I realise I go against one of my main tenets of programming when
I say this, but 256K out of 16MB is NOT that big a deal.  It's
even less out of 64MB.

[In fact with 64MB I seriously wonder why I configure swap
 at all.]

I heard it was something like 192-208 kB anyway.

The speedup is considerable.  Normally the console prints at between
1200 and 2400 baud, effectively (ask me how I know).  With this
speed-up you get a MAJOR improvement (9600-19200+ effectively).
It's truly amazing.

> ----------
> From: 	Jeremy Cooper[SMTP:jeremy@broder.com]
> Sent: 	Thursday 7 August 1997 1408
> To: 	James.Graham@Schwab.COM
> Cc: 	gillhaa@ghost.whirlpool.com; port-sparc@NetBSD.ORG
> Subject: 	RE: Several things...
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, 7 Aug 1997 James.Graham@Schwab.COM wrote:
> 
> > > [ Faster CGSIX console possible with PROM ``trick'' ]
> > 
> > Wow.  I had _no_ idea this was such a mystery, considering I saw it
> > posted here about a year ago.
> 
> I don't have the exact instructions, but I figure I'd paraphrase what
> I
> remember about the procedure.
> 
> The speed-up is possible by copying the ROM console routines into RAM
> and
> then changing the routine vector table to point to the RAM copy.
> Since
> RAM is faster to read than ROM, you notice a slight improvement.  The
> tradeoff is that it ties down 256K of memory which could be used for
> other
> purposes.
> 
> -J
>