Snow Leopard VS. Lion

[dtravis7]

Yeah...I saw that it was just $.99 cents...I'm just being cheap...ahem..."frugal"!

- Nick

Yes you are! I usually am also but for .99 I could not pass it up and it works every time. I forget the one that was free that did not always work but it stunk!

Van, don't hate me for not wanting to type on the command line, but when I am doing 10 things at the same time it's a pain and this little app does it fast and does not get in my way!

 

[pigoo3]

Yes you are! I usually am also but for .99 I could not pass it up and it works every time. I forget the one that was free that did not always work but it stunk!

I was mostly checking to see if there was a free option. If the free option stinks...then I have no problem paying $.99 cents!

- Nick

 

[Discerptor]

Yes you are! I usually am also but for .99 I could not pass it up and it works every time. I forget the one that was free that did not always work but it stunk!

Van, don't hate me for not wanting to type on the command line, but when I am doing 10 things at the same time it's a pain and this little app does it fast and does not get in my way!

I made a shell script I could execute by double-clicking that just carried out the Terminal command. Plopped it right in my Applications folder, and it couldn't be easier to get to. I admit it's not as visually appealing as a GUI button, though.

 

[pigoo3]

I made a shell script I could execute by double-clicking that just carried out the Terminal command. Plopped it right in my Applications folder, and it couldn't be easier to get to. I admit it's not as visually appealing as a GUI button, though.

Maybe you could sell it at the Mac App Store for $.99 (or less if that's allowed)...or post it somewhere on the internet for free (and live for the "Glory" of the exposure)!

- Nick

 

[Discerptor]

Maybe you could sell it at the Mac App Store for $.99 (or less if that's allowed)...or post it somewhere on the internet for free (and live for the "Glory" of the exposure)!

- Nick

Hmm, even if it only sold two copies, it would be enough revenue for me to buy the 1.0 version of Facetime for Snow Leopard! ( The beta finally expired )

 

[vansmith]

Van, don't hate me for not wanting to type on the command line, but when I am doing 10 things at the same time it's a pain and this little app does it fast and does not get in my way!

Blasphemy!

I understand - the UI is better sometimes (not often though). Haha.

 

[dtravis7]

I made a shell script I could execute by double-clicking that just carried out the Terminal command. Plopped it right in my Applications folder, and it couldn't be easier to get to. I admit it's not as visually appealing as a GUI button, though.

But Discerptor, the GUI on the .99 app is so PRETTY! Grin

BTW, I do not work for them!

 

[pigoo3]

Dennis,

iMemory Cleaner looks like it is great at freeing up ram...but what does it do in relation to the size of the "swap" and "page out" files? These are the main things I was explaining back in post #81:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/262011-snow-leopard-vs-lion-6.html#post1350073

...which can cause a lot of the slow-downs (and "Beachballs") folks have trouble with...and I was mentioning that the more installed ram there is...the better when it comes to this problem.

When I mentioned rebooting the computer...it was mainly to "reset" the size of the swap and page-out files to zero...not so much to free up ram.

Thanks,

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

I was not aware that terminal command did the Cache and Swap. When I tried it all that happened was the Inactive Ram which is what REALLY slowed down Snow Leopard for me when I only had 2GB RAM. Once I ran that command and now this GUI app, my OSX is smooth again!

 

[pigoo3]

I was not aware that terminal command did the Cache and Swap.

I was referring the $.99 cent app. "iMemory Cleaner" regarding the swap file & page-outs (not the terminal command that "Discerptor" mentioned earlier).

But I think that you answered my question...which was if "iMemory Cleaner" did anything for the page-outs & swap file...and it sounded like you said "no".

Good enough...thanks,

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

I was referring the $.99 cent app. "iMemory Cleaner" regarding the swap file & page-outs (not the terminal command that "Discerptor" mentioned earlier).

But I think that you answered my question...which was if "iMemory Cleaner" did anything for the page-outs & swap file...and it sounded like you said "no".

Good enough...thanks,

- Nick

Ah ok, was not sure what you were asking. At first and thus my reply, I felt maybe I was missing something with the terminal command that iMemoryCleaner did not do. No, no Cache or Swap. Just memory.

 

[Discerptor]

I was referring the $.99 cent app. "iMemory Cleaner" regarding the swap file & page-outs (not the terminal command that "Discerptor" mentioned earlier).

But I think that you answered my question...which was if "iMemory Cleaner" did anything for the page-outs & swap file...and it sounded like you said "no".

Good enough...thanks,

- Nick

Well the page-outs happen when you run out of available (i.e. free or inactive) RAM. That's more an issue of you having more stuff open than you should, one or more apps (or the OS) being total RAM hogs, or needing to install more memory. Excessive amounts of inactive RAM is usually a good thing, truth be told. There are just a couple of badly optimized programs out there that don't let go of even the inactive RAM and thus necessitate such tools.

 

[vansmith]

There are just a couple of badly optimized programs out there that don't let go of even the inactive RAM and thus necessitate such tools.

Applications don't control inactive RAM - that would be OS X's job. Once an application is closed, the memory it was using (that was "active") becomes inactive and is handed back to the OS to control

Also, given that inactive RAM can be reclaimed by any other application if you run out of free memory, inactive RAM doesn't really cause all that many problems.

 

[pigoo3]

Hmm, even if it only sold two copies, it would be enough revenue for me to buy the 1.0 version of Facetime for Snow Leopard! ( The beta finally expired )

Same thing happened to me. Was also setting up my mother-in-law's Mac-Mini with a new web cam...and had to download the $.99 cent Facetime app.

- Nick

 

[pigoo3]

Well the page-outs happen when you run out of available (i.e. free or inactive) RAM. That's more an issue of you having more stuff open than you should, one or more apps (or the OS) being total RAM hogs, or needing to install more memory. Excessive amounts of inactive RAM is usually a good thing, truth be told. There are just a couple of badly optimized programs out there that don't let go of even the inactive RAM and thus necessitate such tools.

You are certainly correct...but this is not my situation at all. I generally only have an internet browser & the Apple "Mail" e-mail client open. So certainly not having too many apps. open at once.

What happens in my case is (and I'm sure others as well)...is that the page-outs and swap file sizes continue to grow & grow & grow over time (when the computer is put to sleep each night)...until eventually they get so big that it slows the computer down & the "beachballs" start appearing.

This of course can be avoided if the computer is rebooted...then the file sizes go to zero (or to a very small size). And what I found was...a computer with lots of ram (such as my Mac Pro with 12 gig of ram)...can go for days & days before these files start to grow in size (at this point I've gone 36 hours & my page-outs & swap file sizes are still zero). If I was using my old MacBook Pro (with 2gig of ram) these files would already be growing in size.

My main points are:

- Not only does more ram help when running lots of apps. simultaneously...or just a couple a real ram-hogs apps...such as those from Adobe.
- The more ram a computer has...the longer it takes for the page-outs and swap file size to grow to a point where it slows down the computer (no beachballs)...especially if someone likes to put their computer to sleep each night...and only reboot infrequently.

- Nick

 

[Dysfunction]

Hrm, we'll see.

 

[dtravis7]

Applications don't control inactive RAM - that would be OS X's job. Once an application is closed, the memory it was using (that was "active") becomes inactive and is handed back to the OS to control

Also, given that inactive RAM can be reclaimed by any other application if you run out of free memory, inactive RAM doesn't really cause all that many problems.

It does here with Safari. Using that tool every time makes Safari behave again.

 

[Discerptor]

Applications don't control inactive RAM - that would be OS X's job. Once an application is closed, the memory it was using (that was "active") becomes inactive and is handed back to the OS to control

Also, given that inactive RAM can be reclaimed by any other application if you run out of free memory, inactive RAM doesn't really cause all that many problems.

Try mplayer and you'll see what I mean. Somehow the way OS X handles it prevents other apps from encroaching on inactive RAM marked for it, so you can see situations where you have a whole lot of inactive RAM but any new apps being opened crawl like a snail. People haven't generally looked into this issue because the amount of such inactive RAM only really gets big enough to make it a huge problem if you're watching a very large file or a whole lot of them in succession, but it's most certainly there.

EDIT: I have a question that fits in this thread but is completely unrelated to the above. Why do people hate the new "Versions" feature so much? The app in question has to be specifically written to take advantage of it, so you can't really blame Lion itself for any of the apps you use starting to use Versions even if you hate it, unless you're talking about an Apple app like TextEdit. And I don't understand the whole uproar over the supposed loss of "Save As." Am I missing something, or does "Duplicate" not do the exact same thing as "Save As"?

 

[dtravis7]

Try mplayer and you'll see what I mean. Somehow the way OS X handles it prevents other apps from encroaching on inactive RAM marked for it, so you can see situations where you have a whole lot of inactive RAM but any new apps being opened crawl like a snail. People haven't generally looked into this issue because the amount of such inactive RAM only really gets big enough to make it a huge problem if you're watching a very large file or a whole lot of them in succession, but it's most certainly there.

Agreed completely. Seen that happen many times.

EDIT: I have a question that fits in this thread but is completely unrelated to the above. Why do people hate the new "Versions" feature so much? The app in question has to be specifically written to take advantage of it, so you can't really blame Lion itself for any of the apps you use starting to use Versions even if you hate it, unless you're talking about an Apple app like TextEdit. And I don't understand the whole uproar over the supposed loss of "Save As." Am I missing something, or does "Duplicate" not do the exact same thing as "Save As"?

I have nothing against versions at all. I am all for backups of my docs or whatever in case something happens. It's already paid off with me a few times due to accidents when I was in a hurry and trying to do too many things at once.

 

[Dysfunction]

Yea, having worked with version management software for some time now I really like the idea of Versions. I just don't have enough software that supports it to have a good feel for how well it works. Everything I generate though is versioned already, so my perspective may well be different than most users.