4 ms·

The strategy of compressing RAM pages before resorting to swapping them out is a nice addition (discussed on p. 17 of the review). Something similar is in the w

by mjn 13y ago

The strategy of compressing RAM pages before resorting to swapping them out is a nice addition (discussed on p. 17 of the review). Something similar is in the works for Linux as well: http://lwn.net/Articles/545244/ http://lwn.net/Articles/545244/ The other main highlights from my perspective: "App Nap" energy-saving API (p. 13), generally better battery life, even on old hardware (p. 18), & support for offline speech-to-text (p. 23).

gaius 13y ago
VMware has done this for a few years now... I've been enjoying it on Linux already by running in a VM ;-)
mwexler 13y ago
Though I am reminded of the Ram Doublers from Connectix and others in the early 90s, and the buzz around magically doubling your memory... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectix and http://www.ambrosiasw.com/ambrosia_times/january_96/3.1HowTo.html http://www.ambrosiasw.com/ambrosia_times/january_96/3.1HowTo...
- makomk 13y ago
  Sooner or later, everything old is new again.
  - jdgiese 13y ago
    "everything"? I wonder when airplanes are going to be new again, or books, or cars. Maybe you mean everything related to computers? I am not sure of even that though...
    - TylerE 13y ago
      "Kindle" and "Tesla' are 2 out of 3...
      - joseph_cooney 13y ago
        Drones.
    - freehunter 13y ago
      Concorde was a good try. It failed for political and sociological reasons, but hypersonic airplanes were set to revolutionize air travel until it became politically unpopular to support. We're facing down a generation designed around space-based air travel, though, so it could happen again.
      - howeman 13y ago
        You mean supersonic airplanes? I don't think hypersonic airplanes have ever been seriously considered for passenger travel.
        freehunter 13y ago
        Yeah, supersonic. My mistake.
    - chongli 13y ago
      Some time after World War 3?
- lambda 13y ago
  It's not a new idea, and it's not a bad idea. These kinds of things are best handled as an integrated component of the operating system, rather than a hacky third party add on, and are likely more viable now that we have so much more available CPU time, on multiple cores so it doesn't even impact latency, and better compression algorithms. Also note that Ram Doubler, per the Ambrosia Software description, didn't just do compression, it also re-used free RAM that other applications had allocated to them while they weren't running, depending on the cooperative multitasking nature of the operating system to avoid conflicts. Before yielding, it would either compress or swap out that "borrowed" RAM. A properly virtual memory system and cooperative multitasking make these techniques not particularly useful, while improvements in technology since have made compressed RAM more useful.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
mbell 13y ago
Finally adding OpenGL 4.1 support is pretty big as well.
- pjmlp 13y ago
  Yes, one of the reasons I ended going Windows 7 instead of Apple was that they only supported OpenGL 2.1 for a very long time. Apple systems still leave a lot to be desired if you are serious about 3D work. And the new Mac Pro does not seem to be worthwhile of a 3D workstation.
MertsA 13y ago
Linux has had this for well over 5 years now, the major change is that it is being moved into the kernel itself as opposed to a kernel module.
- taftster 13y ago
  Which is frankly normal and good. I wouldn't be surprised that Apple has been playing with this type of feature (as a module) for this amount of time as well. In Linux, a feature doesn't (normally) get promoted into the kernel until it's had some time to soak in user space for awhile.
  - acchow 13y ago
    Can you explain what the advantages are to moving it into the kernel?
zurn 13y ago
Compresed ram ships with with distros since some time, eg in Ubuntu 12.04: https://petermolnar.eu/linux-tech-coding/add-ram-to-ubuntu-12-04-for-free-zram/ https://petermolnar.eu/linux-tech-coding/add-ram-to-ubuntu-1... The LWN article is about it shipping with the Linus kernel.
josteink 13y ago
Something similar is in the works for Linux as well Considering I've had this feature enabled and running in my Android kernel on my phone 2 generations back, I'd hardly say this is "in the works". It's actually real live tech and has been for quite a while. Not to nitpick details, but you make it sounds like Apple is pioneering new ground here. They aren't.
- collyw 13y ago
  >Not to nitpick details, but you make it sounds like Apple is pioneering new ground here. They aren't. Did you see the Wired article headline? http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/apple-ends-paid-oses/ http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/apple-ends-paid-oses/

by mjn 13y ago

gaius 13y ago

VMware has done this for a few years now... I've been enjoying it on Linux already by running in a VM ;-)

mwexler 13y ago

Though I am reminded of the Ram Doublers from Connectix and others in the early 90s, and the buzz around magically doubling your memory... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectix and http://www.ambrosiasw.com/ambrosia_times/january_96/3.1HowTo.html http://www.ambrosiasw.com/ambrosia_times/january_96/3.1HowTo...

makomk 13y ago
Sooner or later, everything old is new again.
- jdgiese 13y ago
  "everything"? I wonder when airplanes are going to be new again, or books, or cars. Maybe you mean everything related to computers? I am not sure of even that though...
  - TylerE 13y ago
    "Kindle" and "Tesla' are 2 out of 3...
    - joseph_cooney 13y ago
      Drones.
  - freehunter 13y ago
    Concorde was a good try. It failed for political and sociological reasons, but hypersonic airplanes were set to revolutionize air travel until it became politically unpopular to support. We're facing down a generation designed around space-based air travel, though, so it could happen again.
    - howeman 13y ago
      You mean supersonic airplanes? I don't think hypersonic airplanes have ever been seriously considered for passenger travel.
      - freehunter 13y ago
        Yeah, supersonic. My mistake.
  - chongli 13y ago
    Some time after World War 3?
lambda 13y ago
It's not a new idea, and it's not a bad idea. These kinds of things are best handled as an integrated component of the operating system, rather than a hacky third party add on, and are likely more viable now that we have so much more available CPU time, on multiple cores so it doesn't even impact latency, and better compression algorithms. Also note that Ram Doubler, per the Ambrosia Software description, didn't just do compression, it also re-used free RAM that other applications had allocated to them while they weren't running, depending on the cooperative multitasking nature of the operating system to avoid conflicts. Before yielding, it would either compress or swap out that "borrowed" RAM. A properly virtual memory system and cooperative multitasking make these techniques not particularly useful, while improvements in technology since have made compressed RAM more useful.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

mbell 13y ago

Finally adding OpenGL 4.1 support is pretty big as well.

pjmlp 13y ago
Yes, one of the reasons I ended going Windows 7 instead of Apple was that they only supported OpenGL 2.1 for a very long time. Apple systems still leave a lot to be desired if you are serious about 3D work. And the new Mac Pro does not seem to be worthwhile of a 3D workstation.

MertsA 13y ago

Linux has had this for well over 5 years now, the major change is that it is being moved into the kernel itself as opposed to a kernel module.

taftster 13y ago
Which is frankly normal and good. I wouldn't be surprised that Apple has been playing with this type of feature (as a module) for this amount of time as well. In Linux, a feature doesn't (normally) get promoted into the kernel until it's had some time to soak in user space for awhile.
- acchow 13y ago
  Can you explain what the advantages are to moving it into the kernel?

zurn 13y ago

Compresed ram ships with with distros since some time, eg in Ubuntu 12.04: https://petermolnar.eu/linux-tech-coding/add-ram-to-ubuntu-12-04-for-free-zram/ https://petermolnar.eu/linux-tech-coding/add-ram-to-ubuntu-1... The LWN article is about it shipping with the Linus kernel.

josteink 13y ago

Something similar is in the works for Linux as well Considering I've had this feature enabled and running in my Android kernel on my phone 2 generations back, I'd hardly say this is "in the works". It's actually real live tech and has been for quite a while. Not to nitpick details, but you make it sounds like Apple is pioneering new ground here. They aren't.

collyw 13y ago
>Not to nitpick details, but you make it sounds like Apple is pioneering new ground here. They aren't. Did you see the Wired article headline? http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/apple-ends-paid-oses/ http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/apple-ends-paid-oses/