View Full Version : virtual memory
jow104
18th July 2005, 06:05 PM
Had some trouble with some recently purchased software and one of the things I looked into on my Windows XP sp2 was virtual memory. It is set at 1500mb and I think the maximum recommended was 3000.
Can anyone please advise why I should not up to the 3000 figure and leave it at that setting permantly, or are there good reasons that my PC manufacturer sent the machine out set at 1500.
Gumby
18th July 2005, 06:35 PM
Why change it John? Mine is set way less and I have no problems.
zathras
18th July 2005, 06:40 PM
Virtual Memory is something that runs like a bag of excrement.
Sure 3GB of memory sounds good, but this achieved by spooling the contents of real memory on and off the harddisk. This is several degrees of magnitude slower than the DRAM, and your machine really hits the wall once virtual memory starts to get used.
If you want/need more memory space, buy more DRAM.
Gingermick
18th July 2005, 06:50 PM
I work wih a bloke who has virtual memory.
jow104
18th July 2005, 07:12 PM
I've got the 1gb ram memory installed already.
Its that the painter program uses paint brushes that are not vector and it can't keep up with my rapid eye movements, or is it hand movements ;)
zathras
18th July 2005, 07:25 PM
Ah OK, 4GB is the maximum physical memory a 32 Bit Platform can address.
So that's probably why you have a 3GB virtual maximum....
Grunt
18th July 2005, 07:30 PM
John,
That painter program you have sounds like a piece of crap. Assigning more virual memory won't help. 1gb is a lot of RAM and adding more in most cases won't make things go faster.
I'd look at replacing your painter program. There is gimp which is free, works quite well but doesn't do vector graphics. Microsoft have a free download of Beta product called Acrilic which seems to be ok.
jow104
18th July 2005, 08:25 PM
Thanks all.
The painting program was c r a p . Am azon refunded me the £180 today.
Auld Bassoon
18th July 2005, 08:57 PM
Thanks all.
The painting program was c r a p . Am azon refunded me the £180 today.
G'day Jow,
I use PaintShop Pro (PSP) on a 2Gb RAM-equipped P4 3.0Ghz PC and on a 4Gb RAM LA775 3.6Ghz PC (both used primarily for business), and Photoshop CS (PCS) on a 1Gb RAM, P4 2.4Ghz laptop used mostly for play, including right now! I know that it all sounds a bit ass-backwards, but there's a history to it which I won't bore you folks withhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon12.gif
Anyway, for photo retouching, morphing and so on, both PSP and PCP work just fine. If you want to create images, the the full version of Photoshop would be an option, albeit a fairly expensive one. PSP is quite cheap, and can be had on a shareware basis for an early version.
As has previously been noted, I doubt that increasing virtual disk capacity (VD) would make much difference (although the recommended amount is c 2 x actual RAM); in any case, for most work 1GB is generally sufficient unless you're making or editing image sequences or even movies.
XP SP2 should be fine with default settings for most current swineware, so as you seem to have surmised, the S/W you were using was, well, swinewarehttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon10.gif
Cheers!
Cliff Rogers
18th July 2005, 09:50 PM
I've been fixing computers for 26 years next month, I still use the biro in my top pocket & the back of a bit of scrap off the recycle pile in front of the printer. :rolleyes:
(sometimes, if I spot something really good, I scan it.... :D )
jow104
18th July 2005, 09:52 PM
Thanks Steve.
I've got PSP9 and use the artists brushes but the painter program if it had been stable would have been more realistic to use for RIFF art work. The brushes worked quickly enough and there was some realism when using a pressure stylus but the crashes were so frequent some users got to the stage where they were having to do a save after every brushstroke. Second brushstroke and POOF!
Anyway here's a painting down on real canvas and real brushes, the Big Island Hawaii, White Sands Beach.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/devonwoody/hawaii605web.jpg
Cliff Rogers
18th July 2005, 10:07 PM
...a painting down on real canvas and real brushes......That's the way. ;)
I'm definately into the darkside when it comes to art. :rolleyes:
jow104
18th July 2005, 10:11 PM
That's the way. ;)
I'm definately into the darkside when it comes to art. :rolleyes:
Three months free tutition if wanted :) :) :)
Cliff Rogers
18th July 2005, 10:17 PM
Three months free tutition if wanted :) :) :)
Starting when? (& where?) :confused:
jow104
18th July 2005, 10:19 PM
Starting when? (& where?) :confused:
I'll send you a PM
Cliff Rogers
18th July 2005, 10:26 PM
Cool, I'm, off to watch 'Enough Rope' I'll be back in an hour.
Auld Bassoon
18th July 2005, 10:27 PM
I've been fixing computers for 26 years next month )
G'day Cliff,
I remember back a couple of decades (or so!) when I was working for a S/W and H/W reseller when, on the basis of some issues being had by a customer of some construction industry estimating software, a S/W engineer from the S/W vendor pitched up at said customer's site, and proceeded to manually edit the binary code on a production VAX 11/70 on the fly, all whilst the S/W was running...
Gawd only knows what he did right or wrong that day, but it seemed to eliminate the "glitch". It still gives me the shivers to think about the civil liabilities involved, but those were fairly carefree days when anyone who had anything to do with computers were seen as wizards at best, or satan's spawn at times...
I can even remember the very first of the PCs then slowly coming onto the market. Strewth, what a joke they were...
Cheers!
PS And what's wrong with COBOL and Assembler? (only kidding (ish))http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon12.gif
jow104
18th July 2005, 11:44 PM
Cool, I'm, off to watch 'Enough Rope' I'll be back in an hour.
did you receive the email?
Cliff Rogers
19th July 2005, 12:05 AM
...I can even remember the very first of the PCs then slowly coming onto the market. Strewth, what a joke they were.........
I trained on a Perkin Elmer - Interdata 7/32C.
The HDD was a 40Mb Ampex that was the size of a 2 drawer filing cabinet & took 2 men to lift it.
All it did was 'key to disk' records, order processing & maintenance records etc.
No rocket science.
The VAX 11/70 came a little later on.
The first commercially available PC in Oz was the Tandy TRS80 & I saw my first one in Brisbane in the Indoorapilly Shopping Cetre in 1977.
I built an S100 Buss system in 1980-81.... soldered the chips onto the PCB, the whole bit.
When I got out of the RAAF in 1982 I was working on Commodore CBMs on twin 5.25" floppy drives & S100 buss systems with 5Mb 8" Winchester HDDs.
In 1983 I moved onto systems like the 'Zilog' (yikes) & I used an ADDS Viewpoint terminal & a 300 Baud acoustic coupler to log onto Bill Bloton's Bulletin Board in Brisbane in 1984.
In my travels, I have actually seen a (for want of a better word) 'system' that booted & ran 'DOS-1' on an dual 8" floppy drive system. The 'A' drive was the 'Boot & Apps' drive & the 'B' drive was the data drive. It had a Green screen, a keyboard & a serial input from a Hotel PABX & it logged telephone calls. Here's the good bit... it was still working & in use in 1996.
The best bit is that there are still some banks here in Oz that have Comms Controlers that boot from floppies. :rolleyes:
When it comes to computers, I've seen the Darkside. :eek:
Cliff Rogers
19th July 2005, 12:15 AM
did you receive the email?
I got a PM to say you were off to pump something up???? :eek:
Nah, joking, I'll check my e-mail...... Ooooooo.... Is your's the one asking if I "Want to meet SEXY Christians?" :confused: Opps, nope, sorry, here it is... I found yours. :p