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From: martillo@athena.mit.edu (Yakim Martillo)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards,comp.os.misc
Subject: Re: Free Software Foundation (was: Re: Mach, the new standard?)
Message-ID: <1406@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Date: Wed, 9-Sep-87 01:03:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: bloom-be.1406
Posted: Wed Sep  9 01:03:48 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 10-Sep-87 05:35:21 EDT
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Reply-To: martillo@hector.UUCP (Yakim Martillo)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Xref: mnetor comp.unix.wizards:4151 comp.os.misc:153

>The problem is that the GNU project isn't being developed for ALL of us to
>use it, just the ones with virtual memory. I think they're too optimistic
>about the power of future machines. I don't think personal computers will
>have VM for a long time yet.

Are you telling me that all these 80386 upgrade cards which are
supposed to go into PC/ATs don't have virtual memory capability?

>This means that there's no incentive to work for GNU... we won't get anything
>for it... and even if we wanted to help them out anyway we don't have the VM
>machines to do the work on.

I have seen 80386 based machines with 80 Meg discs and the usual
assortment of peripherals selling for 2800.  I think this price will
drop.  I expect that between upgraded PC/ATs and 80386 PCs a lot of us
will have VM machines to work on.

>Also, VM isn't always appropriate. You can't do real-time with VM, for example.
>

The gnu kernal is based on trix supposedly which can support different
types of schedulers as different threads I believe.  If virtual memory
pages can be locked in physical memory, if the active process can
establish its own interrupt vector table (all of which should be
possible on the 80386), real-time with VM should be possible.  Other
methods should be possible, and to tell the truth I think Intel
microprocessors are rather wedged devices.

>Maybe we need a LLAMA project: Little League Amateur Mach Analog.
>-- 
>-- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!seismo!soma!uhnix1!sugar!peter
>--                  U   <--- not a copyrighted cartoon :->