Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wuarchive!uunet!mdisea!jackb From: jackb@MDI.COM (Jack Brindle) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: System 7 VM Message-ID: <1991May13.190838.3335@MDI.COM> Date: 13 May 91 19:08:38 GMT References: <2728@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> Sender: news@MDI.COM Organization: Motorola, Mobile Data Division - Seattle, WA Lines: 33 In article mlbarrow@athena.mit.edu (Michael L Barrow) writes: >In article <2728@lee.SEAS.UCLA.EDU> weiss@watson.seas.ucla.edu (Michael Weiss) 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! > >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. >The network disk for VM space concept is clearly against the VM >philosophy! > Which, of course, is exactly why SUN uses the network disk for its VM storage on diskless Sparcstations (that and the fact that there is NO local disk...). Now if the Mac could use its AppleShare servers for VMspace, we could slow down to Sparc speeds... Note to flamers - I am writing this on a Sparc. The Network REALLY affects the speed of the machine's operation. In order to avoid VM swapping, our Sparcs have LOTS of memory (12 megs or so). Still, my IIci (and its 120 megs of local storage) runs circles around the Sparc... Jack Brindle ham radio: wa4fib/7