Virtual Memory?
 

I saw an option for Virtual Memory which I can activate. Now that I have a 4 Gb SDHC card internally, this can be an option for me. However, from reading the forums, I haven't learned anything conclusive about this feature. I'm referring to the one in Control Panel > Memory > Virtual tab (OS 2008).

I know it would extend the memory for applications which are running and thus I assume it would cause "out of memory errors" to go away if I had them. However, if I am not getting those errors, is there any point in enabling Virtual Memory?

The internal memory card is automatically unmounted if the battery door is removed due to a magnet which is present... from what I can tell. How does this work with the virtual memory feature enabled? What happens if one was to remove the internal memory card when the OS was still online and this feature was enabled?

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

If you don't get "out of memory" issues and don't have the browser close on you randomly, you probably shouldn't worry about Virtual Memory.

I think the N800 gives a warning message if Virtual Memory is enabled and you open the back door.

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

It'll complain that the card is in use and that you should close the back cover and leave the card in there.

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

Due to the default swapiness settings and the slow speed of flash memory, virtual memory on these devices tends to be more useful in avoiding crashes in high memory-usage situations than effecting general speedups (as might be seen on a desktop PC).

So, if you tend to multitask a lot, then definitely enable it, if not, then I'd still recommend enabling it. ;) The only real harm that can come of it is a hard-to-dismount internal card (that's what scp/sftp and the external card are for, anyway :p), and, potentially (in rare cases), some system flakiness if the internal card becomes corrupted (it usually doesn't manifest itself in that manner, though).

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

I agree with the statements here. Activating your virtual memory is one of the first semi-tweaks I would suggest doing. That and setting your screen dim/out to the same time for locking purposes.

Also gt24 I am redoing my blog to cover the new dual boot steps for OS2008

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

And you can create and use your own swap with the dd, mkswap, swapon commands.
Swappiness should be set to a higher value to let the system use it. (but it will cause overall performance loss as stated before)

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

Hopefully this doesnt come off too newbie, but the n800 has two SD slots, should I use the internal one for extended virtual memory, then put my 16 gb sdhc in the external slot.

Currently I have a regular 2 gb SD card and also a 16 gb SDHC class 6. Does it matter if I share the virtual memory on the 16gb along with all my media, or seperate the two and just use the 16gm for media and the 2 gb for virtual memory.

Thanks please private msg if you wish!:D

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

I'd use the 2GB internally, and the 16GB in the external slot. That'll be more convenient when you need to load more media. It'd be advantageous to have swap on the faster card, but the convenience outweighs the speed difference, at least to me.

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

I think it's about convenience. I would put the 16G card in the internal slot so it would be easy to install the next 16G. It may depend on how you intend to move information to the card, I have an 8G card in the internal slot with Virtual memory activated. Problem is that it doesn't show up when I connect to my desktop computer via USB. Since my external card is 4G this doesn't cause any difficulties. for smaller documents connect via WiFi.

Re: Virtual Memory?
 

Would there be a big difference between the standard 1 or 2 gb and the 16 sdhc. I also have a 1 gb standard and everyone speaks of the 128mb that came with the unit.

My question is there a max for how much virtual memory you can add, if not, how do you adjust.

Additional, I just stuck the 16gb card in, do I need to format it. I have not started putting media on the card, what is the best way to get media on the card. I do not have a SDHC reader....

Any ideas. Thanks for all responses!:cool: