memory being used?

[Cindy]

Another basic question.... I have 384 MB in my computer. Does it show anywhere on my eMac how much is being used and how much is left??
I'm looking at screen savers, is 1.2MB too much to be used on a screen saver. Doesn't sound like it to me...
Cindy

[King Cobra]

[Hard Drive] > Applications > Utilities > Terminal

type the word
top

Take a look under PhysMem.

[Cindy]

Hey thanks! I never would have figured that one out. It says that I have:
49.9M wired
87.3M active
188M inactive
326M used
58.3M free

Does that mean I should have thought about getting more memory when I got this computer?
I only have 58.3M left.
I hear that iPhoto takes up alot? I won't be having very many pics in there at all. Most of them to just send out and not keep stored in there.
What else would take up so much memory?
Cindy

[King Cobra]

Memory intense apps:
Any Adobe products
Any 3D software

To see the memory being shared (consumed) by the application, look under RSHRD after you typed top in the Terminal.

1.2MB is very small for a screensaver. Be lucky to use only 10MB for a screensaver.

iPhoto should take about 30MB+ of memory on your computer. (I don't have iPhoto installed on the machine I have with me right now, so this information may be inaccurate.) The more photos you have, the more RAM iPhoto will require.

Also, jack up your memory to within your budget. Buy from wherever you feel comfortable.

I suggest:
18004memory (www.18004memory.com).

[sparkleytone]

basically, you just gotta trust OS X to do its job. the 'MB Free' result can be very misleading. Probably a good idea to get of how much memory you really have free is to add the inactive and free together. The inactive can basically be comandeered by any app that wants it, it just hasnt been officially given to be 'Free'.

[springscansing]

What 10.2 lists as "free" isn't what is actually available. OS X leaves stuff in the RAM until more free RAM is needed. This is why apps launch faster the second time you launch them.

Try adding inactive to free and that might give you a better idea.

[Catfish_Man]

The best way to tell if you need more ram is this:

1) Run your normal workload for a bit
2) Open Terminal and type either "vm_stat" or "top"
3) Look at the number next to "pageouts"

If it's high (note: "high" depends on how long your machine has been running.), then you would get some benefit from more ram. Pageouts indicate that the computer is writing stuff in memory on to your hard drive to make room for stuff in memory. Since hard drives are slow, this will reduce performance.

[jimthorn]

A graphical way to see RAM usage and pageouts is the MemoryStick app. It's available at:

http://www.tidbits.com/matt/

It's a great little app that can even be run hidden, because it can show memory usage in its Dock icon.

[Cindy]

jimthorn:
I got the memory stick on my computer now. What do the colors mean? I scanned the website you gave me. Didn't see any real explanations on the memory stick.
Could you fill me in?
Cindy

[besson3c]

Guys,

I think you are off on the wrong track here.. reread her original message.

Cindy: It sounds like you are getting confused between hard disk space, and memory (RAM).

The more hard disk space you have, the more capacity you have for storing files on your computer. This has nothing to do with the quantity of files allowed, but the space consumed by these files. You probably have 40 gigabytes or more on your computer. 1.2 megabytes is absolutely nothing to be worried about (1000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte).

The more memory (RAM) you have, the programs you can have open at any given time, and the greater the potential for them to run optimally. You say you have 384 meg of RAM. While 384 meg is not a *huge* amount of memory, it should be plenty for what you need. Apple recommends having 256.

Don't worry about pageouts and all that stuff. This is far more complicated than what is needed to address your original questions. It takes some geekery to comprehend OS X's memory management model.

[Cindy]

besson3c

Yes, I was mostly interested in storing space. I usually only have email open and a browser for internet opened at the same time and that's it.
I would like to get instant messaging as I couldn't get that on my old computer.
I'll ask questions on that one tomorrow. Whether iChat or something else would be better. I'm thinking that iChat is only for mac to mac??

But, yes, I think this computer is a 40 gigabyte. Can't find it on the info but, I remember seeing it somewhere before I bought it.
Cindy

[besson3c]

Originally posted by Cindy
besson3c

Yes, I was mostly interested in storing space. I usually only have email open and a browser for internet opened at the same time and that's it.
I would like to get instant messaging as I couldn't get that on my old computer.
I'll ask questions on that one tomorrow. Whether iChat or something else would be better. I'm thinking that iChat is only for mac to mac??

But, yes, I think this computer is a 40 gigabyte. Can't find it on the info but, I remember seeing it somewhere before I bought it.
Cindy

iChat supports the AOL Instant Messaging network, meaning you can chat with Mac or PC users using the very popular AIM (AOL Instant Messager), or .Mac (Apple's internet services) users using iChat.

I think you will be fine for a long time with a 40 gig drive and 384 meg of RAM.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by Cindy
jimthorn:
I got the memory stick on my computer now. What do the colors mean? I scanned the website you gave me. Didn't see any real explanations on the memory stick.
Could you fill me in?
Cindy rather than using a dockling app like that, you may prefer MenuMeters (http://versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17713). it's a menubar app, which means it more than likely takes up less space on your dtop. it just displays used memory (U: ) and free memory (F: ). when you click on it, it displays much more extensive info, the same memory info you get from running "top" in terminal, as sparkley suggested.

the app itself is controlled by a preference pane in /users/yourusername/library/prefpanes/. there are install instructions with the DL. but you control it by clicking its icon in the "system preferences" window. you can also have it display CPU usage, disk activity, and network activity. but i don't. hope you find it useful, i like to keep tabs on usage myself.

[Wardofsky]

You can download countless apps for a GUI of memory, but I normally use Process Viewer (Mac OS X - Util App) when something seems odd.