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From: hsgj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Dan Green)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Argument for Virtual Memory
Message-ID: <2927@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: Sun, 15-Nov-87 20:33:58 EST
Article-I.D.: batcompu.2927
Posted: Sun Nov 15 20:33:58 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Nov-87 01:18:30 EST
References: <2785@megaron.arizona.edu> <112@citcom.UUCP>
Reply-To: hsgj@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Dan Green)
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 28

In article <112@citcom.UUCP> jack@citcom.UUCP (Jack Waugh) writes:
>I use the "RAM:" disk driver on my Amiga computer.  I suspect everyone
>does (on their Amiga).  If you move the commands you use frequently
>into RAM, they will load faster.  When you have moved to a phase of
>work where the files in RAM are no longer frequently used, they are a
>waste of fast memory (as opposed to floppy, not as opposed to chip
>memory).  So you get rid of your cached files and cache the ones you
>are using now.  What you have is a system that depends on the *user* to
>decide what permanent objects should be cached in fast memory and what
>should not, moment to moment.  This sucks.  The computer should
>automatically perform this function.  I. e., minimal virtual memory.

I don't think you are talking about virtual memory.  Instead it looks
like you are talking about intelligent caching.  The only way I can
see of doing this is by having RESIDENT work.  This already works to
some extent -- witness the libraries.  For instance, you can load in
diskfont from disk and narrator from disk and they hang around in RAM.
Theoretically when the RAM free drops too low, one or the other library
will be purged out.  So what you have described in the above-quoted
paragraph would be resident loading for programs.  I think this has
already been discussed, and I believe the concensus was that it wasn't
do-able without going through a lot of contortions.  I would love to
have resident stuff, but not at the expense of having to buy another
compiler or having all my old s/w break...
-- Dan Green
-- 
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