Hello.
Right now I am on Cyanogen 4.2.15.1.
The biggest problem of G1 is imho lack of memory. I did every possible hack to make more memory available to my phone. I use compcache, 10mb hack etc..
I also tried swap, but it has been giving me some troubles and I find my phone working better without it.
I see everybody switching to 2.x roms and of course it makes me want to switch too although my phone runs pretty fine as it is now. But I would switch if I am convinced that things will improve. So here come the questions:
Did you experienced speed improvement by switching or it just runs the same/slower? (I am only interested in answers of G1 users as this is somehow a bit specific phone with the lack of memory)
My second question rose from my concerns of memory too. To use 2.x roms, one has to use DangerSPL, right? I am not sure about this, but I got the impression, that this one moves some of the memory from application runtime to rom space, so we can fit larger roms in. Does that mean, that in the end this rom has less operational memory for itself? Because that would be the exact opposite thing to what I want to do.
Thanks for the answers.
You as many others are confusing persistent storage with ram.
Ram is fast but will not store data over a reboot.. the amount of ram on the dream remains the same regardless of the spl/radio/rom (with maybe an exception of the 10mb hack that borrows 8mb from video ram for general use)
The persistent storage slow and is what danger spl changes.. this is the equivalent of your hard drive on a computer.
In the case of danger spl it significantly reduces the temporary space (cache) and increases both the core system storage (system) and the user space storage (data) this allows more on internal phone storage instead of the sdcard, having your core apps not using apps2sd is likely to increase perceived speed.
Since the memory (ram) is unchanged and the new kernels are better at memory management there is potential for newer versions to support more tasks at the same time than the older versions. (We are not there yet but cm-5.0.8-test4 and cm-4.2.15.1 seem similar in behavior in terms of what can be done with the ram avalible)
As for upgrading that's your choice.. in general on the dream anyway I don't recommend going to cm5.0.7 and related roms if you have not already done so.. and I never recommend a test version if you are not looking to be a tester. So I'd wait till cm5.0.8 final and related roms are pushed if you feel it's time to upgrade.
Otherwise if you are on a stable 1.6 rom that fills your needs and want to keep a very stable phone.. there is no need to rush the upgrade.. at some point you will find something that requires you to upgrade to 2.1 and will be glad it exists as it will improve the usefulness of the phone.. and I'm sure the stability of 2.1 will only improve over time.
Thank you for your answer.
I of course understand the difference between ram and persistent storage (rom?). The information I missed is that the additional memory is taken from the cache. Someone somwhere here posted something that implied that it reduces ram. Hackery!
Thank you for clearing that up. What are consequences of having less cache? Is this not a problem then?
You got my point with stable 1.6. I do not want to flash new rom every week and prefer stable working phone. The ONLY thing I was hoping for is the better memory management and maybe the whole rom footprint in ram, leaving more room for apps instead of system. I am running apps2sd but I think the main source of sluggishness of my phone is that apps are too often removed from ram by dalvik.
So I was hoping for something like " Yep, 2.1 is 50mb in ram instead of 80mb of 1.6 and you will have more free memory." That would make me switch. Having the same amount or even less makes no sense for me. I see no killer 2.x feature that I need to have so far.
Same amount of ram with both spls as I said. No 10mb hack on cm5 because the gpu is used for system operations
Cache is mounted as /cache and as I said contains temporary and cached data.. As designed its intended as a staging area, which will usually persist across reboots but may not under certain situations.
No performance impact ought to exist due to the resize. If too many things are attempted to be saved here you will get out of disk space errors.. but 30mb is plenty for the staging operations required by the system during normal operation.
As you may know: Linux never has "free" memory.. but reclaimable memory.. the reason for thus is anything read from persistent media is put into "disk cache" in case its needed again.. if the memory is needed for something else it will be freed at no/little cost, but if the cached files are needed they wont be reloaded thus saving the time reading disks/SD/flash.
(Thus why devs cringe when people show the output of free.. 'cat /proc/meminfo' will give full detailed breakdown of memory use if you qknow how to read it)
I am Linux guy myself, so I know how it manages the memory. Anyway, 10mb hack was a huge thing for me, can not live without it.
That pretty much means I am staying and 1.6, thank you for your time.
Related
i've been reading up on compcache and the way that it works, but i'm pretty confused on how exactly this works on the android platform... i can't seem to pull the exact definition of compcache for android through all the chatter from threads, and it seems my answer gets lost in translation...
so to put it simply, i'm assuming from all my thread reading that compcache is actually based off the ext partition that you have on your SD card, and not on the RAM itself on the device? is this right? this is where i get confused, cause the compcache writers and developers say that it creates a ramzswap in the ram itself and stores compressed pages on the device RAM, effectively increasing the efficiency of your onboard RAM... in android's case and all the cooked ROMs, does it work off your SD card and your ext partition? or does it work off the RAM itself...
i'm currently running cyanogen's latest 32b release on my mytouch and its running extremely fast WITHOUT apps2sd, but i would like the benefits of compcache to prevent losing information from my browser and other applications like gtalk, which supposedly compcache helps with... would i have to create a ext partition and utilize apps2sd in order to utilize compcache? thanks in advance
bump... would like to be learned
I'm also a bit confused
i would like to know as well as i've installed Cyanogen v4.0.1
i went into the recovery console and formatted my SD choosing the option of "Format SD: fat32+ext2+swap"
was this the correct thing to do?
either way if you format cyanogen's rom with just a fat32, or fat32 + ext + swap, it doesn't matter as his rom is compatible with either apps2sd or without...
the question is, where does compache compress its file pages? in the RAM, or in the SD card
Compcache uses xMB of RAM as compressed swap space. No ext2 or swap files or swap partitions are needed (though the latter two can be used as "backing swap").
So on a 32B, with RAM limitations already, how is that a good thing?
PsychoI3oy said:
Compcache uses xMB of RAM as compressed swap space. No ext2 or swap files or swap partitions are needed (though the latter two can be used as "backing swap").
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks thats the answer i was looking for...
MikLSP said:
So on a 32B, with RAM limitations already, how is that a good thing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how is it NOT a good thing? compcache compresses page files, effectively increasing your RAM's efficiency and "technically" increasing its storage size in the allocated ramzswap... according to the developer's tests on different machines, it effectively makes it seem like it doubles the RAM amount on your computer...
this is nothing but good, especially for lower end machines like netbooks, and phones that have limited RAM allocation to begin with...
heres a small tidbit from the google source page
http://code.google.com/p/compcache/
i don't mean to threadjack, but compcache will be active regardless of whether or not i partition my sd card to fat32+ext2+swap...?
and i only have to partition my sd card to fat32+ext2+swap ONLY if i want apps2sd to work correctly using Cyanogenmod's rom...?
please correct me if i'm wrong.
i'm really wondering because even though i'm using Cyanogenmod's latest rom on my MyTouch, i still get considerable lag throughout such as typing on the virtual keyboard, screen orientation rotation, etc. i also use TasKiller.
maybe i'm expecting too much...
probably... lag from orientation, keyboard, and small things like this are still very common... i've tested a lot of roms on both the g1 and mytouch, and cyanogen's is by far the fastest...
As I have understood it sort of compresses things stored in the RAM (like background apps)
I've done a good amount of reading on compcache and have found that its been causing problems in my 4.0.1 build of cyanogen... the best thread i've found on the issue is:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=547752
hopefully users continue to share their findings, as the the thread mentioned is for the G1, and i'm sure optimal compcache settings will differ on the mytouch 3G... i will be doing some extensive testing on compcache only (due to me recently buying a 32gb micro card, and don't want to mess it up with linux swap) and will report my results... if anyone would like to join in, please post your findings as well...
Hi all,
i have read all i can find on the forum on this topic and i wanted to ask is a specific procedure existed for determining a memory leak (if i have one!) i find the gwes.exe file starts at 12mb at boot and generally increases untill a soft reset. it can reach 18mb. whilst i am not sure if this effects performance it causes my memory usage to rise constantly for no reason i can determine!
my setup - rom miri wm6.5 v26.3 - premium WITHOUT manilla
interface - spb mobile shell
dialer - phone ex
not much else
any ideas hints kindly recieved!
regards
Mat
lemat1 said:
i have read all i can find on the forum on this topic and i wanted to ask is a specific procedure existed for determining a memory leak (if i have one!) i find the gwes.exe file starts at 12mb at boot and generally increases untill a soft reset. it can reach 18mb. whilst i am not sure if this effects performance it causes my memory usage to rise constantly for no reason i can determine!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GWES memory consumption growth is as natural as gravity and it happens to improve performance. This happens because it is smart enough to keep resources in fast RAM so that next time they will not be loaded from (comparatively slow) flash memory. Basically this is the point in having RAM and the reason why you paid for it - it has to be loaded with stuff to make things faster. This sport of freeing RAM is just ridiculous in most cases (although not always, of course). You pay for it and then don't use.
Secondly, what you describe is not a memory leak. A memory leak is a situation of uncontrolled memory usage growth (if your GWES gradually ate all available memory to a point where device would crash that would be a memory leak). In general, there's nothing wrong with applications consuming more and more RAM as they work as long as they can free this RAM on demand. See for yourself: on your PC, load a memory-hungry application such as a web browser, note how much RAM it uses initially. Then use it for a while, RAM consumption will grow. Then minimize it and see how RAM usage drops dramatically. Even if an application uses half of all RAM it doesn't mean that this RAM isn't available for other programs when needed. When it's not needed, why not use it?
Hi all,
I'm always low on memory on my phone, I run quite a few hungry apps so looking at suggestions now please. I'm a linux-person but this one baffles me on the right way to go ahead.
I'm on CM-4.2.3.1 pretty much as standard, no tweaks to note on it.
Advanced Task Killer shows me at generally around 17Mb available memory, but in my logs I often get:
Code:
11-12 13:33:43.102 I/ActivityManager( 322): Low Memory: No more background processes.
So I'm thinking I need to do something. I've not got swap enabled, nor have I got compcache as far as I'm aware, so what should I go for here and is there a simple guide on it? As I have done a few searches and its overwhelming the information that comes back.
Thanks in advance everyone
You could try the free app "automatic task killer" see if that helps. I've personally came to the conclusion that CM 4.2+ ROMs are RAM hogs themselves. Try flashing a ROM with the 10 meg RAM hack if it bugs you.
You're supposed to be low on memory.. That means your phone is using the it to the greatest efficiency.. Empty memory is wasted memory. Unless you're experiecing long load times and loads of caching, its normal.
goldenarmZ said:
You're supposed to be low on memory.. That means your phone is using the it to the greatest efficiency.. Empty memory is wasted memory. Unless you're experiecing long load times and loads of caching, its normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
qft, this is typically how linux runs anyways.
Do you have an ext partition on your SD for apps2sd? How about a linux swap partition (enabled)?
mikedmeyer said:
Do you have an ext partition on your SD for apps2sd? How about a linux swap partition (enabled)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second the suggestion for using a linux swap partition!
Agreed, and yes I have a swap partition correctly formatted, however thats the problem there are too many "guides" of how to enable/use the swap on CM, so if anyone can point me to the right entry (couldn't find it on the CM wiki either), or how to enable any of the other memory enhancements (compcache or whatever)
Thanks!
You can dl user.conf app from the market. explanations are given in the help section
Sorry if these are DUH questions, but while I've been working with computers since the mid 80's, I'm fairly new to the smart phone game and unfamiliar with the way they work internally.
Is the RAM on these phones a physical chip (like a PC) or is it a software defined allocation (virtual)?
Also, and more importantly, if it is software defined, is it possible to allocate more of the phones internal storage memory to RAM?
I've noticed that while I'm only using about 7% of the internal storage, RAM is typically running at about 80% used.
The device is rooted, running 2.3.2 and currently running the stock VZW rom.
Any insight on this would be appreciated.
Thanks!
I imagine android uses virtual addressing instead of physical addressing but I'm not sure.
I CAN tell you, though, that android (specifcally the dalvik vm) is designed to keep things in memory instead of freeing it to reduce load times, etc. If it starts to run out of memory it unloads things, probably on a LRU basis.
I see. So then the amount of available RAM really doesn't matter as it works more like cache?
It's not really much different in windows... if your usage is under certain limits, very little will be paged out. 99% mem in use is fine in windows. 101% is not.
I guess the main difference is that closing an app is not as integral to android as it is to windows, so those of us who are accustomed to closing apps to save memory feel a bit odd.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
True, but a windows system with twice the memory of another, will usually run better. Which is what prompted me to ask this question to begin with. I figured if there was a way to re-appropriate some of the unused portion of the storage area to the frequently used area of RAM, it would make the system run faster and smoother. I just don't know if it's possible or if it even makes a difference with the Android/Linux OS.
Hello -
This issue has been bugging me for a long time. I'm seeking some general information about the Optimus-T (LG P509) and Android design as a whole. My phone is not the latest and greatest and I've resisted rooting. Maybe this pushes me in that direction. But I need to come to a better understanding of what's going on and how things work in general. Hopefully one of you experts can give some advice.
Memory questions: I keep running low on memory in the device which provides for many goofy results when used. I've moved as many apps as possible to the 16gB SD card. The card has a lot of music on it with 3.2 gB remaining - plays great. Android Assistant reports the following memory compliment relevant to my question:
Memory Info(RAM) Used: 247.75mB
Free: 170.41mB
Total Memory: 418.53 mB
Phone Space Info(ROM)
Used: 157.45mB
Free: 42.05mB
Total Space: 199.5mB
Observations: As I watch the display, the RAM values shift slightly around depending on what the phone is doing at that moment. The values don't fluctuate too wildly at least not from what I observe. I get that part. But... when Phone Space(ROM) drops to the low 20mB level, the device slows to a crawl, often reboots, browser stops and drops back to the home page; all with no error notification. I clear the caches two-three times daily which will raise the ROM value but only by the amount of cache released. I found that keeping around 40mB in ROM provides smooth trouble-free operation. Here's the question: Why is ROM even involved in supporting program code/data operations like this? I've always assumed that ROM (Read Only Memory) by definition is static in nature and thus shouldn't change. Here in Android-land apparently things may not be the same as I understand. So I'm forced into uninstalling some really useful programs (ie Google+) that I like in order to bring the ROM value around the 40mB threshold. I know memory has a finite limit. I don't understand why ROM is even involved and thus why it "flexes". Can someone explain, please?
Look at the amount of available RAM above. Why doesn't the phone use this RAM for program code/data execution? Because I approach this from a Windows/PC background here, perhaps that's what's throwing me off. Still, it's got ample RAM that looks to be unused for the most part. Is there a command or setting (I've looked all over the place) to demand the phone use RAM over ROM? If it did that, I'd have plenty of space and no problem at all.
Given the above, if I stuck having to deal with low ROM, do any of you know if additional ROM/RAM can be added gaining more "Phone Space"? I'm not talking about the SD card; I'm talking about the base memory populated inside the device that serves as that valuable "Phone Space" referred to above?
I'd really appreciate a answer to this. Thank you for your time and any advice.
H
Hoibb said:
Hello -
This issue has been bugging me for a long time. I'm seeking some general information about the Optimus-T (LG P509) and Android design as a whole. My phone is not the latest and greatest and I've resisted rooting. Maybe this pushes me in that direction. But I need to come to a better understanding of what's going on and how things work in general. Hopefully one of you experts can give some advice.
Memory questions: I keep running low on memory in the device which provides for many goofy results when used. I've moved as many apps as possible to the 16gB SD card. The card has a lot of music on it with 3.2 gB remaining - plays great. Android Assistant reports the following memory compliment relevant to my question:
Memory Info(RAM) Used: 247.75mB
Free: 170.41mB
Total Memory: 418.53 mB
Phone Space Info(ROM)
Used: 157.45mB
Free: 42.05mB
Total Space: 199.5mB
Observations: As I watch the display, the RAM values shift slightly around depending on what the phone is doing at that moment. The values don't fluctuate too wildly at least not from what I observe. I get that part. But... when Phone Space(ROM) drops to the low 20mB level, the device slows to a crawl, often reboots, browser stops and drops back to the home page; all with no error notification. I clear the caches two-three times daily which will raise the ROM value but only by the amount of cache released. I found that keeping around 40mB in ROM provides smooth trouble-free operation. Here's the question: Why is ROM even involved in supporting program code/data operations like this? I've always assumed that ROM (Read Only Memory) by definition is static in nature and thus shouldn't change. Here in Android-land apparently things may not be the same as I understand. So I'm forced into uninstalling some really useful programs (ie Google+) that I like in order to bring the ROM value around the 40mB threshold. I know memory has a finite limit. I don't understand why ROM is even involved and thus why it "flexes". Can someone explain, please?
Look at the amount of available RAM above. Why doesn't the phone use this RAM for program code/data execution? Because I approach this from a Windows/PC background here, perhaps that's what's throwing me off. Still, it's got ample RAM that looks to be unused for the most part. Is there a command or setting (I've looked all over the place) to demand the phone use RAM over ROM? If it did that, I'd have plenty of space and no problem at all.
Given the above, if I stuck having to deal with low ROM, do any of you know if additional ROM/RAM can be added gaining more "Phone Space"? I'm not talking about the SD card; I'm talking about the base memory populated inside the device that serves as that valuable "Phone Space" referred to above?
I'd really appreciate a answer to this. Thank you for your time and any advice.
H
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In answer to your question, I'd like to say that it's just one of those things you'll have to go with(Let me assure you I hate it as much as you do)
Android phones need at least 30~40 MB free space in internal memory to function smoothly...maybe that's just the way they are programmed. That's the reason why phones today come with much higher internal memory...and no, there's no way to make the ram to be used instead or to increase the internal memory. In short-you'll just have to install less apps...or if you root your phone you can try App2SD scripts
Sent from my LG P500 using XDA Premium
Press thanks button if I helped you
Thank you.
So again, I have to change my thinking about how "ROM" here is designed and implemented. ROM (in a PC for example) is certainly used but not in the same way with the same characteristics as used in Android-ville.
And so this tells me, rooting is the last hope for gaining back critical internal (ROM) space so I can have more apps. Again, right now in stock mode, App2SD reports that no further apps can be moved to the card.
I do like this device a lot. It's small, compact and feature rich for what I need. There's lots of good advice on here about the rooting process. It's just "scary" territory as I enter this not knowing if I can avoid the brick.
Thanks again.
H
Hoibb said:
Thank you.
So again, I have to change my thinking about how "ROM" here is designed and implemented. ROM (in a PC for example) is certainly used but not in the same way with the same characteristics as used in Android-ville.
And so this tells me, rooting is the last hope for gaining back critical internal (ROM) space so I can have more apps. Again, right now in stock mode, App2SD reports that no further apps can be moved to the card.
I do like this device a lot. It's small, compact and feature rich for what I need. There's lots of good advice on here about the rooting process. It's just "scary" territory as I enter this not knowing if I can avoid the brick.
Thanks again.
H
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting your device is actually the easy part, it's possible but unlikely that you will brick it, I had the same thoughts when I done my O1 P500, but now I'm rooted I wouldn't ever go back... I used superoneclick & that had the option to Unroot, I am not sure on other applications because I haven't used them. Basically follow the instructions right down to the letter (re-read or do it when you're wide awake so you don't miss anything), but in my own personal experience rooting it was easy.
Once rooted download the app called "Root Checker Basic" from android market, it should come back saying "This device has root access".
Once rooted you can do so much more, run apps that require root, backup your entire android system, and alot more.
Hope my info helped you, but in all honesty rooting is up to you, don't let anyone else make that choice for you, but just as a side note, rooting will void your warranty then again it's reversible.
Everything written here is based on my own experience and is only intended as a guide.
Hoibb said:
Hello -
This issue has been bugging me for a long time. I'm seeking some general information about the Optimus-T (LG P509) and Android design as a whole. My phone is not the latest and greatest and I've resisted rooting. Maybe this pushes me in that direction. But I need to come to a better understanding of what's going on and how things work in general. Hopefully one of you experts can give some advice.
Memory questions: I keep running low on memory in the device which provides for many goofy results when used. I've moved as many apps as possible to the 16gB SD card. The card has a lot of music on it with 3.2 gB remaining - plays great. Android Assistant reports the following memory compliment relevant to my question:
Memory Info(RAM) Used: 247.75mB
Free: 170.41mB
Total Memory: 418.53 mB
Phone Space Info(ROM)
Used: 157.45mB
Free: 42.05mB
Total Space: 199.5mB
Observations: As I watch the display, the RAM values shift slightly around depending on what the phone is doing at that moment. The values don't fluctuate too wildly at least not from what I observe. I get that part. But... when Phone Space(ROM) drops to the low 20mB level, the device slows to a crawl, often reboots, browser stops and drops back to the home page; all with no error notification. I clear the caches two-three times daily which will raise the ROM value but only by the amount of cache released. I found that keeping around 40mB in ROM provides smooth trouble-free operation. Here's the question: Why is ROM even involved in supporting program code/data operations like this? I've always assumed that ROM (Read Only Memory) by definition is static in nature and thus shouldn't change. Here in Android-land apparently things may not be the same as I understand. So I'm forced into uninstalling some really useful programs (ie Google+) that I like in order to bring the ROM value around the 40mB threshold. I know memory has a finite limit. I don't understand why ROM is even involved and thus why it "flexes". Can someone explain, please?
Look at the amount of available RAM above. Why doesn't the phone use this RAM for program code/data execution? Because I approach this from a Windows/PC background here, perhaps that's what's throwing me off. Still, it's got ample RAM that looks to be unused for the most part. Is there a command or setting (I've looked all over the place) to demand the phone use RAM over ROM? If it did that, I'd have plenty of space and no problem at all.
Given the above, if I stuck having to deal with low ROM, do any of you know if additional ROM/RAM can be added gaining more "Phone Space"? I'm not talking about the SD card; I'm talking about the base memory populated inside the device that serves as that valuable "Phone Space" referred to above?
I'd really appreciate a answer to this. Thank you for your time and any advice.
H
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GET ADB ON YOUR COMPUTER( GOOGLE IT)
TYPE
ADB SHELL
SetInstallLocation 2
U WILL BEABLE TO MOVE MOST APPS TO SD WITHOUT ROOTING
From the instructions I've googled, it's not clear - do I move them using the phone or do I move them via the computer?
H