On Wednesday 27 December 2006 13:17, Les Mikesell wrote: > On Wed, 2006-12-27 at 11:42 -0800, Dave Stevens wrote: > > > Whenever I copy large files (>2G) or create large tar archives I > > > basically loose control of my box (2.1Gz Laptop running FC5) until the > > > copy or tar is complete. I can still try and work but the mouse > > > movements are delayed several seconds, other programs take minutes to > > > respond, etc. > > > > > > Is there a way I can overcome this so I can still work as normal during > > > these > > > > > > operations, maybe a way to limit the amount of cpu or system resources > > > that a > > > > > > cp or tar process can have? Other ideas? > > > > > > Thanks in advance > > > > man nice > > I doubt if that will help much. Cp/tar, etc. do very little work in > the main process - it's all read()/write() system calls. I'd guess the > problem is that your disk interface is taking all the CPU and > what you need to do is enable dma if it can handle it. If it is IDE, > it might be worth adding a new card. > > -- > Les Mikesell > lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx Thanks for the info. How do I enable DMA on a SATA drive?
