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From: J.Holley@massey.ac.nz (John Holley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: System 7.0 vs Virtual 2.0
Message-ID: <387sis-b@massey.ac.nz>
Date: 1 Sep 90 01:30:07 GMT
References: <1990Aug30.211334.2689@cs.uoregon.edu>
Reply-To: J.Holley@massey.ac.nz
Organization: Information Sciences, Massey University, New Zealand
Lines: 42

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
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