Program slows down in preview mode

[carl]

I need some help - when running large files where it takes several passes to get to the depth you need, by the time it gets to the third or fourth pass, the program slows down so far that each line of command takes about thirty or forty seconds. If anyone can help me with this problem I am having I would appreciate it - cause at that rate there is no sense in previewing anything! Thanks - Carl

[richards]

Do you have enough memory in your computer? One gbyte is barely enough - in my opinion - and at about $200 per 512 mbyte for reliable Kingston brand memory, it isn't terribly expensive.

[paco]

SB3 in preview is slow for me too; mostly when there are alot of MZ and JZ that alternate from one another...

Work around; make your "big" files into smaller ones for previewing... I believe that SB staff are aware of this... maybe working on it...

[carl]

I want to thank you for your insite on the way the preview works, I know a little bit about the computer and I know that XP uses about 200MB of ram just to run the system, which in turns leaves me 300MB on a 500MB of ram. When running my cam program I sometimes get a window coming up that says vurtual memory minimum too low. I have never had this happen on the SB preview. Could you tell me if the vurtual memory is the same as the ram memory. Thanks again, Carl

[bill.young]

Carl,

How about emailing one of your files to support@shopbottools.com (mailto:support@shopbottools.com) and we'll take a look at it. We are working on speeding up the previewer, especially on files that do a lot of cutting in offset mode or files that have lots of JZ moves like large drilling files, and it helps if we can test with files that people are having speed problems with.

Thanks,
Bill

[richards]

Carl,

Virtual memory is hard disk space that has been set aside as a swapping area for your regular memory (RAM) - do a google search on 'Virtual Memory'. Reading something from the hard disk can easily take 1,000 times longer than reading the same information directly from RAM. When a computer starts to swap memory to disk, performance takes a terrible hit and everything slows to a crawl. There are many things that cause swapping to occur, some of which you have no control - like poorly written programs that don't properly release memory after using it. What you can do is to only have one program open at a time by closing all unneeded applications. If that doesn't work, you can add more RAM; however, if the program is poorly written, at some point you'll fill up all available RAM and swapping will occur. (Closing and reopening the program will free up the memory - which might be a temporary fix.)

[carl]

Thank you Mike for the info. I'll try the things you suggested to see if that will help
Carl

[bill.young]

Hey Carl,

Do you have the "Simulate" checkbox turned on in the previewer? If so try turning simulate off and see how it does.

Bill