The LiveCD operates in several different ways based on the amount of RAM available to it. If there is very little RAM, it runs as a READ-ONLY filesystem off of the CD-ROM and may or may not create a RAM drive for temporary files. Give it a little more RAM, it will create READ/WRITE RAM drive to run FreeDOS. It will begin with the most import packages "online" first and continue until all of the ones made "online" by default are loaded. Or, it runs out of space.
Give it more RAM. I recommend a minimum of 64MiB. 128 or 256MiB are even better and leaves lots of room on the RAM drive to play around.
Last edit: Shidel 2020-01-16
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It then brings as much available as it can, based on the amount of RAM that was available. The complete core BASE of FreeDOS and the Installer can run fne with as little as a 16MiB RAM disk. So, if it can create that (requires 20MiB+ for RAM drive and 4MiB reserved for program usage), it does and switches from the CD over to it. Beyond the BASE are extra packages that the user may find useful to have already made Live. At either 32MiB(requires 40MiB+, MiB reserved for programs) or 48MiB(requires 64MiB, 16MiB reserved for programs), all of the packages that have been pre-determined to bring online fit on the RAM disk. I forget the exact amount required to bring the entire default set of packages online. It has changed several times and may change again by the next release.
All of that being said. I may change the warning/notice message to something like Insufficient RAM. Unable to load entire set of extra packages
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Okay.
As for the message: Please don't hide from the user sitting in front of the computer, what sufficient RAM would be! Pleased add >64 MB recommended. or something like that.
Maybe also to the "Welcome to FreeDOS 13-RC2 (LiveCD)" screen.
Cheers,
Robert
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I'm verifying bugs after FreeDOS 1.3 RC4 .. confirming that this is fixed at least in RC4.
I started a tiny virtual machine with only 4MB of memory (QEMU -m 4) and RC4 boots and gives me a clear warning that there's limited RAM drive space, and falling back to the CD-ROM filesystem.
And yes, TEMP is set to the RAM drive, and piped commands do work.
I think we can close this as fixed.
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Looks like I need to be more specific next time.
I wrote that "FYI post" just for the record. To make Shidel's explanation more complete.
But now, that it is already open again: Please add "(>64 MB RAM recommended)" right after the "Use FreeDOS 1.3 in Live Environment mode" like I already suggested on 2020-01-16. :-)
Then this (not a)bug report can be closed.
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This is not a bug. Perhaps different wording could help clarify to the user what the "error" message is actually reporting.
You receive various "error messages" under the following circumstances.
When the LiveCD cannot create a RAM drive at all, it strictly runs on a read-only file system.
When it can not create a normal RAM disk (like under QEMU), it may manage to create a very small RAM drive using an alternate driver. The LiveCD runs from a read-only file system. But, it is able to provide a small RAM drive for I/O redirection (piped commands).
When the installer can create a normal RAM drive but it is not large enough for every package to fit on that RAM drive, it will put the most important stuff there first and continue until the RAM disk is mostly full or package extraction fails. It then prints the message telling you that "not everything" was loaded. This means some things will run from the RAM drive while others will need to run from the much slower CD media. This is the message Robert reported with 32MB of RAM.
If more RAM is given to that virtual machine (as suggested by the message), then ALL packages that are Live on the LiveCD will be running from the RAM drive. This gives the user the ability to remove the CD and continue using FreeDOS normally. It also allows them to install and remove packages into that Live environment.
Last edit: Shidel 2021-06-19
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This is not a bug.
The LiveCD operates in several different ways based on the amount of RAM available to it. If there is very little RAM, it runs as a READ-ONLY filesystem off of the CD-ROM and may or may not create a RAM drive for temporary files. Give it a little more RAM, it will create READ/WRITE RAM drive to run FreeDOS. It will begin with the most import packages "online" first and continue until all of the ones made "online" by default are loaded. Or, it runs out of space.
Give it more RAM. I recommend a minimum of 64MiB. 128 or 256MiB are even better and leaves lots of room on the RAM drive to play around.
Last edit: Shidel 2020-01-16
With 64 MB it worked fine for me. Thanks.
Please add a RAM size check before starting Live mode.
Or at least a warning, that it doesn't work with <64 MB.
Cheers,
Robert
It does check.
It then brings as much available as it can, based on the amount of RAM that was available. The complete core BASE of FreeDOS and the Installer can run fne with as little as a 16MiB RAM disk. So, if it can create that (requires 20MiB+ for RAM drive and 4MiB reserved for program usage), it does and switches from the CD over to it. Beyond the BASE are extra packages that the user may find useful to have already made Live. At either 32MiB (requires 40MiB+, MiB reserved for programs) or 48MiB (requires 64MiB, 16MiB reserved for programs), all of the packages that have been pre-determined to bring online fit on the RAM disk. I forget the exact amount required to bring the entire default set of packages online. It has changed several times and may change again by the next release.
All of that being said. I may change the warning/notice message to something like
Insufficient RAM. Unable to load entire set of extra packagesOkay.
As for the message: Please don't hide from the user sitting in front of the computer, what sufficient RAM would be! Pleased add
>64 MB recommended.or something like that.Maybe also to the "Welcome to FreeDOS 13-RC2 (LiveCD)" screen.
Cheers,
Robert
I'm verifying bugs after FreeDOS 1.3 RC4 .. confirming that this is fixed at least in RC4.
I started a tiny virtual machine with only 4MB of memory (QEMU
-m 4) and RC4 boots and gives me a clear warning that there's limited RAM drive space, and falling back to the CD-ROM filesystem.And yes,
TEMPis set to the RAM drive, and piped commands do work.I think we can close this as fixed.
FYI: With 32 MB RAM for RC4 I get (in Bochs):
Fixed in RC4 .. marking as closed/fixed
I've re-opened the bug based on Robert's confirmation the issue is still there
Last edit: Jim Hall 2021-06-19
Looks like I need to be more specific next time.
I wrote that "FYI post" just for the record. To make Shidel's explanation more complete.
But now, that it is already open again: Please add "(>64 MB RAM recommended)" right after the "Use FreeDOS 1.3 in Live Environment mode" like I already suggested on 2020-01-16. :-)
Then this (not a)bug report can be closed.
This is not a bug. Perhaps different wording could help clarify to the user what the "error" message is actually reporting.
You receive various "error messages" under the following circumstances.
If more RAM is given to that virtual machine (as suggested by the message), then ALL packages that are Live on the LiveCD will be running from the RAM drive. This gives the user the ability to remove the CD and continue using FreeDOS normally. It also allows them to install and remove packages into that Live environment.
Last edit: Shidel 2021-06-19
I understand that. See my reply to Jim.