SRFERGU@ERENJ.BITNET (Scott Ferguson) (02/07/90)
I often have a need to allocate memory only as RAM, not as Virtual space. In PC's, there's ways of doing this, obviously because they don't have virtual memory built into their OS's (yet). I was given the response earlier that the only way to do this is to use PBU_$WIRE to wire a buffer. Just to air my thoughts, I feel there should be a standard UNIX call similar to malloc, called something like ramalloc or something, to grab and hold memory. Obviously, you don't want things doing this unless they really have to, but the OS on the Apollos is such a hog that things like animation are simply not possible on low-end 'graphics' workstations, whereas Amigas & Macs can do it easily because of the lack of OS complexity. There really oughta be a way to tell the OS that 'this machine is mine for the next 5 minutes or until he's done with it, so just hold your inetd, routed, sendmail, etc. And give all your attention (and memory) to the user in front of you.' Scott Ferguson srfergu@erenj.bitnet Exxon Research & Engineering Annandale, NJ 08801