Re: [Visualpython-users] Release: VPython 2.9.7

[Joe H. <hea...@ct...>]

On Jul 23, 2004, at 4:42 PM, Jonathan Brandmeyer wrote:

> I used several options to GCC's configure program to ensure that the 
> one
> being built would not interfere with the stock compiler.
> - It is installed into /usr/local.
> - All of the generated programs have the full GCC version number
> appended to their name (eg, gcc-3.3.4 rather than gcc).
> - The compiler's libraries are installed into version-specific
> directories, so the system compiler will not pick up the new GCC's libs
> by accident.

Great work!

>> The build process seemed to bring my
>> entire system to a grinding halt (quite literally) during compilation
>> of the vector array stuff. I've no idea why.
>
> How much memory do you have?  The system might have started swapping 
> out
> to disk.  Actually, now that I think about it, I probably should remove
> '-j2' from the make commands in that script.  That option causes make 
> to
> run two jobs at once, and a few of the source files require ~200 MB of
> RAM to compile - my development machine is a dualie.

I used my iBook G4 with 256MB RAM. I was running some other things in 
the background, including a real time Earth illumination program that 
uses the entire desktop (EarthDesk...<http://www.timepalette.com>) and 
Mail. Window moves took like 15 seconds or longer. Things got a little 
faster after shutting down everything except the build process, but it 
still just sat there forever so I just restarted and all was fine. I 
will attempt to do all this on my iMac this weekend.

I've now got a problem with Fink. It seems that some of the packages in 
unstable don't want to update even though I've enabled the unstable 
tree and there are more recent versions available. I'll deal with that 
on the fink-users list though.

> Is there a way to determine how many processors are installed on a
> PowerMac from the command line?

No idea. I've not played with a PowerMac. I have my heart set on one of 
the upcoming iMacs, provided I survive this current onslaught of 
medical bills.

Thank you for your hard work!

Cheers,
Joe Heafner -- Astronomy/Physics Instructor (by some definitions)