xxiaoye@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (11/03/88)
Well, I posted a message several days ago requesting information on
the price of the Suitcase II upgrade. Since nobody has responded, I am
reposting this one.
Would somebody please tell me something about:
1) How much is the Suitcase II upgrade (from version 1.2.1 )?
2) Whether the upgrade bundles with Pyro! 3.0 ? If not, how much
does Pyro! 3.0 upgrade cost separately ?
Thanks in advance.
____________________________________________________________
Xiaoxia Ye '91 xxiaoye@eleazar.dartmouth.edu
Dartmouth College Xiaoxia.Ye@dartmouth.edukehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) (11/06/88)
In article <10707@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> xxiaoye@eleazar.dartmouth.edu writes: > >Well, I posted a message several days ago requesting information on >the price of the Suitcase II upgrade. Since nobody has responded, I am >reposting this one. > >Would somebody please tell me something about: > > 1) How much is the Suitcase II upgrade (from version 1.2.1 )? > 2) Whether the upgrade bundles with Pyro! 3.0 ? If not, how much >does Pyro! 3.0 upgrade cost separately ? I don't remember seeing your first post, but I called Fifth Generation some weeks ago when people first started discussing the upgrade. I had just discovered that I never sent in the registration card (from last December) and it still had the old name and address (Software Supply?). Fifth Generation told me to send it to them along with a check for $25 and to request the upgrade with Pyro. Earlier I had read that you could upgrade Suitcase without getting Pyro for (I believe) $5-10 less. The person I talked to didn't mention any other alternative. I just wanted something that worked with multifinder. I still don't have the upgrade, but I decided to be a little more patient since I was just sending the original registration card at the same time. I just hope Suitcase II solves my memory problems. It's not that I want a whole bunch of fonts and DAs. I just want the leanest system possible so I can stop running out of memory several times a day with Word. I don't really understand how Suitcase will help if it opens its files at boot time too. What's the difference if the fonts are in the system file or a Suitcase file? If someone answers this question telling me that Suitcase won't help, I may still cancel the upgrade. Shirley Kehr
brecher@well.UUCP (Steve Brecher) (11/06/88)
The upgrade to Suitcase II is $25. The Pyro! upgrade is $10 (I think; not positive). The publisher is Fifth Generation Systems, Inc.; (504) 291-9953; if no answer -- they've been having problems with that line -- try the main switchboard at (504) 291-7221. Or write to them at 11200 Industriplex Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA 70809. Electronic mail: CompuServe 75410,46; MacNet FIFTHGENSYS; AppleLink D1582. I am the author of Suitcase II and co-author of Pyro!.
brecher@well.UUCP (Steve Brecher) (11/07/88)
Generally, Suitcase / Suitcase II does not reduce RAM requirements, given a constant set of resources (fonts, DAs, etc.) available. I.e., moving resources from the System to a suitcase file does not reduce RAM requirements. The belief that the contents of the System (including fonts, DAs, etc.) are continuously RAM-resident is common but incorrect. The System is a disk respository of resources; each resource is loaded into RAM only when it is actually used.
sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten) (11/07/88)
In article <67998@felix.UUCP> kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) writes: >I just hope Suitcase II solves my memory problems. It's not that I want >a whole bunch of fonts and DAs. I just want the leanest system possible so >I can stop running out of memory several times a day with Word. > >I don't really understand how Suitcase will help if it opens its files at >boot time too. What's the difference if the fonts are in the system file >or a Suitcase file? > >If someone answers this question telling me that Suitcase won't help, I may >still cancel the upgrade. > >Shirley Kehr Well, Suitcase is so useful I'd hate for you to cancel your upgrade, but... Fonts and DAs don't take up any memory until they are used. They only take up disk space. Suitcase allows you to overcome the 15 DA limit and it allows you to store your fonts and DAs in separate files (so that you can use the standard Apple-distributed System file and not have to worry about adding back your fonts and DAs whenever a new version comes around (or you trash the copy on your hard disk)). It also does nice things with snd's and FKEYs, and allows for compression of fonts and snd's to save disk space. Oh, yes, it also helps you convert your fonts to NFNTs, which alone is worth the price. But it *doesn't* save you any memory (in fact, it eats up a little itself). Hope this all helps you make up your mind. -- Steve Baumgarten | "New York... when civilization falls apart, Davis Polk & Wardwell | remember, we were way ahead of you." cmcl2!esquire!sbb | esquire!sbb@cmcl2.nyu.edu | - David Letterman
kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) (11/09/88)
In article <7576@well.UUCP> brecher@well.UUCP (Steve Brecher) writes: > >Generally, Suitcase / Suitcase II does not reduce RAM requirements, given >a constant set of resources (fonts, DAs, etc.) available. I.e., moving >resources from the System to a suitcase file does not reduce RAM requirements. > >The belief that the contents of the System (including fonts, DAs, etc.) are >continuously RAM-resident is common but incorrect. The System is a >disk respository of resources; each resource is loaded into RAM only when >it is actually used. Wouldn't it be great if you could have a second monitor of some kind that showed you how your actions affect memory usage? I became interested in this discussion after reading in Macintosh II Report about Word having to reside in the first megabyte of memory. The authors (Michael Swaine and Thom Hogan) didn't suggest Suitcase as an alternative. They only pointed out that you were asking for crashes if you tried to run both Word and Excel (which presumably has the same constraints) at the same time. I deduced from their information that I should start Word first. Of course they are also under the impression that the size of the system file determines how much memory you have left for Word or Excel (subtract System size from 1024. That's what you have left.) Steve Brecher (author of Suitcase) along with one or two Apple programmers who answered questions in MacUser or MacWorld both say that you use the memory only when you use the resource. I presume that when I use two fonts Times and Courier, I have used two resources. I recently took out all but one or two small point sizes of fonts. Does that make a difference in the size of the resource I've used. (In other words, my documents use several sizes of Times, but I've only installed a small (10 pt) size. Am I using less memory by making the system generate the larger sizes. If it's all the same, I'll put the larger point sizes back in the system file and have a better looking display. Actually, I'd really like to move this discussion to how Word uses memory, but I never see anyone discussing things like that. Does anyone know how to use Word for maximum memory efficiency given the style constraints I need to use (fair number of styles, two fonts, imported Canvas drawings)? Thanks in advance for any pointers. Shirley Kehr
brecher@well.UUCP (Steve Brecher) (11/15/88)
In article <68503@felix.UUCP> kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) writes: > Wouldn't it be great if you could have a second monitor of some kind that > showed you how your actions affect memory usage? Under MultiFinder, the "About the Finder..." window gives some indication of memory usage on a continuous basis. There are also DAs that do this; for example, the "Memory" DA shows the amount of free space in the application and system heaps (and on the startup disk). > Steve Brecher (author of Suitcase) along with one or two Apple programmers > who answered questions in MacUser or MacWorld both say that you use the > memory only when you use the resource. I presume that when I use two fonts > Times and Courier, I have used two resources. > > I recently took out all but one or two small point sizes of fonts. Does that > make a difference in the size of the resource I've used. (In other words, > my documents use several sizes of Times, but I've only installed a small > (10 pt) size. Am I using less memory by making the system generate the > larger sizes. If it's all the same, I'll put the larger point sizes back in > the system file and have a better looking display. Yes and no. If you make the system scale one point size, you won't be using RAM for the FONT or NFNT resources for the other sizes. But those resources only have to be in RAM at the time their characters are being drawn on the screen. At other times, if such a resource was previously loaded into RAM, and the system needs more RAM than is free, the previously-loaded resource will be cleared from RAM; when it is next needed, it will be read from disk again. Thus for such resources, which are called "purgeable," the effect of reduced RAM is on speed of operation because of the necessity of re-reading them from disk. However, for larger point sizes, the resources are larger; thus if only one FONT or NFNT were to be in RAM at a time, it would be better from a RAM-consumption standpoint if it were for a small point size. I do not know what, if any, RAM is required by the Font Manager and/or QuickDraw in the process of performing size scaling. Digression: All screen font resources should be marked as purgeable by their vendors, although not all actually are. For example, Adobe FONDs are not marked as purgeable. (This isn't be relevant to your question about removing certain sizes.) Note that Suitcase II, of which I am author, makes it appear to the system as if all FONDs, FONTs, and NFNTs are marked purgeable even if they are not in fact so marked. In (even more) technical terms, with Suitcase II installed the resPurgeable bit of FOND, FONT, and NFNT resources is in effect always set, even if it's not actually set in the resource map on the disk. If the bit was not set in the screen font disk file, it will become set in the file if any software which loaded the resource subsequently causes the file's resource map to be written back to disk.
jh5f+@andrew.cmu.edu (John Hill) (03/06/89)
Does anyone have a working copy of the upgrade program for Suitcase II 1.2 that they can mail me or can tell me where to obtain it (I can FTP)? I have tried at least four times to download the file from Sumex-aim archives, but it is always defective even when everything else that I am FTPing arrives fine. Thanks for your help. John Edward Hill Dept. of Biological Sciences jh5f+@andrew.cmu.edu Carnegie Mellon University shenry.hill@bionet-20.bio.net 4400 Fifth Avenue 412-268-5122 Pittsburgh, PA. 15213-3890 USA