Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!dali.cs.montana.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sample.eng.ohio-state.edu!purdue!krk From: krk@cs.purdue.EDU (Kevin Kuehl) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: System 7 VM Message-ID: <14613@medusa.cs.purdue.edu> Date: 13 May 91 14:36:28 GMT References: <2728@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> Sender: news@cs.purdue.EDU Reply-To: krk@jacobi.cs.purdue.edu (Kevin Kuehl) Organization: Purdue Univserity Computer Science Department Lines: 37 In article mlbarrow@athena.mit.edu (Michael L Barrow) writes: > Does anyone happen to know if you can use server disk space for Virtual > Memory? I realize that it would be lower than the 7-year itch, but since > VM is supposed to be for those rare occasions when you REALLY need it... >NO! NO! NO! > >You can't do this & with good reason. VM is slow as it is being on a >secondary storage device. I wouldn't want to wait for pages to swap over >a network! I am sure that all those people out there with diskless Sun 3/50's and 3/60's would agree with you. But you can do it and people have done it for years. (Dare I say close to a decade?) >A general note to anyone: If you don't know that much about VM and how >it's to be used, grab a good intro book on UNIX or Operating Systems. A general note to those who preech: If you don't know your history be prepared to be told you are wrong. How do you think all of those diskless Suns out there do virtual memory? No, they do not have tiny little disks hidden in them. They swap over the network. It is not bad if you have at least 8 meg of memory. But I still wouldn't trade my IPC for it. :-) >The network disk for VM space concept is clearly against the VM >philosophy! To the best of my knowledge, there is not such thing as a VM philosophy. If you have a fiber-optic network or most of your machines have 4 meg or more, I don't think swapping over a network would be that bad. Probably not nearly as bad as having to keep stopping and restarting Word 4 on a Mac Plus. -- Kevin Kuehl krk@cs.purdue.edu kuehlkr@mentor.cc.purude.edu