Exteremely large file management

[swims@mindspring.com]

I'm working with some files in excess of 300,000 lines. To this point I have had to break the files into smaller, more manageable chunks, each with their own z connections, etc., so that neither Vector nor the ShopBot operating software choke.

Are there any simpler ways of running these files, such as configuring the shopbot software, so that it can handle these monsters? Or am I really experiencing the limitations of my computers' processors?

[bjwat@comcast.net]

What's the specs on your computer? At 300,000 lines...It would take up about 24 Million Bytes (Or 24Meg)...that's calculating 80 char wide by 300,000 lines and 1 byte per character...However it is possible that each character can take up to 4 bytes in size.

I did a quick test in notepad and it saves characters as 1 byte each.

I would try jacking up the RAM in your machine to avoid the machine hosing up. RAM is cheap now. If you have trouble finding RAM for an older machine and you know what type it is, try here: www.pricewatch.com

RAM is like a workbench for your computer. If it isn't big enough, the processor can't do it's job. Imagine trying to cut a 12' X 24' piece of MDF on a little table saw...Same idea.

Hope that helps,
Brady

[swims@mindspring.com]

It's not that, I have 128 meg free.

[bjwat@comcast.net]

Are you running this in a command window or straight DOS? You may have to jack up your virtual memory in the control panel or in the BIOS. I have encountered this issue with MSOffice products like Access and Excel where there is a large file and not enough virtual memory. I have not encountered this yet in DOS since I have not had the opportunity yet.

[frank]

Hi Steve,

There are not any size limitations in the ShopBot software that we are aware of. We have had customers probe files that are much larger and not encounter any problems. There are some older versions of Vector that limit you to 30,000 entities so if you have an older version that may be why you are having a problem. Make sure that there are no other programs running and see if you still have a problem. Your computer can have plenty of memory, but one program might grab it and not release it even after you close it. Check to see how much memory is actually free when you have your program open.

[swims@mindspring.com]

No, I have the 32 bit Vector, and will check on the available memory... I had forgotten about the issue of programs not releasing memory, but this has been a consistent problem with Vector crashing when trying to generate the NC codes for very large files like this.


I will also double check my laptop, the computer I use to actually run my tool, and see if there are any memory problems there. On a similar very large file, the shopbot software ran about 5000 lines of code and then stopped because of a reading error. This was from a file that had been placed directly on the laptop's hard drive as opposed to being run from a CD or zipdisk and I just it was a software problem.

[frank]

Steve,

For your Vector problem go to http://www.vectorcam.com/ and upgrade to the latest version and see if that helps. If you are still having problems with the ShopBot software after verifying that your computer memory is fine, send us the problem file on CD and we'll see if can duplicate the problem here.

[garlicking@charter.net]

Steve,
The problem is most likely in Vector.
I have 28meg probe files that work fine with
the shopbot software.
When I use Vector, it crashes at about 5-7meg file size even though it's advertised as unlimited entities.
keith
P.S. with 384meg or ram available

[swims@mindspring.com]

Yeah, I was able to have the ShopBot software run the file, but I had to use a text editor to combine the multiple files I created in Vector.

[imserv@imsrv.com]

Keith and Steve,

Please report the problem on the Vector user forum with additional details

Vector Forum (http://www.imsrv.com/discus)

or directly to me at imserv@imsrv.com

The current version of Vector 9.4 is supposed to allow memory use, up to the limits of the operating system memory addressing. This varies depending on Windows 98, 2000, XP, etc. If you have the latest versions and still have this problem, please do contact me as any problems that show up are being corrected on a current basis. Version 9.4 wireframe is a free upgrade to version 9.3 users by internet download. It is on a request basis, so send us an e-mail specifically to request the download. Items of interest to many using 9.3 are a complete rewrite of the pocketing routines and updates to the Autocad 2000 DXF import filters.

Best Regards,

Fred Smith - IMService