Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!gatech!udel!mmdf
From: HELMER%SDNET.BITNET@vm1.nodak.edu (Guy Helmer)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Blitter with fork
Message-ID: <14044@louie.udel.EDU>
Date: 26 Apr 89 20:18:09 GMT
Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU
Lines: 14

I don't have a 68000-based machine and I haven't programmed in 68000
assembler for a couple of years now, so forgive this question if the
answer is obvious.

Why all the bother of swapping forked processes around in memory on an
unprotected 68000 machine?  Why aren't memory references done relative
to an arbitrarily assigned base register that Minix could change when a
process forked?  A quick look at a table of 68000 instruction execution times
revealed no obvious severe increase in execution times for address register
relative addressing, and any performance penalties might quickly be recouped
from the time saved if a large forked process was swapped even once.
No flames please, just reasonable answers.
-- Guy Helmer
   BITNET: HELMER@SDNET         uucp: ghelmer@loft386