Virtual Machines

So, I was thinking about virtual machines, specifically about extending a 32 bit virtual machine to have access to more memory by segmenting the memory. Now, the 8086 supported 1 MB with a segment selector offset four bits, so each segment differed from the one preceding it by 16 bytes. I was thinking about having the segment selector offset 16 bits, supporting a 48 bit memory space and making adjacent segments differ by 64 KB, or I could offset it 24 bits and have a 56 bit memory space, with segments differing by 16 MB. Which is more useful, larger or smaller segment differences? Should I just make each segment distinct, allowing a 64 bit memory space?

Oh look, a troll Cudder thread.

>>10
PAE is a disgusting hack. The kernel has to constantly juggle its page mappings to keep everything sane, and you still can't access more than 4GB per process.

You can always choose to run 32 bit programs on a 64 bit kernel if you're concerned about the pointer bloat.