How to change size memory for an application under Classic ?

I think you can still change the size memory for your applications as you always have. However, you may have to be running classic to do this (as opposed to a straight forward "get info" under OS X.4.4) I assume you do not have a dual boot Mac? If you can boot directly into OS 9.x, then you could change the memory for the applications as you always have done in the GetInfo window. As I don't regularly use OS X, I don't know exactly how GetInfo work under OS X -- the same feature may still be there but in a new location! That sometimes happens! If no one here can answer, you might try posting in the OS X forums, too.

OS X automatically assigns more memory to an application on an "as needed basis", so you don't need to use Get Info/Memory to increase the allocated amount as with classic OS.

Cheers, Tom

I do not think there is a simple answer to your question. This is what I have tried.

1. In OS X, not running Classic, I selected an older application (Quark 5) and typed command + i. The Q5 Info pane came up, and it included a section for "Memory". When expanded that section showed the three familiar choices for memory allocation, viz, Suggested Size, Minimum Size and Preferred Size; the last two, as usual can be changed.

2. I then did the same thing with a somewhat newer application - Illustrator 10. This time the AI 10 Info pane did not include Memory! Obviously it is impossible to change the memory allocation here.

3. I checked a few other applications as well and found that some Info's behaved like the one for Q5 and some like the one for AI 10.

Tom is correct ofcourse that when an application is running X handles the app's memory needs differently than 9 did. But that does not explain why there are two different types of Info's.

But that does not explain why there are two different types of Info's.

Here's why: when OS X is running, the Get Info windows of Classic applications (ones that only run in Classic mode, not natively in OS X) display Memory allocation info. The Get Info windows for apps that run only in OS X, or that can run either in OS 9 or in OS X, will show no Memory allocation info when OS X is running.

When only OS 9 is running, any app that can run in OS 9 will display its memory allocation in its Get Info window, but OS X-native apps will not. They may not even be recognized as applications by OS 9 — I don't remember whether they are or not.

Thank you, eww! That answers that question.

One more question, if I may. My Q5 has a Preferred Size of 50000k. I am sure I did that way back when I did run Q5. Is that number significant when Q5 is running in Classic? Does X know that in Classic, Q5 will ask for 50000k?

Hi, Eustace. Yes, I think OS X is aware of your Classic applications' memory allocations and tries to honor them. I currently have 160,000k allocated to Photoshop 5.0.2 running in Classic under Panther, and the Memory/Versions tab in the Classic pane of Sys Prefs shows "116.8/162.8 MB" next to PS 5.0.2. If I quit PS, change its preferred memory allocation to 144,000k, reopen it, and check the Classic > Memory/Versions tab again, it says "101.2/147.2MB". These figures are without any file open in PS.

It seems to me that 160,000k should be 156.25 MB, not 162.8 MB. Be that as it may, the approximate correspondence, both before and after I made the change, seems to indicate that OS X is paying attention, but that it alters the allocation by a smallish factor that I don't know about. At the least, it's safe to say that there's an observable effect in OS X when the memory allocation is changed for a Classic app.

Hi eww,

Thanks again.

Eustace.

ROYCH...



Unless an alias was selected or the application uses another memory scheme it should be available in the Get Info window.

...Ron

Message was edited by: Ron JACKLE

AppleWorks is seen by the Mac OS differently as it contains a duel version. There may be a few that follows that odd scheme. In Mac OS 9 you can change the memory needs but not in Mac OS 10.

ROYCH: This is partly guesswork, but I think it may explain why your problem occurs.

When OS X is controlling your computer (as it always does on a Mini), the file Type and Creator attributes that OS 9 uses to identify different kinds of files are not used. OS X ignores them in files that have them. Files that are only used by OS X don't have them at all. When you create a new application in Classic mode under OS X, those attributes may not be assigned to it, so the new application may not have any.

But if you copy the new application to a computer running OS 9, and those attributes are missing, the OS 9 computer will have no idea what sort of file it is. OS 9 won't even know it's an application. To prevent that, I'm guessing that OS X somehow builds clues into the file that enable OS 9 to identify it as an application, and to give it the Type attribute APPL. I believe any file in OS 9 that has that Type attribute will display the Memory menu item in its Get Info window — not only in OS 9, but in OS X. So after you copy your compiled application onto a computer running OS 9 and then back onto your Mini, it has the APPL attribute, and the Memory item is available in its Get Info box.

I have one application, File Buddy, that can (among many other abilities) display and edit the OS 9 Type and Creator attributes of any file while running in OS X. It can be used to assign specific Type and Creator attributes to a file that has none. You could use it to assign the appropriate Type and Creator attributes to your compiled applications while you are running OS X. After you do so, maybe they will display the Memory menu item in their OS X Get Info boxes.

If this works, File Buddy can apply the same changes in Type and Creator to a whole folder full of files at once. That would be an easy way for you to accomplish the same thing for several compiled applications instantly, without having to copy them to a computer running OS 9.

I don't create applications, so I can't test this procedure to see whether it works. I will be interested to hear what happens if you experiment with File Buddy.

But after saying all this, I really have no idea whether the message you're seeing about insufficient memory is meaningful or spurious. You may go through the whole rigmarole of changing the memory allocation for your compiled applications, only to find that doing so still doesn't enable you to open them. I'll be interested to hear whether that's true, too. Good luck.

No, File Buddy can't change an application's memory allocation. It can change or set the Type attribute of a file. I thought that attribute might be missing from an application created in Classic mode, and that setting it as APPL might permit the app's memory allocation to be adjusted. As I told you, I was guessing, and it seems I was wrong.

You say "The two applications have the same parameters exactly but "Open With" and "Memory sizes" in infos window." If you change the "Open With" attribute of a new application to match that of one that has been moved into OS 9 and back, do you then have a Memory option in the Get Info window? Maybe that's the secret.

One solution to your problem, it would seem, might be to upgrade to a version of 4D that you don't have to run in Classic mode.

If you want to stick with your Classic version of 4D, maybe you should look for ideas from other 4D developers and/or 4D's maker:

http://www.4d.com/support.html