joel@cfctech.cfc.com (Joel Lessenberry) (08/27/90)
The discussions to date on 64 bit addressing remind me of some early articles I read on computers, dated from 1950's, i.e. that the total worldwide market for computers of all kinds was in the hundreds. Or recent discussions on supercompter marketplace, and PC marketplace.
I think we need to look at this from a different viewpoint. Instead of trying to implement current software architectures, why not envision what types of architectures would better utilize I large address.
I know that several research systems, one almost production system (intel iapx 432), and two production systems (ibm s/38 and as/400), implement something called single level store.
Single Level Store is implement in exactly the opposite manner of current virtual storage techniques. All of available mass storage is assigned an address (AS/400 is capable of 64 bit). To execute a program stored somewhere, you executed a branch to it's starting address, page faults cause low level support microcode to move pages to executable storage.
Any other machines which utilize a large address in more interesting ways than bigger integers??
Joel Lessenberry, Distributed Systems | +1 313 948 3342
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