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From: ephraim@think.com (Ephraim Vishniac)
Subject: Re: System 7.0 and RAM
Message-ID: <1991Apr11.181853.9845@Think.COM>
Sender: news@Think.COM
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
References: <1991Apr8.010338.14202@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <1991Apr9.220140.18228@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 91 18:18:53 GMT

In article <1991Apr9.220140.18228@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> ds4a@dalton.acc.Virginia.EDU (Dale Southard) writes:
>In article <1991Apr8.010338.14202@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> mil@mendel.acc.Virginia.EDU (Maria I. Lasaga) writes:
>>
>>Given the virtual memory capacities of system 7.0, will there be any
>>need to purchase additional RAM?  If not, will it even be advantageous
>>to have more RAM rather than less?  

>How much real ram do you have?  How much do you want?  How much will you use?

>Seriously, the answer to your question is, what preformance is acceptable
>to you?  Real ram is faster than virtual ram.  I would not think that having
>1meg real/13 meg virtual would be acceptable unless you never used more than
>one meg.

>Personal suggestion: install as much ram as you generally use in day-to-day
>work (it's cheap).  Rely on virtual for anything over that.

Maybe a real example would be helpful.

I ran my Mac II with VIRTUAL (the Connectix product) and 2M of
physical memory for a long time. I was happy as long as the programs I
ran were of reasonable size and I didn't switch between them terribly
often. 

Then I tried to debug a large application using Think C's source-level
debugger. At every step in the debugger, the application would swap
in, execute one source-level instruction, and get swapped out in favor
of the debugger.  It was hideous. I upgraded to 5M of physical memory
the next day. 

--
Ephraim Vishniac    ephraim@think.com   ThinkingCorp@applelink.apple.com
 Thinking Machines Corporation / 245 First Street / Cambridge, MA 02142
        One of the flaws in the anarchic bopper society was
        the ease with which such crazed rumors could spread.