Bell Tech W.G.E. use with "sissy" unix

[Steve Neighorn]

In article <224 at obie.UUCP> wes at obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes) writes:
>
>A couple of questions about the WGE/Blit card:
>
>Do you know if the cache on the Everex Step models or the ALR FlexCache
>models can be disabled above 14 Meg to work with the WGE?  Users with an
>eye on performance will want to know this.
>
>How much real memory is needed (when using the current X10R4 code) to
>keep the system from paging like mad.  I.e., the system should be able
>to run a couple of csh's or vi's without paging during program
>execution.

A good base system should consist of at least 4 megabytes of memory for
a single user. This should allow for at least 2 windows running in xterm.

One note that should be mentioned about running X10R4 under V/386. Someone,
somewhere in an incredible display for planning for the future managed to
write the bootstrap loader so it starts out in real mode, rather than
protected mode. This means the kernel size (I am talking the binary size,
not the text+bss+data) can't be greater than around 690k. For example, a
system with the 2K file system, Network Support Utilities package, Remote
File Sharing package, X Windows Release 10.4, and the kernel debugger
active will have a /unix size of 642063. The size command shows the
actual section values: 376980+117140+865744 = 1359864. If you wanted to
add a networking packing such as Wollongong, Lachman, or Streamlined
Networks, you would be out of luck, at least until Release 3.2 hits
the streets.  R3.2 fixes the real-mode boot problem. I also know of
some individual companies that have made their own changes to the 3.0/3.1
kernel, but it is not a trivial job.

But don't let all this downer stuff keep you from looking at the Blit+X
combination - it is a real knockout. The 1600x1200 screen and X interface
knocks the socks of the Sun 3/150 sitting beside my desk at work. And
the faster the base machine the better - there is a slowdown when running
two bouncing ball (xdemo) programs in different windows on a 16MHz 1WS
'386 machine. Something like an Everex Step machine or a Flexcache would
probably take care of the bouncing balls.
-- 
Steven C. Neighorn            !tektronix!{psu-cs,reed,ogcvax}!qiclab!neighorn
Intel Corporation            "Where we BUILD the Star Fighters that defend the
Development Tools Operation      frontier against Xur and the Ko-dan Armada"
80960 Language Group            work: (503) 696-7264 / home: (503) 645-7015