Mac OS 9.2 Having Trouble allocating memory

I went into the HELP file on the computer but after trying multiple times to "open the submenu title memory" in the application... THERE ISN'T ONE THERE!!!

I assume you mean you did a Get Info on the icon for the program, and the Memory submenu was not presented in the "Show" pulldown menu.

The "Memory" choice will not be offered unless the Get Info is done on the icon of the program itself. It is not available if the Get Info is done on an alias or on a folder or document icon.

If you have been doing the Get Info on an alias (an alias to an item can be identified in OS 9 by the name of the item being in Italics, and there is s small bent-arrow glyph added to the lower left of its icon), getting to the original is easy - select the alias, then press Command-R (Show Original in File menu).

As you noticed, the memory allocation fields are measured in KiloBytes. When you enter a number in the "preferred" amount of memory, it should be in the tens of thousands, if you want to allocate 10, 20, or 30 MBs to the program. Because 1 MegaByte is 1,024 KiloBytes, if you wanted to allocate 10 MegaBytes to the program, you would enter 10,240 in the field, or 20,480 to allocate 20 MBs, or 25,600 to allocate 25 MBs, etc.

JCasey52 wrote:

I allocated more memory to that program... I give up! I just don't understand how in the world Apple thought this program was user friendly!

Just so you know, it isn't helping for you to criticize Apple for the way that operating system works, since OS 9 hasn't been made in over 10 years. And remember, Apple was considered easier than working what Windows used to be like back then...

Ever since Mac OS X came out around 10 years ago, memory allocation and virtual memory are automatic and dynamic...just like on today's Windows PCs. If you bought a Mac today, you'd never have to worry about allocating memory, especially since, being 64-bit, they can handle and automatically allocate many GB of RAM to any program.

The only reason you're having this problem is that the old drum scanner can only be run by a really old Mac.

You wrote:

I just don't understand how in the world Apple thought this program was user friendly!

I agree completely. But it wasn't always like that. Here is my list of "most friendly" to "least friendly" operating systems (listed most friendly to least friendly):

Chrome OS (Google)

System 6 (Apple)

to

Mac OS 9.2 (Apple)

Windows XP (Microsoft)

Mac OS 10.4 (Apple)

to

Max OS 10.0 (Apple)

These represent the systems I've used extensively. I won't try and rate other versions since I've not used them enough.

For me the ideal OS is one that is entirely invisible. Chrome OS comes the closest to that of any I've used.

Gary