Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!xanth!nic.MR.NET!shamash!com50!mscunx!hawkmoon!det
From: det@hawkmoon.MN.ORG (Derek E. Terveer)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.microport
Subject: Re: 286 serial port woes
Summary: 1M is not enough
Keywords: UNIX 286, uucp
Message-ID: <773@hawkmoon.MN.ORG>
Date: 18 Jan 89 00:30:12 GMT
References: <11871@netsys.COM> <391@w3vh.UU.NET>
Distribution: na
Organization: One of the Eternal Champions - Richfield, MN, 554232523, USA
Lines: 37

In article <391@w3vh.UU.NET>, rolfe@w3vh.UU.NET (Rolfe Tessem) writes:
> In article <11871@netsys.COM>, len@netsys.COM (Len Rose) writes:
> > I am evaluating V/AT 2.4 on an 8 mhz clone 286 with 1 meg
> > of ram. [..] The system is extremely slow [..]
>
> [..]  I suspect that some of your performance
> problems stem from the fact that 1 meg is the absolute
> minimum the system will run with -- as you start adding
> memory, performance increases dramatically.

I agree.  I was running (at work, believe it or not!) a xenix system with 512K
of memory, and boy was that slow!!!!  Combine the small, no; make that
"miniscule", amount of memory with the file advisory/mandatory locking problems
in that release of xenix (2.1.3, ugh!), and i had processes that would take in
excess of a week to run instead of 5 minutes.  

I would almost venture to say, in an off the cuff manner, that you get
exponential performance improvements in all of the various flavours of unix as
you progress from the basement (0.5M) to something like 2 or 3Meg.  The
performance improvements are still there beyond that, they just aren't as
noticable.  (Of course, i don't have the money to spend on memory, so i can't
*really* say how noticeable these improvements are beyond a "workable" system,
i.e., one that has approximately 2.5-3.5M of memory.  Perhaps someone else can
chat on the 4M+ range.. (:-))

Trying to evaluate your 286 unix system with 1M is not really a fair test of
its potential, much like (for you airplane types) putting a lawnmower engine in
a P47-Thunderbolt would not really show off the power of that plane...!  (:-)

(Sorry, i just *had* to say that)

derek
-- 
Derek Terveer 	    det@hawkmoon.MN.ORG || ..!uunet!rosevax!elric!hawkmoon!det
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"A proper king is crowned" -- Thomas B. Costain