Replying to a message of Bob Klahn to Bob Ackley:

 BA>> Replying to a message of Ross Cassell to Bob Klahn:

 BK>>>>  Dos manages disks. Memory may be managed as it applies to the
 BK>>>>  disks, but the rest is an add on.

 RC>>> There is no such thing as conventional memory, expanded or extended
 RC>>> memory you dolt in a 32 bit operating system.

 BA>> But memory *is* managed on a 32 bit - or 64 bit - OS, now,
 BA>> is it not?

 BK>  I wonder if he realizes you *CAN* have expanded, extended, and
 BK>  conventional memory in a 32 bit hardware system. I wonder if he
 BK>  realizes the limit of 8 or 16 or 32 bits is a hardware issue,
 BK>  much more than an operating system issue. I wonder if he knows
 BK>  how memory is addressed in the first place. How an 8 bit
 BK>  hardware system can address 512K of memory.

It can't.  Not directly, anyway.  The 8080 chip (and the Z80 chip) are both 8
bit processors that have 16 bit address lines.  Both can directly address up to
65,536 bytes (2^16, or 64KB) of memory.  The Hitachi 64180 chip has 18 bit
address lines (256KB) and other than that is a very fast clone of the Z80.  It
uses bank switching to switch between 64KB blocks of RAM, one can have four
separate CP/M systems running simultaneously on it, but most used the RAM above
the first 64KB as a 192KB RAM disk.  The Micromint SB-180 'motherboard' (for
want of a better term, it's an integrated computer on one card about 5x8 inches)
uses the Hitachi chip, and it can make a 286 DOS machine (PC/XT or equivalent)
breathe pretty hard trying to keep up with it.

 BK>  I wonder if any of them realize that USB memory is 1 bit memory.  A
 BK> compact flash memory is 8 bit isn't it?

I've no idea.  I don't use the USB ports on the machines I have (that have them, most
don't) and have only a couple of USB accessories - a camera and a scanner.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+