Memory! RAM! Size! Performance!
These terms are consistently "batted" around inconsistently. What I mean to share is that some are using these terms improperly.
These ARE important terms. And it is easy to get discouraged when you have a traditional/advanced background in systems technology and see remarks by some in forums everywhere.
Let's zero in on Puppy. And, what I will share is NOT an absolute, because all of us can think of a "specific" where this general description does NOT cover. (This does NOT mean that if it doesn't cover the specific, that the general is wrong. Quite the contrary!)
Size. Everyone understand 100MB for WARY or 129MB for PUP525. But to some, they think that it is the amount of memory required to run the PUP. This is not and NEVER was true. To level set, it is the size of the ISO file! "Why is that important" some may ask. Its because in some parts of the world people have only unreliable dial-up internet services and thus, size here determines the elongation time it would take to get a downloaded ISO. This is important to that group of users. BUT, in no way is it what will be used in systems operation.
RAM. This is the physical memory directly addressable ("attached" so to speak) by the CPU (AMD/Intel/etc). This is hardware. The references we see today talk about PAE, a feature that was added to AMD/Intel so that programs would have access to memory beyond what was available in 486 architecture. Problem: This PAE hardware technology is NOT some sort of an "after-thought ad-on feature". It is BUILT INTO THE CPUs. This hardware function has "less than zero-impacts" on systems usage. And, further, all internal reports show that when systems are saturated by OS (software) the hardware performs better than when in non-PAE mode. This was an advancement when Pentium/K6s hit the streets. Except "old habits are hard to die" and, Yes, here in Puppyland we are still debating something that those vendors did for us about 20 years ago. Its unrealistic, but true.
Memory. This is a different area and here, I will NOT cover disk or RAM on the system, but what is happening once you boot a system. The uniqueness that Puppy provides is its stated objective of providing a "RAM-based" operation for Linux. Here, there MUST be enough RAM on the system to allow Puppy to load and turn over control to the load. Then, there also MUST be enough RAM+Swap+tmp (in Linux) available to allow system operations. Linux-Puppy when running preemptively is a very adaptable technology in how it dispatches and manages its workload. For the most part, when I look at my 512MB RAM system, I am have not found a way to saturate it in single user mode even with SAMBA running. On FATDOG, Hardinfo currently is showing 4054MB (420MB) in use (I am currently running full SAMBA sharing 180GB of storage with 7 PC on my LAN, serving Network booting to 2 PCs, running SM with a TV broadcast going and writing to this thread).
Performance. There is a
PUP539 that I tested several weeks ago with SCSI. This is an extremely "snappy" implementation of PUP525 which works on large RAM PCs. I tested it on the 512MB system and its performance seems faster than PUP525. So, this can be thought of as a contribution to demonstrate that its possible to have a single "Official" PUP which runs on EVERY RAM platform from 512MB to 64GB in 32bit mode, that is fast, and a full-feature replacement for a Windows desktop.
That's something Puppyland CAN boast.
- WARY will work on PCs with less than 256MB
- Puppy will work on PCs with more that 512MB
- FATDOG (which, BTW, is NOT an "Official" Puppy; Puppy does NOT have an official 64bit distro) for all things 64bit
Its boast of running in RAM and able to operate solely using a CD/DVD rewritable is very, very notable.
This community and its products have matured faster (I think) in 2011 to a level where its time to consider delivery of the next Puppy in 2011-2012 while keeping an eye on where "technology to the doorstep" is going. We should focus on doing something
right not only just doing something small. I saw this when @Playdayz and @01micko proceeded with
PUP525 for modern PCs. And I saw this again when @JamesBond and @Pemaus demonstrated Puppy WARY and ICE that will
run on any RAM PCs. These contributors actually put a stake in the ground as a marker for us to see the way. Puppy is no longer a PUP, it is a full-grown DOG!
I realize that the topic the OP is much much broader than this post. But, I wanted everyone with comments on PAE to think about the multitude of misuse of the the terms 'memory' and 'RAM'. For those of us, who has questions or comments on the benefits of PAE (large RAM issues), maybe we can confine them there versus on this thread. There, they covered, quite in depth, the development where Puppy now has the tested technology for being used on every PC since PentiumPro.
Hope this helps.