Re: Octave / Win 2000 memory limitations

[Jonathan Drews]

Hi Chris:

On Friday 15 June 2001 01:40, Chris Mellen wrote:
> I am currently running Octave 2.1.31 on a Windows 2000 machine with 512Mb
> of RAM using the Cygwin bash shell. The biggest array I can create before
> seeing  "error: memory exhausted -- trying to return to prompt" has only
> about 2100000 elements. Eg, at the command prompt :
>
> temp=zeros(2100000,1);
>
> is ok whereas
>
> temp=zeros(2200000,1);
>
> is not. This array should occupy only about 17Mb - far short of what is
> available. I have tried looking for a fix/switch etc in the documentation /
> FAQS etc but with no luck. I am not sure if there is a simple fix or if in
> fact I am encountering a limitation of the Win2K Dos environment.

 It sounds like your OS is using up a lot of memory. I was able to get 
temp=zeros(40000000,1); (almost 20 times your amount). I was also running two 
Xservers at once plus compiling the new KDE desktop at the time I tested your 
temp function. I have the same amount of RAM as you (512 Mb).  I have in the 
past done 4000x4000 floating point matrices and then inverted them and 
multiplied. i.e.

a = rand(4000,4000)
inv(a)*a

and Octave did it with no problem; it took a little while but it gave the 
identity matrix. 

 You should consider making your computer dual boot. Get a Linux distro like 
SuSE or Mandrake and jsut make it dual boot. The install for Mandrake is a 
cinch. HTH


> Any suggestions much appreciated !
>
> Chris
>
>
>
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-- 
                                                Cheers,


                                                Jonathan



-------------------------------------------------------------
Octave is freely available under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Octave's home on the web:  http://www.octave.org
How to fund new projects:  http://www.octave.org/funding.html
Subscription information:  http://www.octave.org/archive.html
-------------------------------------------------------------