Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!ames!eos!shelby!csli!lakin
From: lakin@csli.Stanford.EDU (Fred Lakin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Subject: effects of rumored 16 meg virtual memory threshhold on Sparc lisps
Message-ID: <14613@csli.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 24 Jul 90 17:26:28 GMT
Sender: lakin@csli.Stanford.EDU (Fred Lakin)
Organization: Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford U.
Lines: 33

I'm curious as to responses from users,vendors, proponents and lisp
others to this depressing note on sun-spots recently:

  Date:    9 Jul 90 00:09:14 GMT
  >From:    gordoni@chook.ua.oz.au (Gordon Irlam)
  Subject: Sun-4 MMU Performance

           A Guide to Sun-4 Virtual Memory Performance
           ===========================================

		 Gordon Irlam, Adelaide University.
	   (gordoni@cs.ua.oz.au or gordoni@chook.ua.oz.au)

  Throughput on a Sparcstation drops substantially once the amount of active
  virtual memory exceeds 16M, and by the time it reaches 25M the machine can
  be running up to 10 times slower than normal.  This is the conclusion I
  reach from running a simplistic test program on an otherwise idle
  Sparcstation.
 
  .....

  Applications that have a large virtual address space and whose working set
  is spread out in a sparse manner are problematic for the Sun-4 memory
  management architecture, and the only alternatives may be to upgrade to a
  more expensive model, or switch to a different make of computer.  Large
  numerical applications, certain LISP PROGRAMS, and large database
  applications ARE THE MOST LIKELY CANDIDATES.


posting as one who bought a SS just for the purpose of
running lisp,

tnx, f