Software and hardware obsolescence in the kernel

Posted Aug 29, 2020 15:02 UTC (Sat) by ianmcc (subscriber, #88379)
In reply to: Software and hardware obsolescence in the kernel by jem
Parent article: Software and hardware obsolescence in the kernel

2^128 isn't that much bigger than the number of molecules making up the earth. There is no way that a 128-bit address bus will be needed, ever. We're not even in Star Trek territory.

Software and hardware obsolescence in the kernel

Posted Aug 29, 2020 18:45 UTC (Sat) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link]

Thank you both. The 8 -> 16 -> 32 -> 64 -> 128 expectation reminds me of this other SD -> HD -> 4k -> 8k -> 16k silly expectation: ignoring basic maths and science. Biology in the latter case.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3546295/why-you-cant-get-...

Software and hardware obsolescence in the kernel

Posted Aug 31, 2020 7:45 UTC (Mon) by smurf (subscriber, #17840) [Link]

While the actual physical bus may well not need to be >64 bits wide any time soon, CHERI uses some of these bits for pointer authentication etc.. So yes we do need pointers that are that wide.

128 bit kernel integers, on the other hand, make no sense whatsoever IMHO.