Subject: REVIEW: GigaMem, revision 3
From: [email-masked] (Michel J. Brown)
Date: 29 May 1994 01:33:53 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	GigaMem, revision 3

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	GigaMem is a virtual memory management program.  It requires an
Amiga computer with hard drive, a processor with an MMU, and at least 3MB of
fast RAM.

	[MODERATOR'S NOTE:  This review assumes that the reader knows what
	virtual memory is.  Briefly, it is a way to make a part of your hard
	drive act like memory (RAM).  This increases the amount of RAM
	available on your Amiga, at the expense of some hard disk space and
	some speed (since hard drive access is slower than RAM access).
	- Dan]

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		BSC Bueroautomation AG
	Address:	Lerchenstraae 5
			80995 Mnchen 50
			Germany

	Telephone:	++49/89/357130-0
	FAX:		++49/89/357130-99

LIST PRICE

	I do not know the list price of the product.  The software was
included free with my Oktagon SCSI host adapter which I bought for $129.95
(US) from my dealer.

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		3 MB Fast RAM required.  It used for buffer space and
		data caching.

		A hard drive is required.  Sizes up to 1 GB are supported.

		A processor with a memory management unit (MMU) is
		required.

	SOFTWARE

		Works with all AmigaDOS versions.
		Some features are unavailable under older AmigaDOS versions.

		Full functionality is obtained with AmigaDOS 2.1 and above.
		Even though it is compatible with AmigaDOS 3.0, it doesn't
		seem to take advantage of any of the newer features present
		in 3.0 as far as I know.

COPY PROTECTION

	None.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	Amiga 2500 (rev 4.5), 2 MB Chip RAM, 4 MB Fast RAM.
	Oktagon SCSI host adapter with Quantum 1080 Empire SCSI-2 hard drive.
	Kickstart version 37.300, Workbench version 38.35.

INSTALLATION

	Installation uses the Commodore Installer and is very easy. I
selected the Expert installation mode and found most of the defaults to be
standard.  Even Novice installation mode wouldn't have been much different.
You can even choose the language in which the installation will occur:
English is the default, while French and German are supported.  If you have
AmigaDOS 2.1 or above, locales are also supported.  The Amiga Style Guide
guidelines are completely supported throughout the entire installation.

REVIEW

	The documentation is written in a "German first, English second"
booklet labeled "GigaMem."  It is well written and includes both
"step-by-step" and "expert" installation descriptions.  Throughout the book
are suggestions, warnings, and helpful tips about hard drive installation,
use, and maintenance.

	After selecting the appropriate mode, you can set the size of the
virtual memory file or partition by using the intuitive editor.  One caveat
here, though, is that you must specify the size of the file in megabytes, so
a partition swap medium would ghost out the choice for swap size.  Once the
size of the file or partition is set, then you have to select the amount of
real RAM you wish to devote to buffers and caches. The recommended amount is
that buffers should have one fourth of total RAM, and caches should be sized
according to the largest file to be handled at one time.  As an example, I
give GigaMem 1MB of buffer RAM and 256K for caching purposes.  Depending on
the size and speed of your drive, you may want to adjust these accordingly,
as they seem to be inversely proportional to the speed of access and use.

	The documentation has several warnings about using the swap file
method, as there may be conflicts with data and other files in the swap
file area.  I use the partition method, giving 175MB to GigaMem for virtual
memory purposes. This ensures that the random read/writes to the drive stay
in a controlled environment, and won't affect other files in any way other
than to allow for larger than normal projects to be done.

	GigaMem comes already set up to be used with several programs, like
AdPro, Deluxe Paint (animation only), and Imagine. I have tested it only
with AdPro, DPaint 4.1, Imagine 2.0, Pro Write 3.2, Scenery Animator 2.05,
and UChessL. While all of these programs worked exceptionally well, with the
one notable exception of DPaint 4.1, the greatest surprise came when I tried
UChessL (V2.83) on my system.  First of all, it requires a 68040 CPU and 8MB
of free RAM, yet it booted cleanly and performed as well as the lesser
versions without any speed penalties.  As to what happened with DPaint 4.1,
it is anybody's guess.  First, I tried a simple morph across 30 frames and
promptly ran out of memory.  Then I tried to concatenate a 750-frame
animation generated by Scenery Animator, and it wouldn't even load the first
frame, even though I set the frame count to 750 and selected the base name
of the file without the frame count extension.  Perhaps this is a problem
with DPaint 4.1, as there have been quite a few patches released for
different versions.

	One caveat here in regards to speed of access and use.  A friend of
mine tested GigaMem on his machine, a stock A4000/040 with 8MB fast RAM and
2MB chip RAM.  Due to his having a slower IDE drive and no burst mode,
GigaMem slowed down his system to a bearable crawl, while my system went 3-5
times faster.  The two controlling factors appear to be the speed of the
drive and the speed of the RAM.  On a fast system, this is a moot point, as
my virtual memory speed tests somewhere in between Fast and Chip RAM.  The
A4000 showed its Fast RAM to be about half as fast as mine, and the Chip RAM
about the same, while the virtual memory was dog slow (approximately one
fifth the speed of Fast RAM).  So for the need of working on large projects
that are RAM intensive like image processing and rendering on a fast machine
with a fast drive, GigaMem is a very cost-effective means to an end, without
a great deal of expense in hardware.

	All in all, this is a fine product from a supportive and growing
company, and I would highly recommend getting the program if you are in the
market for a fast and inexpensive method of RAM acquisition.

DOCUMENTATION

	The printed documentation comes in a 96-page perfect bound booklet,
with the first half in German, the second in English.  My congratulations to
the writers for the excellent translation and low spelling error count.  The
documentation is very straightforward and covers every aspect of
installation, use, and maintenance.  All levels of expertise are covered, and
beginners to experts alike won't be disappointed or confused by the
nomenclature.

LIKES

	I like the ease of use, the intuitive system that is completely
Style Guide compliant, and the use of advanced features from recent
AmigaDOS versions.

DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS

	About the only dislike I had was that in order to use a program, it
has to be on the database, which is included.  As an example, I tried to drag
and drop (like an AppIcon in this respect) the icon for GVP's DSS8+ sound
sampler hardware.  Although it registered on the memory allocation counter
in DSS, it wouldn't use any virtual memory whatsoever.  What was really
surprising is that there is support in the database for AudioMaster III/IV,
and yet DSS is left out.  I tried editing the AudioMaster and DSS files
manually, but was unable to get it to work.  Since sound files can be quite
large, and DSS is a pretty well established product, I cannot understand why
it wasn't included, or why GVP won't allow for the use of virtual memory.
Maybe in future releases we'll see it.

	As for DPaint 4.1, I don't know why it wouldn't make even a small
animation, like a morph, or even a large one of 750 frames from a Scenery
Animator animation I did for a project.  FRED, however came through, even
though it uses Chip RAM for the thumb nails it generates to make the
animation from the frames generated.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	The only comparable product is the shareware product VMM040 which
requires a 68040 processor, so I was unable to test it.  My friend with the
A4000/040 tried to use VMM040, and couldn't get it to work at all, as the
documentation leaves a lot to be desired and assumes a complete knowledge of
the inner workings of an MMU-bearing 68040 processor.  Definitely not for
the faint of heart.  Other than that, I am not aware of any other comparable
products that are generally available.

BUGS

	None noted.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	Full addresses, and phone/fax numbers are supplied, but the hotline
for technical support is sent back only after registration card is received
by BSC.  I am not associated with BSC/Alfa Data in any way except as a
satisfied customer.

WARRANTY

	One year warranty on software and the installation software.
Warranty appears to be transferrable, as no mention is made either way as to
the transfer of title.

CONCLUSIONS

	This is an excellent product at a fair price, and considering the
performance capabilities exhibited, I would hazard a guess that the faster
your machine, the faster the throughput.  According to SysInfo 3.14, I get a
speed of my virtual memory in between the speed of my Fast and Chip RAM.  It
would appear that faster processors coupled with faster drives will produce
the best results, naturally enough, but faster than your average comparably
equipped machine.  I'd give GigaMem a rating of 4+ stars out of 5 and a full
five stars if they make the appropriate changes to the database, allowing
use of Digital Sound Studio and DPaint 4.1.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	Copyright 1994 by Dr. Michel J. Brown.  All rights reserved.

---

   Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
   Send reviews to:	[email-masked]
   Request information:	[email-masked]
   Moderator mail:	[email-masked]
   Anonymous ftp site:  math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews