X-Message-Number: 8172
Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 12:44:38 +0100
From: John de Rivaz <>
Subject: Re: Limits to simulation

PCs have virtual memory, but they still can use it all up. Windows95 starts 
flashing "low on resources" messages. I still think an infinite number of 
simulations cannot be run as no machine can have infinite memory, 
whether it is physical RAM, virtual memory or any other sort of memory.


In article: <>  
writes:
> From: "Perry E. Metzger" <>
> 
> > From: John de Rivaz <>
> > 
> > I am wondering whether I am ignorant as well.
> > 
> > Surely if you have 32 MB free RAM in your computer and a simulation (of 
> > another computer) requires 8MB of overhead, if you run it once then you 
have 
> > 24MB to play with. If within the first simulation you run another which 
also 
> > requires 8MB then you have only 16 MB left.
> 
> Nope.
> 
> Modern machines don't use their RAM that way. They use virtual memory
> subsystems -- MMUs are used to permit the machine to fool itself into
> thinking that secondary storage is RAM, and to share executable code
> and data transparently between processes.
-- 
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