Round 2:
(Connectix is enabled throughout until I specify otherwise)
Q950-PPC-8.1
Download
http://download.system7today.com/officeupdates.sit (20.8MB; 21,912,064 bytes)
Destination: RAM Disk
Netscape Communicator 4.8
10Mbps
92 seconds / Avg 238 KBps / 1.91 Mbps
100Mbps
75 seconds / Avg 292 KBps / 2.34 Mbps
iCab and Internet Explorer both allow specifying the RAM disk as a download location, but according to the SCSI I/O it appears the browser caches the file to the disk first, then copies it to the RAM disk, making the results laughably slow and not worth mentioning for the purpose of this test. I'll do more testing with the UW drive as the destination later.
Now another round of testing with Mac OS 9.2.1 Update.smi, but served by the Pismo this time (the file took less than a minute to get from the 9600's ATA133 drive to the Pismo's RAM disk over 100Mb, so the 9600 really shouldn't have been the limiting factor.) I didn't mention, the 9600 runs 8.6. Pismo is 9.2.2, which has the option to 'Enable File Sharing clients to connect over TCP/IP' which I have enabled.
Source: Pismo's RAM Disk; Destination: Quadra's RAM Disk
100Mbps
143 seconds / Avg 601 KBps / 4.81 Mbps
As this is just a hair faster than the original test from the 9600 I'll just be testing with the 100Mb connection until I find something that produces a more dramatic change.
I then updated the AppleShare Client software on the Quadra from 3.7.4 to 3.8.3 and re-ran the test. (This update also allows 7.6.x and newer to authenticate OS X shares through Tiger, as well as Leopard but in read only.)
100Mbps
147 seconds / Avg 585 KBps / 4.68 Mbps was the best time I could get after several retries. (Most of these tests have been done more than once for sanity checks, the best times have been reported, as long as the rest have been close enough for margin of error.)
So that slowed down slightly...
Let's try something completely different- from the Pismo's RAM Disk directly to the UW SCSI drive attached to the ATTO Nubus Card.
100Mbps
138 seconds / 623 KBps / 4.99 Mbps
Well this certainly lends credibility to the partial Nubus 90 implementation theory, but these numbers are still so small it's hard to say with certainty. These numbers reproduce consistently from the Pismo's RAM drive, but from the 9600's RAM drive it doesn't seem to make a big difference whether the destination is the Quadra's RAM disk or its UW drive.
The last thing I'll do tonight is reboot the Pismo from 10.4.11 and mount its IDE-CF drive from the Quadra. For the first test I'll grab the file from the IDE and drop it on the Quadra's RAM drive.
100Mbps
188 Seconds / 458 KBps / 3.66 Mbps
And now from the Pismo's IDE to to the Quadra's UW drive.
100Mbps
203 Seconds / 424 KBps / 3.39 Mbps
And since this is a probable current day use case, I decided to run this test again with the 10Mbps connection (IDE -> UW):
10Mbps
119 Seconds / 723 KBps / 5.78 Mbps
...
What?! So much for the last thing I do tonight...
AppleShare update must've improved the efficiency of AAUI, perhaps with a new driver. (Using the RAM Disk as a destination on the Quadra is still slower than the UW drive: 137 Seconds)
Pismo back to 9.2.2, keeping the file hosted on the RAM Disk, pulling it down to the Quadra's UW:
10Mbps
130 seconds / 662 KBps / 5.29 Mbps
[100Mbps]
[138 seconds / 623 KBps / 4.99 Mbps] [copied from above for reference]
So OS X shares are faster than OS 9 shares (IDE share from OS 9 is slower than RAM disk share, when downloading to the Quadra's UW.)
...and clearly I need a better driver for the 10/100 card. I'll be looking around for that.
Now I'll repeat the two tests from Netscape and call it a night; same file as above.
10Mbps -> RAM Disk
74 seconds / 296 KBps / 2.37 Mbps
10Mbps -> UW Drive
75 seconds / 292 KBps / 2.34 Mbps
100Mbps -> RAM Disk
70 seconds / 313 KBps / 2.50 Mbps
100Mbps -> UW Drive
70 seconds / 313 KBps / 2.50 Mbps
Both interfaces show improvement since the AppleShare update. The 10/100 card retains a small advantage here, though if no better driver is available I might rather have the free slot based on the AppleTalk results
This card may be designed for a machine with full Nubus 90 implementation. Hopefully it's just a driver issue though.
Anyone running 7.6.1-8.1 should install the AppleShare Client 3.8.3 update!
Future ideas:
I[SIZE=1.4rem]nstall AppleShare IP 6.1.1 on the 9600 if I can obtain an installer?[/SIZE]
Upgrade the Q950 to 8.6?