Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!yale!mintaka!snorkelwacker!paperboy!husc6!encore!pinocchio!jkenton
From: jkenton@pinocchio.Encore.COM (Jeff Kenton)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: 64-bit addresses
Message-ID: <11112@encore.Encore.COM>
Date: 10 Feb 90 13:55:02 GMT
References: <9708@spool.cs.wisc.edu> <20270@cfctech.cfc.com>
Sender: news@Encore.COM
Reply-To: jkenton@pinocchio.UUCP (Jeff Kenton)
Organization: Encore Computer Corp, Marlboro, MA
Lines: 37

In article <9708@spool.cs.wisc.edu> shekita@provolone.cs.wisc.edu (E Shekita) writes:
>Could any of you hardware designers in the trenches out there 
>tell me whether 64-bit addresses will become reality anytime soon.
>If so, how soon. If not, why... And how about in the distant future, say,
>10 years, which is virtually an eternity in hardware design.
>

Here's a guess from the land of software, related to a discussion I had
yesterday with a friend (thanks Carl):

	o  When the change comes, it will be to 64 bits -- not 40, 48 or 60.

	o  Multi-processor systems are starting to overflow the 32 bit
		address space even now.

	o  Despite this, in the short term we will see patches instead of full
		scale solutions:

			o  32 bit processors for several more years.

			o  MMU's with a small number of extra address bits,
				extending total memory but keeping the
				32 bit limit for single processes.

	o  Within 5 years ( 2 or 3 ? ) we will certainly have 64 bit logical
		address space, along with 64 bit registers.


As long as we're inventing the future here, let's pose an extra question:

	When compute speed and disk and network speed have increased 1000
	times, and memory and disk capacity have done the same (5 years ?),
	how will it change what we do (and how we do it) with computers.
	And what new peripherals will we need to interact with?


Post your thoughts.