Re: Gnat Ada 9X - What sort of PC does it need???

[dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

Small programs can be compiled and run successfully in 4 megs of memory
if the OS environment is compatible with such a small memory size. Using
DJPP or Warp (i.e. OS/2 version 3.0, or the current Warp Beta), you can
probably manage fine with 4 megs. Of course these are virtual memory
systems, so memory is jut an aspect of performance, not capacity. Large
programs will begin to thrash the disk badly, but for example you may
still find that a 90MHz Penitum with 4 megs (what a horrible thought!)
out performs a 16 MHz 386 with 8 megs on a large program. You really have
to try yourself to see what performance you get and whether it is acceptable
to you.

Certainly we strongly recommend getting more memory, a reasonable lower
limit would be 8 megs for DJPP or OS/2, 12 megs for Linux, and 20 megs
for NT (when that GNAT port comes out, or perhaps less for Daytona).
Remember these days 4 megs of memory costs $150, and there is no better
investment you can make for improving performance of a PC for running 
large 32-bit applications (such as GNAT or the 32-bit OS environments
that support it!)