Linux software...

[mikebw at bilow.bilow.uu.ids.net (Mike Bilow)]

Dale R. Worley wrote in a message to Mike Bilow:

 DRW>    Many Linux CDs come with a "live filesystem."  This
 DRW> allows you to    run Linux from a very minimal
 DRW> configuration, using just a boot    floppy, a swap partition
 DRW> on the hard drive, and a CD, without    actually installing.
 DRW>  Of course, since CD is a slow medium, system    performance
 DRW> will be painful.

 DRW> Is there any way to get the kernel to use the hard disk
 DRW> partition to cache the CD as well as process data?

Linux will cache the CD by default, but a cache can only do so much.  If you
read the same data repeatedly, then you will get cache hits and improve speed.
In many cases, however, the data you want will not be in cache and then the
full impact of the slow CD speed will affect you.
 
-- Mike