How much memory does an app use?

[scottl]

I'm very strained for resources on my TX and need to cut back some of the fat. Is there an application similar to "top" from *nix or even the "Memory Usage" in Windows Task Manager. I just need to know how much of what memory each app is consuming. I know I've read about aps that summarize available resources, but don't recall one that can itemize each application.

I even disabled ZLauncher thinking it was my primary hog, but after doing so I ran Off Flush, Warm Reset, then normal Reset and saw a minimal improvement. It's wide open after a warm reset. I know I could disable everything and load one at a time with resets in between to find the big pigs, but that's a lot of work if there's an app that can help me.

I moved myKbd files to SD and everything ZLauncher allowed, but I need much more. Do inactive FontSmoother fonts take space in DBCache or Heap (whatever!). I have to go read up on this stuff again...

Here's how I'm testing: I run Off Flush 2.00, press the reset button, and have Event Launcher autolaunch Memory Info DA. I capture the numbers there, then launch Off Flush 2.00 from recent apps by holding the Home icon. Then RE the same way - trying to avoid launchers, etc.

Currently after a reset I show:

Memory Info DA
Dynamic heap:
-Total bytes 6,291,456
-Free bytes 4,216,728
-Largest Block 4,194,512
Storage heap:
-Total bytes 120,455,168
-Free bytes 58,314,752
-Largest Block 16,777,200

Off Flush 2.00
Free: 7.0mb (55%)
Chunk: 6.9mb (54%)

Resco Explorer 3.20.1/2007 (RAM Info)
Dynamic: 4035/6144
-MaxChunk 4013K
Storage: 56944/117632
-MaxChunk 16383K
DbCache: 6678/13119
-MaxChunk 6614K

Phew. Screen shots would be easier!

[BrentDC]

I would have to say Palm Internals is as close to Windows Task Manager as you can get. It will shows which apps register for which notifications, most notable 'ARM hede' (the real resource hog). As for your numbers, they look fine. In fact they ane waaaay better than mine (I have far to much junk, 140+ apps). I found that ZLauncher killed my performance, and I literally could not use it, that's why I use ScrBtn ;)

[scottl]

That's good (for me) to hear. I really like ZL, but it may have to go. As I said, I've been removing all kinds of apps, especially what I consider background jobbies that use resources. The primary reason I began this witch hunt was because VersaMail runs out of memory and AvantGo CRAWLS unless I run Off Flush first. I wish Off Flush had an option to launch before selected apps. That would solve my immediate problems. Otherwise I have to remember to do so manually.

[BrentDC]

With the TX, flushing the Cache before an app is a waste of time. Explanation: (my best Dmitry impression, ok, ok, Copy/Paste ;) )


Doing it manually will just move the slowness from one point in time to another. It will still be there. There is a constant finite amount of data to write to flash, and since write speed is also a constant, the total time to write it out is a constant. To run app X, you need Y bytes of cache. let's say free-able cache size is Z and you have T free now. Let's also say T<Y. If you just run app, you will need to free Y-T bytes, but a manual flush frees Z-T. So as long as Y<Z, just running the app is faster( since it will cause less data to be written out at our slow constant speed). Since there are no no apps that use up all the 6MB of cache(Z=6MB, all apps' Y is less than that), this stands true for the TX.

[scottl]

I remember that one - made me think of algebra & High School <shiver>. Thanks. But why does AvantGo sometimes clear the screen as though it's going to start in 320x480, then draws half (320x320) and stays there til I press reset? It did this a few times a week until I started Flushing immediately before running it, since then it hasn't failed. One of those "Things that make you go, hmmm".

[BrentDC]

AvantGo is (in my opinion) a very, very, buggy poorly made piece of software that exibits problems I've never even seen before on any software. If I were you I wouldn't pay attention to it (actually I'd delete it).

[Church Punk]

udmh helps for those apps that need lots of Dynamic Memory, ex: VersaMail, but not every app will have positive results (or at least on my TX) like Blazer, if you add it to the udmh list it will not download anything...

I have around 9mb of dbCache after a reset and a flush (go to RescoExplorer after the prefs app and see it in mem info) and that seems to be enough to run my TX without the need of any reset for ~4 days. Max chunk after a reset is around 7mb, dont remember well, which is perfect to run LJP fast :D. I see i need a reset after i get the max chunk down to less than 2mb, sometimes manually, others auto (system crash when too low :o )

[Adam Helberg]

I use PowerRun to run as many apps from the card as possible. It's helpful to have a fast and large SD card.

Adam