[bcab] Re: Available memory.

Hi Dorothy,

The simple answer to your last question is that everything takes storage
space. It's only when you open a file that the information gets loaded into
memory and when you close the file it gets erased from memory. That's a
simplistic view because the operating system gets loaded into memory along
with whatever drivers it needs and, of course, you can run lots of
programmes at the same time so each of those gets loaded into memory.

To check your available memory you can go into your Task Manager (usually
ctrl-alt-del then T) and it should tell you about "Mem Usage". Mine
currently says 209508K / 551688K. This means that in theory I'm using less
than 40% of the memory but it's only half the story. If I choose properties
on My Computer it tells me that I have 228,896 Kb RAM. So why does it say
551688K in task manager? Because Windows has allocated over 300 Mb as a swap
file. It isn't really memory but it uses the hard drive to swap values back
and forth. It works just like memory but it is much slower. If I start more
programmes without closing anything then my memory usage will go over the
228 Mb I have and I may start to see a deterioration in speed.

One final point here, my computer is supposed to have 256 Mb RAM so why does
it say there is only 228 Mb? Well, the screen card is built into the
motherboard and uses some of the memory of the system. If I had a separate
screen card it would come with its own memory.

I manage fine on 256 Mb RAM with Windows 2000 and I would think that XP
would work fine with 512 Mb. I bought a voice from Cepstral a little while
ago (David) and it wouldn't run on an old laptop that had 128 Mb RAM but
works fine with 256 Mb. I don't think you'll have a problem running the
newer voices on your system.

Cheers,
Steve



-----Original Message-----
From: bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Dorothy Ingram-Gorban
Sent: 22 February 2007 16:17
To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bcab] Re: Available memory.


 Thank you Gulp! trying to understand. I asked as when I had Lunar  put on
my computer to enable JFW to work in Monochrome  because Lunar will invert
the screen. Tony  a Rnib Volunteer, now recently gone to  live in France
said Lunar seems to use a lot of Ram, so I increased from 512 to 1 MBor Meg.
Tony also said Messenger gobbles memory  and Windows Messenger  don't bother
with them. Recently when I upgrade to the latest Version of Kurzweil. I
listened to the tape  instructions and realised these voices will need a
good bit of memory. They are Powerful. Jaws also has some powerful voices
now. I think Tony said Kurzweil your OCr will not use available Ram, I
don't understand as I am moving in and out of both Jaws and Kurzweil
frequently but are both using Available Ram or not? Sorry to be so dense.
However how can I tell by looking at my computer the amount of Available Ram
I am using and the memory I have left. I do not store music files and am
using my computer simply have a  good few Photos people have sent me not
that I can see them well but I like to have  them Do they take up memory or
just Hardrive space. Dorothy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Azabat (Steve Crawford)" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 3:05 PM
Subject: [bcab] Re: Available memory.


> I'll have a go. The processor works with memory, also known as RAM or
> random-access memory. Memory comes on chips and is installed in the
> computer. It is mesaured in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes and even
> gigabytes.
> When you switch off the computer the memory looses its information.
>
> Hard drives are storage devices. The processor cannot work directly with
> the
> hard drive, it can only execute instructions in memory, so programmes and
> data get loaded from the hard drive in order to be processed. Besides, RAM
> is much quicker than drives. Thus, you need an amount of physical memory
> in
> your computer for it to function. If you don't have enough RAM you will
> either find that some aspects of programmes won't work at all or that the
> computer slows down significantly because it is using space on the hard
> drive to swap memory back and forward.
>
> The main confusion comes about because hard drives are also measured in
> megabytes, gigabytes and even terabytes.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of Dorothy Ingram-Gorban
> Sent: 22 February 2007 14:37
> To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [bcab] Available memory.
>
>
> Can anyone explain about  Available memory  for example  some of the new
> voices are quite powerful and I imagine in both JFW and Kurzweil would
> need
> plenty of  what you call Ram, I have never really understood how to find
> out
> the difference between available and other. does available mean left over?
> If so how do do I find out what is left.
>
> I seem to recall something about Available being different however, would
> Jaws 8 and K11 be using        'available Ram' and if one is and  other
> not
> can you explain  just what is using what.sorry  the question is not set
> out
> well, it was just that  these new powerful voices must use more of
> something? Dorothy
>
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