From: muta...@gmail.com   
      
   On Wednesday, August 31, 2022 at 6:44:56 AM UTC+8, Scott Lurndal wrote:   
   > "muta...@gmail.com"  writes:   
   > >On Wednesday, August 31, 2022 at 2:39:56 AM UTC+8, anti...@math.uni.wroc.pl   
   wrote:   
   >   
   > >However, what about preparation for the future   
   > >by having an instruction that checks the shift value   
   > >in use, and simply returning 4? Or is a   
   > >processor instruction inappropriate?   
   > Note to anti... he's referring to a CPUID instruction analogue.   
   >   
   > Note to muta... Why 4? A single bit is sufficient, and easily   
   > allows future extension to describe additonal optional features.   
      
   When 8 MB becomes affordable, but   
   the 80386 is still not affordable, the   
   shift will be 6, not 5.   
      
   This continues up until you have 4 GB of   
   memory. It is highly unlikely we will ever reach   
   4 GB of memory, I mean, 640 MB should be   
   enough for everyone, but I believe correct   
   mathematical design calls for the   
   theoretical possibility of having 4 GB of   
   memory.   
      
   This is the conversation I expect in the Intel   
   design room in 197x.   
      
   I also expect them to conclude that they   
   will make minimal effort for the 8086 itself,   
   but they have a clear pathway for whatever   
   the hell comes after the 8086.   
      
   I expect the conversation to take an hour or two   
   as they think through the implications for   
   the linker etc to confirm that 4 is not   
   a hard limit, and the software jackasses   
   have all the required tools available if they   
   bother to think it through.   
      
   And even if they never make actual hardware   
   that can do 5 or more bit shifts, an emulator   
   may be written which can.   
      
   So the binaries will remain valid for   
   centuries to come.   
      
   There is a hard limit of 16 bit shifts to   
   give 4 GB of memory, but that is a   
   reasonable limit.   
      
   4 bits and 1 MB is totally unreasonable as   
   a hard limit to be hardcoded in software.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)