Subject: Re: ibmZ50, install, disk full, 128MB CF, 100MB bsd partition
To: None <port-hpcmips@netbsd.org>
From: Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom <chrome@real-time.com>
List: port-hpcmips
Date: 02/16/2003 20:53:13
On Sun, Feb 16, 2003 at 05:44:27PM -0700, M. Warner Losh wrote:
> In message: <20030216162435.H24051@real-time.com>
> Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom <chrome@real-time.com> writes:
> : even with a fairly active swap partition, the wear leveling on CF disks
> : ought to keep wear from being a real problem for most purposes.
> : if netbsd has a decent VM subsystem (and I'm assuming it does), it shouldn't
> : swap much anyway.
>
> Swapping is more a function of there not being enough available
> memory. When one thrashes, it is almost impossible to keep from
> writing dirty pages to swap...
what I mean is, NetBSD ought to throw away cached pages, before commiting
swap space to storing executables/data in use (unlike certain other OSes
which preemptively (or stupidly) put pages in swap, when there's still
plenty of real memory to be worked with).
I'm assuming that it generally makes the right decision about these things,
since it seems to be a competently-designed OS. :)
Carl.
--
Systems Administrator
Real-Time Enterprises
www.real-time.com