vg55611@ihuxy.ATT.COM (Gopal) (02/11/89)
I'd like to find out if the Apple Laserwriter Plus we have has the max. amount of memory that it can have, or if it would be possible to add more memory. I ran the "Doctor Laser" program posted a while ago (my thanks to the person(s) who developed and posted it) and it reported Max. available bytes = 239316 Bytes currently in use = 86576 Level of Save Nesting = 2 blimit = 12500 cmax = 1700 csize = 1480 mmax = 136 msize = 84 bmax = 136064 bsize = 129060 Based on the above, can someone tell me the answer to my question (also, can someone interpret these numbers for me?) On a related subject, how does a postscript program generally ensure that all memory used is released when it ends ? i.e. after doing the printing, the printer should be left in the same state as before. Thanks Venu P. Gopal UUCP: att!ihuxy!vg55611 Internet: vg55611@ihuxy.att.com BITNET: com%"vg55611@ihuxy.att.com" or com%"vg55611%ihuxy@research.att.com"
jim@nih-csl.UUCP (jim sullivan) (02/14/89)
>I'd like to find out if the Apple Laserwriter Plus we have has the >max. amount of memory that it can have, or if it would be possible >to add more memory. My LaserWriter II reference says that you can do this (up to 12 MB) on an NTX but not on an NT so I would *imagine* that you couldn't do it on a LaserWriter Plus but hopefully someone else can give you a more definite answer. >I ran the "Doctor Laser" program posted a while ago (my thanks to the >person(s) who developed and posted it) and it reported > > Max. available bytes = 239316 > Bytes currently in use = 86576 > Level of Save Nesting = 2 > > blimit = 12500 cmax = 1700 csize = 1480 mmax = 136 > msize = 84 bmax = 136064 bsize = 129060 > >Based on the above, can someone tell me the answer to my question (also, >can someone interpret these numbers for me?) I was afraid I'd get questions about these meanings. I presented these values in the condensed form to save space on the page. This is what they mean: Max. available bytes - The number of bytes available in virtual memory. Virtual Memory can dynamically be increased in some printers by the printer erasing fonts. Bytes currently in use - This refers to the number of bytes of virtual memory in use at the time the program checks it so this number only applies during execution of the program, in this case, Laser Doctor. (I probably should have left this out). Level of Save Nesting - This refers to the number of saves which have not had a corresponding restore performed. This only applies to the Laser Doctor program as well and will always be 2. (I should have left this off as well). bmax - maximum number of bytes available for bitmap storage. bsize - actual number of bytes in use for bitmap storage. mmax - maximum number of font/matrix combinations. msize - actual number of font/matrix combinations. cmax - maximum number of cached characters. csize - actual number of cached characters. blimit - This is the limit placed on the total number of bytes allowed per character. This number can be changed with the operator 'setcachelimit'. >On a related subject, how does a postscript program generally ensure that >all memory used is released when it ends ? i.e. after doing the printing, >the printer should be left in the same state as before. All programs should end with a 'showpage', or an 'erasepage' followed by 'initgraphics'. Either of these will reset the graphics state to the default values. A program that executes something like: serverdict begin 0 exitserver /somedictionary 100 dict def can leave a dictionary on the printer which will not go away until you turn the printer off, then on. When I get some strange (unknown source) postscript program, I always check for the word 'exitserver' to make sure the program will not leave some dictionary in memory. If 'somedictionary' is 'statusdict', it will write to an EEROM which is non-volatile memory. Power off/on will not get rid of the added dictionary. Normally, when a print job finishes with showpage as described above, the initial conditions of memory are returned unless an exitserver was executed. At least this is what I understand to be the case from reading my books. Does anyone know if I'm wrong here?? Jim Sullivan jim@nih-csl.dcrt.nih.gov