Increasing speed of computer

[asian1]

On Asian Reader's Digest, there are several tips
by Kathleen McLeary on "increasing the speed of
your PC":
1. Empty the trash.
Only when the trash is emptied, is the valuable
space freed up.
2. Fix fragmented files.
E-mail Microsoft for help finding the defragment
program and running it. Fragmented file may
produce error messages or crashes.
3. Restart your computer:
When you quit a program, large ones will
continue to siphon off memory. Re-boot eliminate
the problem.
4. Switch off start ups.
Instant Messaging and calendars will be started
at boot up. Call your tech support line for
help turning off these "extensions".
=======================================
My advice for Linux X86 users:
1. Buy knoppix CD.
2. Buy memory upgrade, at least 256 Megabytes.
3. Disconnect your Hard Disk (power+IDE cable)
4. Boot!
I see the first 2 advice is about HD. Why
don't they turn off hard disk and use RAMDISK+
floppy or ZIP or CD-RW?
Is there any similar advice for Classic Amiga
or AmigaOne?
T.I.A.

[shIva]

My advice for Linux X86 users:
1. Buy knoppix CD.
2. Buy memory upgrade, at least 256 Megabytes.
3. Disconnect your Hard Disk (power+IDE cable)
4. Boot!
I see the first 2 advice is about HD. Why
don't they turn off hard disk and use RAMDISK+
floppy or ZIP or CD-RW?
Is there any similar advice for Classic Amiga
or AmigaOne?
T.I.A.

you can forget step 1, since you can download it from here
you can forget step 3, because knoppix doesn´t need your hdd as long as you have enough ram. else you are asked if you want to create a swapfile, or not (then you have a slightly disadvanced version)
 :-o

[amigamad]

why not just chuck it down the stairs instant speedup. :-D

[Dan]

The easiest way to speed up any computer is....
get more RAM!

[mikeymike]

This has to be the oddest thread I've read in a while.  Is there any question or point being made in this thread?

Adding RAM speeds up a computer.  Uhuh.

[KennyR]

Adding RAM speeds up a computer. Uhuh.

It does if you're thrashing on virtual all day. And if you add higher bandwidth RAM than what you have, it might speed it up physically too.

And remember that adding FAST RAM sped up original Amigas. ;-)

[seer]

It does if you're thrashing on virtual all day.

Yeah.. Just put 1Gb of ram in my PC, and switched off the page file... Works great with XP so far.. (Still seems to use VM tho, only no slow downs when having lots of stuff open)

And remember that adding FAST RAM sped up original Amigas.

Ah.. the good old days... Chip, Fast and slow ram in an A500... And offcourse trying to get it to load the important stuff in fast ram..

[mikeymike]

RAM can be the bottleneck to any system just like any other major component can, but I'd say 99% of the time that a decently configured system, particularly with Windows, can run much more satisfactorily than just adding RAM to a bloated setup already.  I think the last time I noticed a speed increase was with a machine running Win95 with 32MB going up to 48MB RAM, 5 years ago now?  I've done quite a bit with hardware since then, and not necessarily the money to ensure I can buy more RAM than I ever need :-)

It's just a case of identifying where the bottleneck is, and if there is a way of working out the problem without having to upgrade (and whether it's worth it or not).

And remember that adding FAST RAM sped up original Amigas.

I don't recall a speed increase when DOUBLING the amount of RAM in my A500 :-)  A prettyness increase in graphics for games, that was about it... and it was very welcome :-)

[mdwh2]

mikeymike wrote:
I think the last time I noticed a speed increase was with a machine running Win95 with 32MB going up to 48MB RAM, 5 years ago now?  I've done quite a bit with hardware since then, and not necessarily the money to ensure I can buy more RAM than I ever need :-)

I experienced a general speed increase when I went from 64MB to 128MB with Win98. Even now with 256MB, I can sometimes be using virtual memory, so I think it's still relevant to say that adding RAM can speed up a computer.

Of course, that won't always be the case - it depends on the circumstances. But then it's not always the case that adding a faster CPU will speed up the computer, it depends where the bottleneck is.

I don't recall a speed increase when DOUBLING the amount of RAM in my A500 :-)

Well the Amiga never had virtual memory;) and presumably that extra RAM wasn't a faster type (if you added it via the trapdoor, wasn't that often referred to as "slow" RAM?)

[Effy]

I used to have a 1230 and speed began to be an obsession.  A lot of Ram works indeed, copying stuff to Ram on startup helps even more but increases startup time of course. Faster memory helps also, but there's a limit. Adding a PCI busboard and use gfx cards with loads of Ram, a Voodoo5 with 64 Mb for example, and let that superfast Ram be used by the system. Overclocking is tricky. There is not often much space left to do, especially not on a 68030/50.
And everybody knows that you don't need to load many programs at startup because those things will slow down the system (unless they are patches).

[mikeymike]

I experienced a general speed increase when I went from 64MB to 128MB with Win98. Even now with 256MB, I can sometimes be using virtual memory, so I think it's still relevant to say that adding RAM can speed up a computer.

An excellent tweak for Win98, in the system.ini file, under the [386Enh] section, add a line:

ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1

Well the Amiga never had virtual memory;)

You have to read things in the context they were intended for :-)

and presumably that extra RAM wasn't a faster type

It would stand to reason that it was, as the RAM was a good few years newer than the RAM in the A500, I would've thought it would actually be faster RAM.  Better technology in use, that sort of thing.

(if you added it via the trapdoor, wasn't that often referred to as "slow" RAM?)

I don't think so, fairly but not very sure about that.  Not sure what the whole slow RAM bit was about end of story.  :-)

[itix]

Well the Amiga never had virtual memory;) and presumably that extra RAM wasn't a faster type (if you added it via the trapdoor, wasn't that often referred to as "slow" RAM?)

It wasn't "slow". It was just pseudo-fast RAM without advantages of the "real" fast RAM.

I guess RAM added via the trapdoor was always behind chip ram bus (?) or something (??).

[mdwh2]

itix wrote:
It wasn't "slow". It was just pseudo-fast RAM without advantages of the "real" fast RAM.

I know, but IIRC, it has been referred to as "slow RAM" (certainly that's what UAE calls it, at least). I forget why it wasn't faster though.

[Lo]

I have not tried this, but it makes sense to me?

Subject: Re: Can I copy just the OS from the HP Recovery CDs??
Date: Sunday, February 04, 2001 4:24 PM

Actually.. once you have restored from a recovery disk... all the files you
need to do a clean install of the OS are ALREADY on your computer..  They
are in C:\Windows\Options\Cabs.

Just copy them to a directory (doesn't matter what you call it) under your
root directory.  Then delete everything (yes, everything) except for that
directory.   You won't be able to delete the directories Windows and Program
files.. so rename them to WinOld and ProgOld.

Reboot from a MS-DOS disk.. go to your directory with all the cab files in
it.. run setup.exe, install to C:\Windows and, assuming you have all your
necessary driver files, you will be good to go.  And don't forget to delete
WinOld and ProgOld.

you are installing the same OS that came with your computer, so it is
perfectly legal.  It's kind of a pain in the ass way to do things but I've
used this procedure successfully many times on my HP and IBM Laptops[color=CC3300]WARNING[/color]

[PiR]

chip ram was shared between CPU and DMA, so if DMA was active CPU had to wait.

fast ram was in use exclusivelly by CPU, so accessing it didn't requre waiting for DMA.

mysterious slow ram - only CPU was able to generate address for it, so only CPU was able to access it, but the address space from this range was handled by bus for chip ram - so if CPU wanted access from this ram it had to wait for DMA to finish, altough DMA itself was never able to use it.

Good luck
PiR