Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!munnari.oz.au!metro!usage.csd.unsw.oz.au!usage.csd!neilb From: neilb@spectrum.cs.unsw.oz.au (Neil Brown) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo Subject: Are 425s REALLY memory hogs? Message-ID: Date: 5 Jun 91 04:40:39 GMT Article-I.D.: chocolat.NEILB.91Jun5144039 Sender: news@usage.csd.unsw.oz.au Distribution: comp Organization: none Lines: 59 I recently started using a new 425 complete with 8meg of ram, 200 megs of disc and a 68040 (running Domain/OS 10.3.4 - psk8). This was replacing my old DN2500 (200 meg disc, 12meg ram Domain/OS 10.3.xx) I expected it to run much more smoothly - but boy was I wrong! Admittedly the new machine has less RAM than the old, but I didn't notice much change when I upgraded the 2500 from 8 to 12 meg. I run X windows (the mit X11r4 borrow mode server) with an emacs, a few xterms and the usual extras. I found that when I was paging through taxt in an emacs window (for instance) that it was noticably faster. But as soon as I moved the focus to another window the disc went wild (presumably paging) and there was a distinct delay (maybe 30 seconds) before I could type in that window. This made the machine just about unusable. As bad as a DN2500 with 4Meg. I have since upgraded to 16 meg (memory 'stolen' from another machine. I'll probably have to give it back soon) and now it is REALLY NICE. Fast, smooth, just what I was after. But we cant afford 16meg for all of our new 425s yet... I had a look at a ps listing and all the processes seem much bigger! e.g. on another 2500 (with 12 meg) the typical process size if a few hundred somethings (K?), with sizes upto 2000 or 3000 being common for large things like xterms. The dm is 2592. USER PID SZ RSS TTY STAT TIME COMMAND sys_pers 23385 2592 52 ? S < 39:59 dm # ps axgu | grep $$ root 2749 896 203 ttyp3 R 0:02 -sh # sleep 30 & ps axgu | grep sleep 2752 root 2752 832 96 ttyp3 S 0:00 sleep 30 On my 425, though, its a different story. Sizes are typically 2000-3000 with 5000-6000 for xterm and 7000 for an emacs. The dm is 10240! (And remember I dont use the DM, I use a borrow mode X server). USER PID SZ RSS TTY STAT TIME COMMAND neilb 108910240 92 ? S < 4:23 dm # ps axgu | grep $$ root 3477 4352 252 ttyp6 R 0:01 -sh # sleep 30 & ps axgu | grep sleep 3493 root 3493 3584 340 ttyp6 S 0:00 sleep 30 Has anyone else had similar experience? Is there any good reason why the processes are SO much bigger? Is there anything I can do to reduce their size and so decrease paging? Or is HP just trying to sell more memory? NeilBrown neilb@cs.unsw.oz.au