[mdlug] Eight Megabytes ... Swapping [Was: Re: Video and Movie making tools.]

[Robert Meier]

Aaron, Michael,

>> Wow.  I wouldn't be surprised if at some point integrated ext3/ext4
>> filesystem support is developed for emacs so that it doesn't need a
>> kernel anymore (just to reduce overhead).

Will you settle for ext2 support statically linked,
and kernel used as a "boot loader" (to mount)?
http://www.informatimago.com/linux/emacs-on-user-mode-linux.html.

> emacs and "reduce overhead"
> I never thought I would see "emacs" and "reduce overhead"
> in the same sentance
> [Back in the era of a-couple-of-megabyte" machines,
> emacs was called "[Eight megabytes and constantly swapping]."]

See <version>/etc/JOKES in your favorite emacs for many more acronyms
bash> rpm -qf /usr/share/emacs/21.3/etc/JOKES
emacs-21.3-206
(Upon further request from those who haven't already installed emacs,
 I'll post an editted list on mdlug or mdlug-discuss.)

Many years ago at college, as a wheel (i.e. sysadmin) for Tamalpais,
a VAX 11/780, I received an order from above directing removal of emacs
as a resource hog from all campus computers.  I delayed[*]
and instrumented emacs and vi (i.e. wrapped in scripts that recorded
who used them, when and for how long).  After a month(quarter?) I
presented the findings, comparing students in the same class using
emacs and vi.  The system load and terminal time correlated well
with vi and emacs use.  IIRC, The emacs users raised system load
~50% higher than vi users.  The emacs users consumed about 1/3 the
terminal time.  Emacs users clearly consumed less overall resources,
than their vi counterparts.  Emacs was soon reinstalled where it
had been removed, and added to all new installations.

[*] Such delay was much easier then,
as disobedience based on professional judgement
carried no significant risk of unemployment,
whether events proved right or wrong.
Anyone then who fired a pilot because he judged it unsafe
to save time flying through rather than around a thunderstorm,
would risk unemployment.

Remembering,
-- 
Bob

  "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret;
   it is only with the heart that one can see rightly,
   what is essential is invisible to the eye."
     -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery