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"Insufficient Memory" Message - /WO and /WS O
DocumentID: 614548
Revision Date: 29-Feb-96 1:36:32 PM

The information in this document applies to:
WordPerfect® 6.0 for DOS

Problem

Symptoms: What exactly does the /WO startup option do? Solutions: The /WO option increases the amount of conventional memory reserved for loading overlay code.

How/Why:
Overlay code is the code contained in the *.FIL files. Because WP is such a large program, not all of the code can be loaded into memory at once. The program is "modularized" and parts of it that are used less often than others are stored in the *.FIL files. These modules are then loaded into or discarded from memory as needed. WordPerfect reserves an area of conventional memory on startup for swapping this kind of code. The size of this area varies depending on how much conventional memory is available when WP starts.

If you use the /WS startup option, WP will report how much memory workspace is available. WP breaks down the workspace report into conventional, expanded and extended categories, and then breaks down the conventional workspace into yet three more categories. Having a lot of extended or expanded workspace available is useful, primarily for increasing program speed. If you are getting "Insufficient Memory" or other memory errors, you must increase conventional workspace to make them go away.

In conventional memory, the first workspace subcategory listed by the /WS option is overlay workspace. The second is the combined size of the two editing buffers. The third is cache memory. The size of each of these areas adjusts dynamically depending on the amount of conventional memory available to the user before starting WordPerfect.

The practical effect on program operation if you are short on overlay workspace (less than about 75K), is that the program will run slower due to "overlay thrashing," which will require swapping to disk more often. The edit buffers never get larger than about 30K or smaller than 20K and their size is not generally a problem. If you are short on cache memory, you will probably have a hard time with large complex documents, conversions, and print preview.

Overlay workspace is the only subcategory that is user-adjustable (through the /WO option), but by adjusting it you may indirectly adjust the cache memory size, since the two will "seesaw" together. The minimum overlay workspace allowed is about 45K; the maximum is 120K. If you use smaller or larger values than the allowed minimum or maximum with /WO, WP will automatically adjust to the minimum/maximum allowed values. The larger the overlay workspace, the faster the program will run, although the speed increase is usually not dramatic. Bringing up a font list in Graphics mode will be faster, for example. For users who have plenty of conventional memory (more than 240K free workspace on startup), using /WO=120 may give them a speed increase without any other penalty. You can think of a large /WO value as if it were a "mini" /R option.

The real benefit of the /WO option is in decreasing overlay memory for users who are getting "Insufficient Memory" errors. Usually the "Insufficient Memory" error is insufficient cache memory, and decreasing /WO increases cache memory. This may be especially useful for users trying to convert large documents from WP 5.1 to WP 6.0 format.

If a user cannot convert a document from WP 5.1 to WP 6.0 format without getting "Insufficient Memory", try entering WordPerfect with:
      WP.COM /W-*,*,*/WO-40/TX/DL
These settings will give WP the maximum amount of memory available on the customer's system for converting or manipulating a large file. If the document retrieves with these settings, save it in WP 6.0 format, and it can usually be worked with under normal settings from then on. The startup options listed here should not be used all of the time because they can slow the program down considerably, and they disable graphical mode and the launcher.

Answer:

Details:


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