Day 8 - Free and Inactive Memory

Day 8 huh? I guess it won't be long before I start counting in weeks or, more likely not bothering to count at all.

I haven't solved my FTP problem yet. I did use the command line FTP program via the Terminal to get a connection to the server (in London) where my websites are hosted. Nothing radical but it adds weight to my theory that Cyberduck won't do it because the server takes too long to respond. I'm looking into that.

In the meantime, BiL pointed out that free memory isn't really the issue on OS X as the Activity Monitor also displays "Inactive Memory" which is memory containing things that are no longer being used, but are being kept there just in case you want them again. In other words is 'free memory' that's being used because there's nothing else wanting it right at the moment.

The thing to watch, BiL tells me, is the 'outs' part of the "Page ins/out". This indicates how much stuff is getting swapped in and out of the virtual (on disk) memory and as such is proper indication of whether you have enough RAM. If you do, then the 'puter won't need to swap stuff and the 'outs' figure will be zero. If it's having to swap stuff...

On my 'puter it's currently 85922 but I think I'm right in saying that the figure is a total since the last re-boot. I've been watching it while I've been 'pottering about' today and with only a few apps open, it doesn't increase. However, if I open Camino, Smulton, Cyberduck and the Terminal all at the same time (a setup that would represent a typical 'working environment' for me), and leave iCal open at the same time, the outs figure starts to climb. Fire up iTunes and iPhoto (not unreasonable additions to the working environment) and although I'm not seeing any noticable loss of performance, the figures indicate that the system would appreciate having a little more memory at its disposal.

In the short term I guess that means I'll keep a close eye on how may apps I have open and forgetting about the weather widget. In the slightly longer term I'll be writing a letter to Santa.

To anybody about to go shopping I would say: see if you can get a deal on an upgrade at the point of purchase (although from what I've seen on the web it appears that the cheapest option is to buy the memory seperately and do the upgrade yourself). Either way you'll end up with 2x 256mb memory sticks going spare and according to eBay they are worth zilch. They do look kinda funky though and as my partner indicated that she might like some jewellery for Christmas, she might well find a pair of hi-tech ear-rings in her Christmas stocking.