Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!claris!clay
From: clay@claris.UUCP (Clay Maeckel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: StartUpScreens Eats Memory!?
Message-ID: <1419@claris.UUCP>
Date: 11 May 88 00:08:42 GMT
References: <22188@tis.llnl.gov> <9488@apple.Apple.Com>
Reply-To: clay@claris.UUCP (Clay Maeckel)
Organization: Claris Corporation, Mountain View CA
Lines: 27

In article <9488@apple.Apple.Com> dan@apple.UUCP (Dan Allen) writes:
>Most startup screen INITs that I have seen do NOT allocate their memory
>on the system heap, but rather put the startup PICT in high memory and
>adjust the low memory global BufPtr accordingly.  Apple's RAM caching
>scheme and MacsBug the Debugger both also use this method.

What Dan states is true, but is not the problem the Frankie Sierra and I
are having with the StartUpScreen.  But while we are on the topic of BufPtr,
how much longer is it going to be around?  There are hints in either Inside
Mac or the Tech Notes that is may be going away soon.  For my init, DeskPict,
I use the BufPtr trick to store the color bitmap up high in memory but for
version 2.0 I will try putting into the system heap.  After that change the
free space in the system heap would be eaten up by the desktop picture.

Back to the StartUpScreen.  MultiFinder, for me, effectively reclaims the
space used up by the SUS because of the 150+ K of stuff that gets loading
into it with everything else that is running in my system. Under the UniFinder
I lose around 150 to 180 K of memory in the system heap if I have SUS. I 
have not had the time to track down what happens in those early stages of
booting but the memory used by the SUS code is not being reclaimed after its
use. Can anyone at Apple (or elsewhere) shed any light on this problem? Some
type of patch or fancy init should be able to reclaim the space but I get
scared of the thought of moving zone pointers around :-).

-- 
 Clay Maeckel         *   UUCP: {ames,apple,portal,sun,voder}!claris!clay
 (I know nothing!)    *   Arpanet: claris!clay@ames.arc.nasa.gov
 Claris Corporation   *   AppleLink: Maeckel1   *   CompuServe: 73057,255