RAM

[Tim.Keller at stratus.com (Keller, Tim)]

As a side note, if you want a demonstration of the disparity between ram and
disk speeds.

Step 1. Get yourself a linux box with an absurd amount of ram.
Step 2. Create a 512mb ramdisk (or big enough to hold all the linux kernel
sources)
Step 3. Copy kernel sources to it.
Step 4. Compile...

You'll see kernel compile speeds that'll be just plain jaw dropping, even
with the CPU handling all the I/O.  Note, that you do have to go into the
kernel and configure the ramdisk settings to accommodate larger sizes...

I pine for the day when both "ram" and the "harddrive" become terms in
textbooks. Instead we'll just have a huge mass of persistent memory that's
addressable at CPU clock speeds.

When the last whirring plate stops turning, it'll be a great day.  Though,
from here to there will be "interesting", to say the least.

-----Original Message-----
From: ron.peterson at yellowbank.com [mailto:ron.peterson at yellowbank.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 4:10 PM
To: Kalyan Vaidyanathan
Cc: discuss at blu.org
Subject: Re: RAM


On Wed, Aug 20, 2003 at 05:26:36PM +0000, Kalyan Vaidyanathan wrote:

>  I have a Dell Dimension 8100 desktop with 1.3 GHz.  I have redhat 8.0 and

> Windows ME.  I am thinking of upgrading my memory.  I currently have 128MB

> RAM. Since it is ME, Microsoft says that max recommended is 512 MB.
>  I would like to use my linux box to install and run Tomcat and a java
ide. 
>  Do you think 512 (+128 existing) should be sufficient for reasonable 
> productivity?

I just thought I'd point out, since you mention linux and memory, that
you should check the setting of 'high memory support' under 'processor
type and features' (that's using 'make xconfig' for kernel compile).
It's typically turned off, which in your case is what you want.  But you
should be aware that it's there if you ever start running over 1G of
memory.  The way things move, that won't be too long now...

-- 
Ron Peterson                   -o)
87 Taylor Street               /\\
Granby, MA  01033             _\_v
https://www.yellowbank.com/   ----