I am using Squeak 3.8.18 on Mac OSX with 2 Gbyte RAM to model large numbers of complex neurons. With all the neuron instances the Squeak image size can sometimes get well above 500 Mbytes. Up to image sizes of 500 Mbyte everything works fine.
The problem is that for images of 550 Mbyte, the image continues to run and I can save it, but if I try to start Squeak with a 550 Mbyte image, the image desktop and windows appear for a few seconds, then Squeak quits.
I have tried starting Squeak with the large image on a different Mac and the same thing happens. The problem occurs even if it is immediately after rebooting the Mac, with no other applications running.
Is this a bug, or are there Squeak image size limits and if so what are they and what generates them. Does anyone have any suggestions how to get around the problem?
Thanks
Andrew
Hello Andrew,
AC> The problem is that for images of 550 Mbyte, the image continues to run AC> and I can save it, but if I try to start Squeak with a 550 Mbyte image, AC> the image desktop and windows appear for a few seconds, then Squeak AC> quits. there have been threads on Squeak dev about memeory sizes.
In general, you should use the latest VM and I guess this question is not a beginners thing. Maybe even try the VM developers list.
AC> Is this a bug, or are there Squeak image size limits and if so what are AC> they and what generates them. Does anyone have any suggestions how to AC> get around the problem?
Maybe you can save your neurons to disk via ReferenceStream and load them after image startup. But that's not fast with hundreds of Megs.
Or try to stick them into several files, so the memory consumption rises gradually.
Cheers,
Herbert
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