Time for 64-bit longs?

[phil at amdcad.UUCP]

In article <848 at epimass.UUCP> jbuck at epimass.UUCP (Joe Buck) writes:
>DEC announced the SA482 disk subsystem, which stores 2.5 gigabytes
>of data.  System Industries plans a drive that stores 4 G.  But
>the maximum value a 32-bit signed value can store is about 2.1E9.
>Without a data type longer than 32 bits, you can't deal with files
>or partitions bigger than this.

Ah, the SA482 is a cabinet containing four "RA-82"s, each holding
about 600 Mbytes. Assuming Unix continues to treat each drive as
separate, 32 bits should be plenty to address the data on each drive.
I'm not familiar with the SI product but imagine it too is a
collection of drives, not a single drive. 

The "RA-82" is not available separately and DEC has not announced any
plans to market it that way. DEC has said the technology is on its
last legs and any future products will use fancy stuff like thin film
heads and plated media. Of course, they've been known to change their
minds before.

I wonder when DEC is going to release their "Sun-killer".
-- 
 They also surf who only stand on waves.

 Phil Ngai +1 408 982 7840
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