Dear Friends,

The discussions on the use of 2 OSs in one machine and the question by Saswata about its uses got me thinking and I have visualised a concept.

What is being done is simply multi-tasking. Any OS is a set of tasks that the cpu is carrying out and 2 OSs means the resources are shared by two sets of tasks (OSs). This jugglery is carried out by the RAM which loads two seperate OSs in its space and uses the necessary swap space on the HDD for extra resources.

The Concept:-

Generally in an office setup, a normal Pentium 400 MHz system with 256 MB RAM, 100 MHz bus and a 10 GB HDD is sufficient for doing letter writing, data entry, email, surfing, printing etc. Suppose an office needs to use 8 computers for 8 operators, with different OSes for different software or even same OSes, 8 computer systems will need to be purchased. 8 computer systems will have to be taken for AMCs ( Yeah ! ).

Instead of that if all the hardware requirements are bundled up into one system then that would bring down costs.

The CPU will be 400 MHz X 8 = 3.2 GHz. The RAM 256 MB X 8 = 2 GB. The BUS speed 100 MHz X 8 = 800 MHZ. The HDD 10 GB X 8 = 80 GB

Thats what the latest systems can give you. The motherboard will have to be special type that accomodates atleast 8 PCI slots that will contain low cost multifunction cards that have VGA, PS2 Keyboard and PS2 Mouse outputs and for more elaborate ( $$$ ) ones, a LAN and 56 Kbps modem with it too. This provides capacity to run 8 Monitors, Keyboards and Mice for 8 operators. The BIOS will be more advanced with a facility to create 8 RAM partitions with each partition getting a quota of max 400 MHz of CPU speed and 100 MHz. of BUS speed. This prevents viruses or runaway programs from one OS upsetting the whole system. When installing any OS, it will ask which RAM partition is to be utilised, just as we select HDD partitions.

In this way we can get upto 8 different (or even same) OSes running simultaneously in one system. It is an ideal option where a heterogeneous envirinment is necessary. This will not only save initial costs tremendously but it will also save on AMCs ( Ouch! ) as the total number of machines is only one instead of 8. Since the hardware resources are common, a LAN will not be required to make the 8 computers see each other within the same system.

If we can have systems with 2 CPUs and dual busses, then upto 16 computers can be created from one system with the 400 MHz combination. Imagine the savings for companies that use 50 or 100 computers or more. Even the space required will reduce. With wireless technologies becoming cheaper, the monitors, mice and keyboards can be wireless to avoid clutter and increase distance from the main system.

Regards,

Rony.