From: gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu (Garance A. Drosehn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.advocacy
Subject: Re: NeXt vs Apple -- a couple comments
Date: 12 Aug 92 17:23:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: rpi.!d-yrh#

In article <1992Aug12.040505.29031@dtint.uucp> nevin@dtint.dtint.com writes:
> gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu (Garance A. Drosehn)  writes:
> > gvh@metrosoft.com (Gordon Van Huizen) writes:
> > > jmd@cube.handheld.com (Jim De Arras) writes:
> > > > The NeXTdimension will NEVER, repeat, NEVER return it's VM to the
> > > > swapfile.  If you have, and use, a NeXTdimension, you will see
> > > > your swapfile grow and grow and grow...
> > 
> > Hmm.  Can't comment on the above, since I don't have a NeXTdimension.  
> > I do know that my NeXTstation does shrink it's swapfile on occasion,
> > most likely when I restart the window server (by typing "exit" &
> > nullpw to the login window). 
> > 
> > > Until we got our external drive and put the swapfile on it we had to  
> > > reboot several times a day  (when doing mundane things, much less  
> > > manipulating good-sized images or the like).
> > 
> > In my case, I've got a 20 meg machine.  My swap file gets up to 50-60
> > meg.  As long as I don't start playing with large image files, I seem
> > to do OK.
> 
> I have a cube with 64 MB on the motherboard.  I have a dimension card with
> 20 MB on it.  I generally start out with NO swap file, and run that way
> for days (my system is on a UPS and is never shut off).  After several
> days, the swap file seems to creep up in size until it reaches about
> 16 MB (which is what it is right now, incidentally).  Then, it just seems
> to sit at 16 MB forever, unless I start playing with some *REALLY* large
> image files (massive color scans).  Even then, it will only grow to about
> 25 MB, unless I try to print a massive image or two.  Then the swapfile
> grows to about 60-80 MB, but slowly starts shrinking thereafter.
> My guess is that it would probably shrink back down to the 16 MB mark,
> but I never wait that long.

Lest my earlier remarks be misunderstood:
I should point out that all I was saying was that my typical usage pattern  
does not cause me problems with the swapfile.  For my standard usage my NeXT  
has been extremely reliable (in my opinion, at least).  *Most* of the  
reboots I have had in the last 18 months have not been due to problems,  
they've been due to new hardware or power outages or me going on vacation.

However...

For awhile I was playing around with large color images.  When I was doing  
that then I did notice the problem Jim (and others) have complained about.   
My swapfile grew considerably and performance suffered to the point that I  
would restart the machine just to shrink the swapfile.  This was fairly  
annoying.  I hope the problem (whatever it is) is at least alleviated if not  
cured with Release 3.0.

I know the problem with the swapfile isn't universal, but I have also run  
into it on some occasions.  It seems to depend on what you're doing with the  
NeXT.  It also seems to be less of a problem as your machine has more real  
memory.  Those are just hunches on my part, but maybe we could come up with  
some way to pin the problem down.

--
Garance Alistair Drosehn     =     gad@eclipse.its.rpi.edu
ITS Systems Programmer            (handles NeXT-type mail)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute;           Troy NY    USA
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.advocacy