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

[labtek@cs.yale.edu (Tom Griest)]

In article <36os50$22j@gnat.cs.nyu.edu> dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) writes:
[snip]

>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).

Actually, 16MB seems to work pretty well on vanilla NT.  Of course,
our dual-processor 90MHz Pentium (Pent-house) system w/32MB running Daytona
does tend to make a 66MHz 486 w/16MB look a little slow. :-)

>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!)
>

I agree.  But two things you might want to keep in mind:

  1) Windows95 should be able to support gnat with 8MB.  If you are
     planning for a buy in early part of next year, this is a consideration.

  2) Memory prices seem to have stabilized, but there is a transition
     from 9-bit simms to 18-bit  (72-pin) simms underway.  If you sink
     a lot of money into 9-bit simms for a 486, you may not be able to 
     "take it with you" when you upgrade to a new 586 motherboard.


-Tom