Re:Server Hardware Super-Cycle 2022
by EvanAnderson on Tuesday January 18, 2022 @09:51AM
(#29979968)
I have some affection for the single-level store architecture of thr AS/400 (at least, on paper-- I've never coded for the platform). I wonder if persistent memory could be an enabler for single-level store architecture operating systems and applications on the PC platform.
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I don't think hardware is the limiting factor -- OS/400 runs on a pretty standard RISC platform, same POWER chips that run AIX and Linux. Has some special tagged memory extensions, but nothing too radical, and not a hard requirement for a system like it.
The hard part is developing software to use it. I don't think you can really port existing OSes and software to use a single-level store environment. It's a different language than the one we speak. Seems this has been a general problem for persistent memory, to really use it 100% you need new software designed for it.