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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!network.ucsd.edu!dog.ee.lbl.gov!overload.lbl.gov!agate!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!haven.umd.edu!umd5.umd.edu!roissy.umd.edu!mark From: mark@roissy.umd.edu (Mark Sienkiewicz) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: usefulness of memory-cache in multitasking systems Date: 2 Aug 1993 22:43:56 GMT Organization: University of Maryland Lines: 17 Message-ID: <23k5bc$6ae@umd5.umd.edu> References: <AgKP52600WB7MsjVgA@andrew.cmu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: roissy.umd.edu In article <AgKP52600WB7MsjVgA@andrew.cmu.edu> "Alex R.N. Wetmore" <aw2t+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes: >I've been sort of wondering how useful a cache would be in a >multitasking systems (specifically NetBSD). It seems that every time >there was a process swap all of a sudden there would be a different >piece of code that would be best off in the cache. This is true, but after each context switch you quickly fill the cache with code for the new process. Most machines have some way to disable the cache-- mine even lets you disable the cache in the BIOS setup. Try it and see what a *big* difference it can make. b.t.w. If you have what appear to be timing problems, you can sometimes make them go away by switching off the cache. This lets you 1) get some more evidence that it is a timing problem, and 2) run your machine while you go about fixing it.