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SubjectRe: Memory Rusting Effect [re: Linux hostile to poverty]
From
Sprach "Albert D. Cahalan" <acahalan@cs.uml.edu>:
> No. Where do you place the limit? Shouldn't Linux run on machines
> with only 640 kB of RAM? If that, then why not 64 kB too?

Sounds good to me. Thanks for volunteering to do that patch. :)

> Can't we increase system requirements with time? If not, then we
> must abide by the limits of the original PDP-7 hardware. That means
> we should be able to run Linux in 4096 18-bit words.

Nonsense. Linux started on the 386, so if we never increased the
limits, the 386 that Linus used at the beginning would be our 0-line.
Restricting ourselves to PDP-7 would be _lowering_ the requirements.

> An OS optimized for the PDP-7 just isn't going to be very good on
> more normal 1998-2001 hardware. You can still get 1.0.9 too.

Optimization can be done with #define, except when the change is
a fundamental algorithmic shift. One would hope that a new algorithm
could be tweaked through #define or whatnot to continue supporting
old hardware.

--
Jon Paul Nollmann ne' Darren Senn sinster@balltech.net
Unsolicited commercial email will be archived at $1/byte/day.
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the
people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent
and sudden usurpations." James Madison, speech, Virginia Convention, 1788

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