What to do with 256meg ram

[darkage]

Just got my 2x 128mb edo simms delivered today.  

Cant wait to install in my Bliz 1230 IV w/ scsi kit.     (a1200 w/ Indivision)

Any cool ideas what to do with 256meg ?    

I can only think maybe WHDLoad might be happier and I could always create a large RAM drive for playing around.  But cant think of any other uses for such a large amount of RAM, other than just to have a maxed out machine just for the sake of it.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Open 50 tabs in Ibrowse?

Create a RAD drive and load your entire SYS: partition into it?  No more waiting for reboots!  

[klx300r]

@ darkage

open up large pictures, drool when you save lots of time when rendering a 3D model in Lightwave etc., and most important ...smile when you see that big number looking back at you on your Workbench :hammer:

[klx300r]

...But cant think of any other uses for such a large amount of RAM, other than just to have a maxed out machine just for the sake of it.

In Amiga land that's one of the MAIN reasons why we hack er upgrade our miggies & cause we can :pint::cool:

[Pat the Cat]

It's the sort of thing people don't do, because they don't have a reason to.

If you've ever set up a production tool chain on an Amiga, making CGI sequences and processing them for effects, you soon start to see the necessity.

Part of the reason why render farms where invented.

[Dandy]

...
Any cool ideas what to do with 256meg ?    
...

See my posting #26 at http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=816455#post816455...

[zipper]

Shapeshifter , PC-Task do benefit of big block of (contiguous [Shapeshifter]) RAM.

[kolla]

You can run more programs at once and handle larger datas. For example work with longer animations in Deluxe Paint and coordinate them with sound and music in SCALA or what have you, without needing to close the programs you are working with.

[fishy_fiz]

Compression and decompression of larger archives, plus RAM: disk being more useful for temporary stuff/testing are 2 of the more typical/every day uses that come to mind.
256 meg or more is also close to essential if you do any compiling of medium to large sized projects.

[darkage]

Thanks everyone for the awesome ideas.  

Im definitely checking out the RAD drive..

funny enough I do have a Shapeshifter unit somewhere in my garage.  have to dig it out.

Definitely going to do some rendering.   I was a big user of lightwave for fun when I had my Pentium 100.  never tried it out on the Amiga..  also I always wanted to have a go at Real3d but back in the day I only had a 1meg a500.

have to find my pcmcia network card so I can hook up the a1200 to the net.

For some reason Ive purchased a Bliz 1240 card..   ha I'll probably upgrade it to a 060 when I get it.    cant wait.

[kolla]

256 meg or more is also close to essential if you do any compiling of medium to large sized projects.

Yeah, especially if you do C++.

[darkage]

Ive actually been interested in programming on the amiga for fun.    havent touched C/C++ / ASM since school.   thats one reason I look forward to going to 060.

[BozzerBigD]

Ive actually been interested in programming on the amiga for fun.    havent touched C/C++ / ASM since school.   thats one reason I look forward to going to 060.

 Wow, you got taught C++ at high school? Or do you mean 'school' in the sense of trendy American slang for University?

[darkage]

School, I kind of meant Uni.

Highschool was Basic and Pascal programming.

Then did computer systems engineering @ Uni it was C/C++ (DOS and Linux based) and 8051 ASM with custom pcbs etc.     Thats going back 20 old years now.

Linux was definitely exciting back then, now its more mainstream and anyone can install it.  

[Pat the Cat]

Thanks everyone for the awesome ideas.  

Im definitely checking out the RAD drive..

funny enough I do have a Shapeshifter unit somewhere in my garage.  have to dig it out.

Definitely going to do some rendering.   I was a big user of lightwave for fun when I had my Pentium 100.  never tried it out on the Amiga..  also I always wanted to have a go at Real3d but back in the day I only had a 1meg a500.

have to find my pcmcia network card so I can hook up the a1200 to the net.

For some reason Ive purchased a Bliz 1240 card..   ha I'll probably upgrade it to a 060 when I get it.    cant wait.

One thing you might have a go at - running Python scripts for big tool chains.

Two that come to mind are the Skeinforge and Printrun toolchains for turning .stl 3D objects into gcode ready for a 3D printer.

These ARE just python scripts with slow GUI, but with the right compiler, could perhaps be compiled into "real" Amiga versions. Gnu CC seems the most supported choice for that. They should run OK uncompiled on a Python interpreter (they prefer early versions of Python as found on Aminet).

Downloads for these are becoming quite scarce, but I did manange to find a set at;-

http://www.nextdayreprap.co.uk/reprap-downloads/

An example of open source app developed from those ancestors would be Slic3r. Which is notoriously memory hungry in 32 bit versions, so my advice would be, steer clear of trying to convert it. A good comparison for it would be Cura from Ultimaker, which is NOT Open Source but is free to download from Ultimaker.

The latter two apps are only available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.