Dotan Cohen wrote: > On 25/02/07, Mikkel L. Ellertson <mikkel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> I still have a Z-80 system with 64k of dynamic RAM, >> and 256K of static RAM - the static RAM has battery backup. The >> system uses extended addressing, and the disk controller uses the >> static RAM as a RAM disk. (DMA support as well.) You would be >> surprised at how much faster the system boots/runs when you use the >> RAM disk as the system drive. It also help to have the WS overlay >> files on it. >> >> Mikkel > > Why can't Fedora do this? I've got 2Gb of physical RAM on this box. I > know that slax can be booted into a little as 256MB of RAM to free up > the optical drive, so I'm sure that Fedora can fit in my 2GB. > > Dotan Cohen > You can create a RAM disk, and copy files over to it. But it tends to work out better to use the memory for buffers and disk cache instead when you are using a reasonably fast hard drive. (Optical drives are another story - they are MUCH slower.) The thing to remember is that most CP/M systems were run from floppy disks. They also had to do a lot of swapping in and out because the processors could only directly address 64K of RAM. CP/M+ could swap pages in and out if your hardware supported it, but you were still limited to 64K mapped in at one time. If you want a system that boots up fast, you have the option of suspend to RAM or suspend to disk. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but if they work on your system, they can get you to a working desktop in a short time. Mikkel -- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!
