Re: Memory-Intensive FM

[DW Emory <danemory@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I actually have 3 versions of FM+SGML running on two platforms. V5.5.1 is 
running on a WIN 3.1 platform with 64K of physical memory. Versions 5.5.6 
and 6.0 are running on a Win 98 2E platform with 256K of physical memory. 
The memory cache is set to a size of 32K (I've tried smaller and larger 
memory cache sizes, but 32K seems to work best).

With V 5.1.1 on the Win 3.0 platform, I can open very large EDDs and 
structured docs without ever running out of memory or experiencing a 
slow-down in performance. I can even open huge MIF files (up to about 30 
MB) save them in binary format, and print them, all without ever running 
out of memory.

On the Win 98 2E platform, I have Norton System Doctor running, which 
displays the % of free memory (the Mem Free sensor) , the % of physical 
memory that is free (the PM sensor), and the % of  the memory cache that is 
free (the Cache Used sensor) . Also, I have FreeMem Pro available. Below is 
a description of how this program works:
========================================
How FreeMem Professional works

One unseen error in an application can result in it leaving various amounts 
of memory allocated, even after the application has itself been terminated. 
RAM is a valuable resource, and the loss of this resource results in 
diminished performance but if Windows is unable to detect these errors the 
RAM remains allocated and unavailable for use where it is needed. The 
result is that some portion of actually available RAM is blocked, and more 
and more of what would ordinarily be stored in RAM is written instead to 
the disk cache, which is much slower, and wastes CPU cycles.

If one selects a specific amount of RAM (e.g. 12MB) and presses the button 
Allocate and Free, the tool goes into operation. The amount of memory is 
allocated and filled with dummy data. It is necessary to fill the RAM with 
data as Windows is smart enough to ignore allocations which aren't actually 
being used. The memory is then immediately freed and returned to windows.loop.
======================================
Of all the programs I use on the Win 2E platform, FM+SGML V6.0 is the worst 
offender in failing to de-allocate memory, followed by the HP printer 
driver, FM+SGML V5.5.6, and Acrobat/Acrobat Distiller 4.05.

With only FM+SGML 6.0 running on the Win 98 2E platform immediately after a 
Win re-boot, editing a large EDD or structured document results in a rapid 
fall-off in available memory, producing a corresponding decline decline in 
system performance, as more and more date is written/retrieved from the 
disk cache (a fast SCSI drive) even when the disk has low fragmentation, 
and a huge amount of the disk space is avaialbe, even though the document 
is frequently saved during the editing session. When I finally give up and 
exit FM+SGML, a large amount of memory remains allocated because of memory 
leaks.

FreeMem Pro can, after closing F<M+SGML de-allocate these 
memory-leak-caused allocations of memory, and, after such de-allocation, 
Norton System Doctor indicates that the amount of available physical memory 
(the PM free sensor) and memory cache (the Cache Used sensor) available for 
running programs has been maximized.

However, the key indicator of performance degradation is the Norton System 
Doctor Free Mem sensor. When this sensor indicates that the amount of free 
memory approaches 0, system performance degrades to the point where the 
only fix is to re-boot Win 98. However, even after using FreeMem to 
successfully de-allocate memory (as indicated by the Norton System Doctor 
PM Free Free and Cache Used sensors, the Mem Free sensor indicates that all 
of the de-allocation accomplished by FreeMem did not, as far as the Win 98 
OS is concerned, make all of the de-allocated memory available for other 
programs. The result is a gradual decline, over time, in the amount of 
memory actually available for running programs,  At first, I concluded that 
the Free Mem sensor was wrong, but actual experience has shown that, as 
this sensor approaches the point where 0% of memory is free, system 
performance radically degrades, and the only option is to re-boot.

The net result is that the FreeMem program does prolong the period during 
which system performance remains acceptable, but eventually the gradual 
accumulation of falsely allocated memory that FreeMem cannot successfully 
de-allocate forces me to re-boot.

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