Ah, here we are, a little novella...
[Charles Teufert] > I estimate about 200 DAYS or 4800 hours. That kind of uptime severely puts some versions of Windows to shame. It is also the kind of reason that hurts my pride when I can't make my Mac stay running, especially as, for the most part, I don't use any applications that are ever likely to crash, let alone crash the OS. Even iCab seems perfectly stable at the moment, which is nice. > I currently use RealBasic 3.2.1 for Carbon. It still sometimes crashes when > developing (editing??/saving??) under OSX... Some applications, though, will just not behave. REALbasic has always been buggy, and has crashed the OS a few times now. This time, I, too, was just editing or some such, and I don't think I'd hit one single exception in my code (as it is usually the broken exception handler that screws up the IDE). It triggered its worst crash type - it annihilates the Finder, and the Mac spends about a minute trying repeatedly to get it to reload until it breaks down and dies. The answer to most of the rest of my cursing of REALbasic (it needs far more mundane features (including APPC-building support), and not cutesy nonsense like a 3D engine) is to program in C++ where I have the freedom to do what I like. And then there would be no such concept of system uptime any longer... ;) > is system is not sitting idle either. My home automation program is written > in RealBasic and polls several web sites... It is also my MP3 server... Ah, well, there is a point to note there - almost complete predictability. You're running the same apps continually, giving you a very limited range of behaviour. Mac OS is stable, and as long as those applications are, then the computer should run forever. If, however, you keep your normal machine running continually, it could crash from any number of random problems stemming from the large numbers of, and combinations of, apps and activities. Or you can just forget to periodically reload REALbasic... [Lou Hailey] > I've gotten in the high 80's with no trouble with OS 9.1. Didn't know 100 > was a problem, or was that just for the Uptime app? I didn't expect you to, considering that I wrote it. Both Uptime 1.0d6, and 2.0, are REALbasic programs, and I was writing the new version while waiting for the old one to crash. Both of them have a large LCD readout window, and the latter stored the LCD images as an array of image pointers. Version 1 uses the format "hh:mm ss" whereas 2 uses "ddd hh:mm ss". In version 1, the digits to be drawn into the window by array index, and once 100 hours is reached, it will try and obtain segment images 10 and 0. There is no LCD segment 10, so it will crash with an array subscript exception. Or so I thought. Actually, it will run until 110 hours, as I've just realised that element 10 is most likely used for the totally blank digit image, so referencing element 11 will crash it, after ten hours of showing the hour with all LCD segments of the first digit off. Version 2 copies sections of a digit image onto the offscreen buffer, so after 1000 days you'll get a blank segment, and after 1100 days, it will start mapping out-of-bounds RAM (garbage) onto the buffer. However, after 365 days, the days revert back to 1 anyhow (as it uses a Date object to get the day count). > As a rule I've heard it's best to reboot daily What for? Well-behaved Mac OS applications don't seem to be munging the RAM or upsetting the OS, and I tend to refuse to run unstable applications, like MacAmp that locked up the OS because it seemed to be sulking over having to wait for the OS to spin up a CD-R, so I've not touched it since, despite the presumably better audio quality than WinampMac. Also, apart from apps that use temporary RAM, Macs are not prone to memory leaks affecting the OS, as only the app with the leak (typically AIM) gets affected. Mac OS doesn't degenerate over time like consumer Windows does, it just suddenly locks and that's it. Thus, I see no reason to reboot it, unless I actually see signs of trouble. However, some apps need reloading over time, such as AIM (it leaks RAM), and probably REALbasic (which would presumably stop it from falling to bits). My other software all seems rock steady. > but if it's only to keep track of computer up-time, then the little Control > Strip Module 'Stopwatch CSM'... Sweet. I like it. I do wonder, though - if the OS crashed, would it lose the time? My app has always logged uptime once per minute, and I can read that time back after a crash. The only issues with it are a) It will not log during playing games (as it is an application), and b) It gets shut down by dominatrix installers and I have to reboot after installation to keep the time correct, else it logs a second session. Version 2 will fix b with an option to leave the log set to pending mode, but a could only be cured by writing an extension. Even writing a daemon (APPC), which REALbasic can be used for, is no good - all daemons are quit too, including (annoyingly) Control Strip and A-Dock. I wish someone would dispel the myth that apps need to be quit to install, and just make installers leave apps alone. The other type are the ones that force a reboot, but I can just force quit those :) > and can be set to monitor your uptime with, or without sleep. Not on mine - that option is checked but disabled. Does that mean it's on and can't be turned off, or that it is off and can't be turned on? A quick test seemed to show that it does indeed monitor while asleep, which is essential. After all, the OS is still running when the Mac is asleep. Nevertheless, I'm not keen on keeping my Mac on overnight doing nothing as it wastes electricity, and nor are my parents, and it was really bugging me, so I won't be bothering to try again right now. Had I cable and not 56k, I might feel more inclined to run my website off my machine or something else like that, but with a co-operatively multitasked OS, it seems a little bit of a dubious task. I could, of course, solve the issue once and for all by just rebooting into Linux, but after since I upgraded the RAM from 64 to 144, it went from being very responsive but suffering from severe paging, to no paging at all but very sluggish. I must commend Apple for their wonderful OS :) I don't have the will-power and interest to learn how to use Linux, let alone teach it gratefulness for receiving such a tasty gift of RAM. Still, I had some fun while it lasted, and Uptime 2 was promising... - Daniel. -- StarMax is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \ / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> StarMax list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/starmax.html> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/starmax%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
