jorgnsn@qucis.queensu.ca (01/10/90)
One of our classes is going to be running Scheme on a Sun 3/160 we use as multi-user system. As currently configured, it has 8 MB of physical memory, 44 MB of swap space on a local SMD disk, and 16 terminals. I just installed Version 7.0 of C Scheme--essentially by typing ``make'', and taking the system as it came ``out of the box'' for a sun3. The resulting scheme allocates just under 4 MB of virtual memory as soon as it starts up. That probably restricts us to 8 to 10 simultaneous users, and no doubt abysmal performance as the machine spends much of its time swapping. So I am soliciting suggestions for reducing the resource demands of scheme. I could reduce the stack and heap size (``scheme -stack 50 -heap 63'' only requires 2.2 MB). Not being a experienced schemer, though, I don't have any feel for how small I can make them before it becomes impossible to do any useful work. Does anyone have any guidelines to provide? I could also use bchscheme, which is recommended in the distribution for sites that have memory shortages, but the README notes that bchscheme's purify procedure will crash if it runs out of space. Is this likely to cause problems to neophyte undergraduate users? I have also taken a look at version 6 of Scheme, because its README made promising mention of a student dialect. As far as I can tell, though, the student version has the same resource demands as the full version. Is this correct, or am I missing something. Is it possible to create a student version in Scheme 7.0? Please mail responses directly to me, as I have only just asked to be added to the mailing list. Thank you. John Jorgensen jorgnsn@qucis.queensu.ca (613) 545 6066 Systems Programmer, Dept. of Computing Science, Queen's University