Re: NetBSD 8.0 on a Mac IIsi

[David Brownlee <abs%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Fri, 1 Feb 2019 at 00:32, Bjarne Bäckström <m9411%abc.se@localhost> wrote:
>
> > 25 jan. 2019 kl. 13:38 skrev David Brownlee <abs%netbsd.org@localhost>:
> >
> > Given the performance of modern machines I wonder how much quicker it
> > would be to build packages on a fast amd64 box under tme or xm6i? I'm
> > pretty sure a virtualised x68k box with maxed memory would build 68k
> > packages much quicker than a Performa.
> > https://www.netbsd.org/ports/emulators.html#ports-emulators :)
>
>  Maxed memory makes wonder on ”the real thing” too. The IIsi, that has 65 MB of RAM, compiled everything much faster than the Performa 450 with 34 MB of RAM. I have to use the SBC disk drivers, and I don’t know if they are slower than the ”non SBC” drivers, but my HD:s are embarrasingly slow under NetBSD, which of course is noticeable when it comes to heavy swapping.

IIRC the SBC driver historically had issues with DMA, which obviously
slowed everything down... even to the point where building on an NFS
mounted filesystem would be a win.

Certainly modern gcc versions are built around the assumption of large
amounts of available memory, so a much slower machine with more RAM
could easily end up much faster if it just has enough to avoid paging
to death...

A quick google for "ssd ide pata" throws up some cheap 16GB SSD IDE
devices on eBay and similar... I wonder how much faster (and quieter
:) they might make things...

David