> Isn't a bounce buffer just a hack? Wouldn't it be better to just
> recognize the ISA  bus limit of 16 megs? There are real 32 bit
> bus(es) that don't have a 16 meg limit, EISA PCI and (some)VESA. If
> you are going to dump more money into a system, why not be smart
> and get hardware that supports what you are trying to do? If you
> look around you can find a 1742 Adaptec and a EISA motherboard,
> or get a PCI controller and PCI motherboard.

The simple reason is that people use free OSes, not just because of
the availability of sources etc, but because it is cheap. If you say
to someone that they cannot run a free OS without buying upgraded
hardware then you are missing *THE* point. I (the "virtual" I) want
to run a real, mutli-tasking BSD like OS on my current hardware.

> The 1742 that is running in Sasquatch.com was bought for $95
> (US) used. A 1542 cost $245 (new). And you wouldn't believe the
> performance that is gained with a 32 bit controller.

And everyone has an EISA motherboard ? Yeah, sure. I have real ISA
motherboards, not even local bus...

> Why make life hard on your self with ISA?

Are you giving away better than ISA motherboards ? It is much easier
to "borrow" that extra 4Mb or 16Mb or RAM from your friends, when
they have upgraded *their* memory or motherboard. How many motherboards
out their have been scrapped, but the memory kept ? Lots of mine.
 
> Footnote: OS/2 can't use anything over 16 megs with a ISA
> bus / controller. It only can use it as a fast swap space,
> like a ramdisk.

And we have to limit ourselves because the big blue do ?

Next you will be telling us to get rid of the amiga/sun4c/etc ports
because they don't make that hardware anymore ?

Regards,
-- 
Peter Galbavy                                           peter@wonderland.org
@ Home                                                 phone://44/973/499465
in Wonderland                              http://www.wonderland.org/~peter/
                               snail://UK/NW1_6LE/London/21_Harewood_Avenue/