image
is too big to install off of one floppy… so im mainly trying to
figure out what the best way of getting the image onto the system… is
it possable to split the images into several smaller ones? and then
how would i mount and reassemble them at the other end?



Vince

#4

I would suggest a LS120, basically a floppyy type device that lets you use
the Superdisk - a 120 MB floppy.(the LS120 drive also handles standard
floppies). This assumes you can attach an IDE device to your hardware.

Anyway, an LS120 only costs about US$40 and it would save you a great deal
of time.

]{ristoph

“vince” <lab-101@usa.net> wrote in message
news:sjouvs8gm7eoa936h6lj50dtdd7rvf9tqj@4ax.com…

sorry… i wasnt intending this to sound like complaining…
i guess after i saw the qnx demo floppy i thought that this could be
done on a regular basis… oh well it was a nice delusion while it
lasted > :slight_smile:

i am VERY impressed that ive got it down to 2.5 megs . the problem
that i have is that i have install this off of a floppy. but the image
is too big to install off of one floppy… so im mainly trying to
figure out what the best way of getting the image onto the system… is
it possable to split the images into several smaller ones? and then
how would i mount and reassemble them at the other end?



Vince

#5

vince <lab-101@usa.net> wrote:

sorry… i wasnt intending this to sound like complaining…
i guess after i saw the qnx demo floppy i thought that this could be
done on a regular basis… oh well it was a nice delusion while it
lasted > :slight_smile:

i am VERY impressed that ive got it down to 2.5 megs . the problem
that i have is that i have install this off of a floppy. but the image
is too big to install off of one floppy… so im mainly trying to
figure out what the best way of getting the image onto the system… is
it possable to split the images into several smaller ones? and then
how would i mount and reassemble them at the other end?

Maybe you could have one floppy contain the boot image and a floppy driver,
and then have the rest of the stuff on the other floppy. Boot up with the
first one as far as you can, and then ask the use to put the second one in
to complete the startup.

#6

Well, under QNX4 I would have used “pax” to create an archive of whatever it
was I was going to install, then used “gzip” to compress the archive, and “vol”
to write it out across as many floppies as it would take (in your case, two of
them). Then installing becomes a matter of someone typing:

“vol -r /dev/fd0 | gunzip | pax -ropvl”

QNX4 had a nifty script “/etc/install” that would read archives created in this
manner (with a 1 block offset on the first disk, however) and run any startup
scripts that were included in the archive. Some times you just can’t beat the
low-tech way of doing things.

-Warren


<pete@qnx.com> wrote in message news:8tpd15$44t$1@nntp.qnx.com…
| vince <lab-101@usa.net> wrote:
| > sorry… i wasnt intending this to sound like complaining…
| > i guess after i saw the qnx demo floppy i thought that this could be
| > done on a regular basis… oh well it was a nice delusion while it
| > lasted :slight_smile:
|
| > i am VERY impressed that ive got it down to 2.5 megs . the problem
| > that i have is that i have install this off of a floppy. but the image
| > is too big to install off of one floppy… so im mainly trying to
| > figure out what the best way of getting the image onto the system… is
| > it possable to split the images into several smaller ones? and then
| > how would i mount and reassemble them at the other end?
|
| Maybe you could have one floppy contain the boot image and a floppy driver,
| and then have the rest of the stuff on the other floppy. Boot up with the
| first one as far as you can, and then ask the use to put the second one in
| to complete the startup.