[X-Newbies] Re: Installing X on a small hard drive

[Norman Cohen]

Although I seem to recall that Jaguar requires a minimum of 256 meg  
of RAM, I would say that to keep use of your hard disk to a minimum  
with virtual memory 512 meg is a more realistic minimum. More is  
definitely better, with the amount needed dependent upon how may  
programs you expect to be running simultaneously. On Tiger, I am  
frequently running 10 or more applications. Running with a gig of  
RAM, my average swap file size is about 1 gig of hard drive space.  
After running graphics intense applications (like Photoshop, iPhoto,  
iMovie, etc.), my swap file size can get as large as 2 gigs.

So if your needs are simple - e-mail, websurfing, etc., you can get  
away with less RAM. But if you start seeing the spinning rainbow  
pizza wheel frequently, you are probably offloading memory to the  
hard drive and might think about getting more RAM. Start with your  
384 meg and see how it goes. My guess is that you will want to shell  
out the $40 or so to get another 256 MB of RAM before too long.

Here's the current prices for RAM at OWC for the 733 Quicksilver  
PowerMac, which I think you mentioned was your machine.

<http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm? 
model=139&type=Memory&TI=%23TimeFormat%28Now%28%29%2C+&shoupgrds=Show 
+Upgrades>

Good luck,

Norm
---
Norman A. Cohen
nacohen at mac.com

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not  
certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
Albert Einstein




On Dec 27, 2005, at 15:35 PM, Dominic F. Manno wrote:

> I'll have 384MB RAM when I install Jaguar. Does that sound like  
> enough, or should I look for more? (I know you can't have too much  
> memory, but I don't have too much money.)