MAXG@SUVM.BITNET (Gerry Greenberg) (06/21/89)
I recently received Spectre128 and I'm very pleased with it! Not only does it work great, but it is also very exciting trying to find out exactly what it will do and what it won't do. In this regard, I've recently run into a situation that puzzles me. Before I go on: I am using a 520ST upgraded to 1meg and have two DS drives (mono monitor). My question concerns the amount of RAM the system and finder take up. I am using Finder 6.0 and System 4.2...when I check under "About the Finder" under the Apple sign, I see the following information: 832K of memory, which is split between the Finder and the System. How is this RAM allotted? I have seen the following combinations, depending on how I mess around with fonts, DAs, and files (like a printer driver) in the System Folder: Finder/System---712/120, 713/119, 714/118, and 715/117. What is even stranger (to me, at least), is that while adding DAs to the system with the Font/DA Mover, I had a system that took up 117K of RAM, while taking up 206.5K, 183.5K, and 159K of disk space (depending on what DAs I had in it). I asked some Mac people about this (though not quite in these terms), and they told me that the fonts and DAs in the system do not affect the available RAM...what does then? Also, is it possible that the difference between a system that takes up 117K of RAM and one that takes up 120K will make the difference between a particular program having enough room to run or not? If so, then it would be really nice to know how to keep as much RAM as possible available for programs. As usual, I'm looking forward to receiving interesting and informative responses. You may email them directly to me, or post them to the net. If I get more than the net (and they have additional information), I'll summarize the responses if there is any interest. Thanks very much in advance for your comments.--Gerry Email: maxg@suvm (bitnet) ggreenbe@rodan.acs.syr.edu (internet)
dlm@druwy.ATT.COM (Dan Moore) (06/22/89)
in article <8906210415.AA01579@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, MAXG@SUVM.BITNET (Gerry Greenberg) says: > question concerns the amount of RAM the system and finder take up. I am > using Finder 6.0 and System 4.2...when I check under "About the Finder" > under the Apple sign, I see the following information: 832K of memory, > which is split between the Finder and the System. How is this RAM > allotted? I have seen the following combinations, depending on how I > mess around with fonts, DAs, and files (like a printer driver) in the > System Folder: Finder/System---712/120, 713/119, 714/118, and 715/117. The numbers you are displaying aren't really Finder and System. It is available memory and System. The first number is the memory being used by Finder, but as soon as you launch a Mac application Finder is unloaded freeing it's memory for use by the application. (NOTE: This gets very weird under Multi-Finder, but on a 1 meg machine Multi-Finder isn't really worth using.) On the Mac Fonts and Desk Accessories are kept on disk in the System file until they are needed. They are loaded into available memory when they are accessed, if there is no available memory they won't load. So having an open DA or having an additional fonts being used will decrease the amount of free memory at that instant. (NOTE: some DAs may allocate memory for very long periods of time, not just while they are in use.) You may also have INITs in your System Folder. INITs are special programs that load at boot time. Any INITs will decrease the amount of free memory. Another really big factor in available memory is the version of System and Finder you are using. The newer versions (eg. 6.0.2) use a lot more memory than the old ones. This can make a fairly large difference in your free RAM (30K or more). Personally I wouldn't worry about the difference between 712K and 715K of free memory. The few programs (eg. HyperCard) that are memory tight on a 832K Spectre 128 are not really going to be helped by an additional 3K (or even 10K). If you are running out of memory with a program in 832K you can either switch to an older and smaller version of System and Finder or switch to a ST with more memory (2, 2.5 or 4 meg). Set up your System Folder with the INITs, DAs and fonts you are interested in. If and when you find a program that needs more memory than you have available then worry about it. Until till then don't. Dan Moore AT&T Bell Labs Denver dlm@druwy.ATT.COM