mkelly@cs.uoregon.edu (Michael A. Kelly) (08/31/90)
From the MacWarehouse catalog: "Virtual 2.0 gives you the advantages of virtual memory - with System 6.0. Virtual memory uses your hard disk to expand your RAM without adding memory chips to your Mac. With Virtual, you can have up to 14 megabytes of memory at your fingertips. Virtual is fast, offering performance comparable to the usual hardware memory chips." I seem to remember reading somewhere that System 7.0 will include a similar utility. Is this true? And if so, how does it compare to the aforementioned product? And, is Virtual _really_ as fast as the ad claims? Mike. -- Michael A. Kelly mkelly@cs.uoregon.edu
weesh@grymoire.crd.ge.com (Darweesh) (08/31/90)
First, you must realize that Virtual memory of any sort can only be accessed as fast as the media it's being stored on. Theoretically, you could have virtual memory using an audio cassette player, but I would never use that considering that it may take a couple of years to swap a couple of megs. If you have a fast hard drive, virtual will swap faster, but unless your hard drive is timed in tens of nanoseconds, then it will not be even close to as fast as real RAM. I have used Virtual 2.03 and System 7.0 virtual (yea system 7.0 is going to support virtual memory). As I said before, the speed will be dependant on your hard disk speed, but both seem to work well. Usually, they just swap when you are switching between applications in multifinder or when you start up an application. It also helps to have some extra real memory so you don't have an excess of swapping. I bought virtual because I have a MAc II and needed the PMMU (connectix has a good deal if you buy the PMMU and the software). I have no idea if I answered your question(s)... -Mike Darweesh weesh@crd.ge.com
J.Holley@massey.ac.nz (John Holley) (09/01/90)
In article <1990Aug30.211334.2689@cs.uoregon.edu> mkelly@cs.uoregon.edu (Michael A. Kelly) writes: >From the MacWarehouse catalog: > "Virtual 2.0 gives you the advantages of virtual memory - > with System 6.0. Virtual memory uses your hard disk to expand > your RAM without adding memory chips to your Mac. With > Virtual, you can have up to 14 megabytes of memory at your > fingertips. Virtual is fast, offering performance comparable > to the usual hardware memory chips." >I seem to remember reading somewhere that System 7.0 will include a similar >utility. Is this true? And if so, how does it compare to the aforementioned >product? > >And, is Virtual _really_ as fast as the ad claims? > Well I`ve had Virtual on my IIci for a couple of months now and it seems to work really well i.e. no software problems and doesn't degrade the performance of the machine too much (hard to tell though with a IIci :-) ). Initially my IIci only came with two meg so while I was waiting for my memory upgrade Virtual was a godsend. Even now with 5 meg of memory I can see that having another 14 meg on "tap" can be real useful if you are in to memory intensive applications like image analysis software. I've played with a System 7 alpha release and it's virtual memory management is crude to say the lease. I suspect that it's one of the things Apple is working on at the moment. When I say crude, I mean waiting several seconds for responses from software whereas with Virtual you hardly notice any difference at all. But as I said, this was only an alpha release. Virtual memory will be a must for many users of System 7 as a two meg machine basically only has enough real memory to run the System let alone anything else. John A. Holley | J.Holley@massey.ac.nz : Internet School of Information Sciences | J.Holley@nz.ac.massey : Janet Massey University | +64 63 505611 : Fax Palmerston North | +64 63 69099 ext 8616 : Vox New Zealand | Disclaimer : Sorry! My brain hurts!
clarson@ux.acs.umn.edu (Chaz Larson) (09/03/90)
In article <1990Aug30.211334.2689@cs.uoregon.edu> mkelly@cs.uoregon.edu (Michael A. Kelly) writes: >I seem to remember reading somewhere that System 7.0 will include a similar >utility. Is this true? And if so, how does it compare to the aforementioned >product? True. The two implementations are pretty similar, from what I've seen. Both have cdev interfaces, etc. With the version of Apple's virtual memory cdev I saw, you could choose to put the virtual swap file on the root of your hard disk or in the system folder. Connectix Virtual lets you put it wherever you want. That's about the only difference I've seen. Oh, yes...Apple's version will [eventually] be free, while Connectix' costs about $125. >And, is Virtual _really_ as fast as the ad claims? I use Virtual on a 2-meg SE/30 to run with 5 virtual megabytes. I don't feel that this machine is particularly doggy compared to the 5 [real] megabyte IIci at work. chaz -- -- Joan Rivers Slaughters Ninety-Five Chinese Physicists in drunken rampage. -spew clarson@ux.acs.umn.edu AOL:Crowbone