Re: Future releases and 1 MB RAM

Stephen Fisher (lithium@cia-g.com)
Tue, 6 May 1997 18:30:54 -0600 (MDT)

Sorry Jason, I'm responding to your message but mostly commenting on
Mike's statements.:)

On Tue, 6 May 1997, jason philbrook wrote:

> > Livingston Sales tells me that new PM-2E's are shipping with 4 MB of RAM
> > installed, but what am I supposed to do with the 100+ PM-2E's I already
> > own and which are distributed around the countryside?

Spend a few minutes and a few bucks upgrading them?

> > Most customers will not require every new feature which may be included
> > in code-bloated future releases. I suggest that Livingston put some very

CODE BLOAT!? ComOS drives me nuts becuase it is so small and simple.

> > serious effort into modularizing or optimizing their code to allow
> > typical configurations to fit in a 1 MB unit and still stay current.
> > You are about to turn every 1 MB PM-2E you ever sold into a dinosaur
> > (and there must be a LOT of them), forcing your customers to decide
> > whether they should:

Just turn off the options you don't need. I'm running a PM2eR with 10
async ports, OSPF, and SNMP with ComOS 3.5.1b17 in 1Mb of ram with ~170K
free. However, a PM2eR with 30 async ports runs at about 70K free without
OSPF and 10-20K or lower with it :( - but that is even with 3.5. Upgrades
are always required eventually.

> Sounds like a government to even remotely consider replacing the
> portmasters because of a $100 upgrade (labor included)

I agree fully.

> Here's some common sense:
>
> 1) If it's not broken, don't fix it. If comOS 3.3 is doing the job to
> your satisfaction, why upgrade to 3.5+?

Yeah, I always try to keep up to date with releases within a few months
though.

> 3) Things like OSPF, IPX, and SNMP can already be turned or on as
> needed, saving a great deal of memory. I would expect this
> modularization trend to continue if memory sucking applications make
> their way into the OS. It's a valid concern though.

Agreed. Having the BGP module disabled on PM2's doesn't bloat it anymore.

> We should be thankful to get the upgraded OS for free. Adding a small
> amount of RAM to ensure future OS releases will work is a VERY small
> price to pay.

Yup.

- Steve
- Systems Manager
- Community Internet Access, Inc.
- Gallup and Grants, New Mexico