NT Kernel (was Re: [rescue] Solaris on a PPC)

[William Barnett-Lewis]

"Joshua D. Boyd" <jdboyd at celestrion.celestrion.net> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 05, 2003 at 06:15:04PM -0500, Dave McGuire wrote:
> 
> >    Perhaps.  Mike, the guy who's crashing in my spare room, has an NT
> > box with a 1GHz processor and something like 512MB of RAM.  Running an
> > MP3 player and a copy of IE, it swaps itself senseless and runs so
> > slowly that it visibly stutters while updating the display when he
> > opens up another IE window.
> 
> I used to get plenty of real work done running 3.51 on a 486/66.  It ran
> many things a lot faster than windows 3.1 or windows 95.  It did swap
> alot, but then, it only had 16 megs of ram, and it didn't seem to be
> swapping anymore than the IPXs with 80mhz powerups and 24 megs of ram
> did.  NT didn't start feeling particularly slow or unreliable until I
> tried NT4 with IE 4 on a P2-266.  That thing swapped constantly despite
> having 128 megs of ram.  I'd say it swapped more than the 486 had.  It
> just never stopped.  It was awefull, and MP3s were unreliable too.

I had the first beta of NT3.1 on my DEC branded 386sx laptop with VGA,
8mb of ram and a 500mb disk. Swapped like crazy, but once I turned off
networking it was solid as a rock. I put my copies of Lotus Ami Pro and
other such and could really get something. It was so usable compared to
Win 3.11 that it wasn't even funny and I don't even remember ever
BSODing on that box. I was bummed when they added the 486 requirement in
3.51 (IIRC).

Then they moved the video drivers into the kernel's protected memory
space in 4.0 and it's been the highway to hell ever since. 

> MS has added a lot of stuff to the kernel and on top of the kernel since
> the original NT came out.
> ------------------------------

Cutler has some good ideas. It's a pity he never got to completely
implement them. And it's an even bigger pity that MS decided to "solve"
thier multimedia lack with DirectX trash.

William
-- 
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public
relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
Feynman's Appendix to the Rogers Commission Report.