[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: HardPressed

Jason Reames (cb408@cleveland.Freenet.Edu) wrote:

Careful Personal opinion follows:

: A few days ago I posted my first opinions on HardPressed.  Now that
: I've worked a little more with it I've changed my mind for these
: reasons:
  
:   * though the documentation says it can be installed on a 3.5" drive,
: I haven't been able to do so, even after working on for an hour.
: The first attempt failed about about 30 disk swaps- no dialog why.
: The second attempt failed after SIXTY DISK SWAPS (I counted!!).  
: The error message says there wasn't enough disk space.  (Why didn't it 
: tell me so before swapping disks for 20 minutes!)
: Then I tried removing every possible item from a system disk (including
: Start, Finder and P8).  There STILL was not enough room (about 120K 
: short).

    Never tried it.  Can't say for sure.
  
:   * I had 4 files trashed in 3 days-(2 HyperStudio stacks and 2 Hyper-
: Card stack).  Technical Support thought there might be a problem
: with Kangaroo, but even when I disabled Kangaroo the files were
: trashed.

    Are you sure they didn't mean that Kangaroo was the problem >when< they
got trashed.  Disabling the culprit after the fact doesn't make the deed
better.  I personally have not had any files get "trashed" since installing
Hardpressed.  Or are you saying that more got "trashed" after you
disabled Kangaroo?
  
:   * It is VERY RAM hungry.  I have 2.25M RAM.  I use 96k for a Ram drive
: and parcelled out 128k for HP to use as cache.  With that configuration
: I was only able to only ONE Platinum Paint document.  HyperCard GS
: refused to even run.

     RAM hungry?  Since you decide how much ram and disk cache you want it
to use, how can it be RAM hungry?  I have 4 meg and I give it 1024k.  It
will only take it when needed.  Or so, that is what the docs say.

:   * It is very slow- nearly two minutes to open AWGS and a doc (and I
: have a Zip Chip).

    The speed of the decompression can be increased with compressing the
file with a different compression type.  Decompress it and then compress it
again using another type of compression.  I think I have the slow
compression but fast decompression using AWGS and it comes up in under a
minute.  Of course, if you are not compressing all of your fonts and tools
and the other stuff the AWGS uses, when it comes up, it comes up faster.
  
: So........
:    if you have 4M RAM, don't mind the slow speed, dont' use Kangaroo,
: HyperStudio or HyperCard GS, don't want to use it with a 3.5" disk, 
: it might be valuable.

   Sounds like my setup.:-)

   With everything I have compressed I have gotten around a 45% compression
and that is what I was looking for when I bought it.  I think the speed
decrease is bearable. (If you think things are slow now, do what I do.  Go
back and reboot the ProDOS 16 startup disk you got with your computer.
Does it for me every time.:-) )

   I am sure that they have tested out Hardpressed very extensively with
different setups.  This is just an assumption but if you are using Kangaroo
and Tech support says that it may be that, then how can you put HyperStudio
and HyperCard GS in the same category?  If they have not tested Hardpressed
with HyperStudio and HyperCard GS then they are either very stupid or
belong in the house for the deranged.  With the length of the testing
that this product looked like it went through I think they are neither.

   I am also assuming during all my rambling that you are using a hard
drive?  What is Hardpressed setup on your hard drive?

Gary

: -- 
: R Reames .............................................Maranatha!!
-- 
Gary F. Desrochers
garyd@windipc.nrel.gov

I be gone in 1.5 months.  Anyone know a good internet site in New Hampshire.