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Originally Posted by Success100
id like to chime in on this as well..are you suggestin that adjusting the page pool is allocating storage memory to program memory?? that doesnt seem right, if we could do that, our RAM worries would be non-existent..and thats definately NOT how it currently is..
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Sort of, but not quite. Pagepool is virtual memory, but, unlike RAM (which you can write to an unlimited number of times), we're on a flash device (with limited wite cycles) so the pagepool can only contain code sections - no data sections. Plus, you have to have your program "paged in" to run, so a program can't ever access more RAM than you pysically have (because no data sections are allowed in the page pool). Since we can only page a portion of whats in RAM (just the code sections), RAM can quickly be consume by data sections.
There's always a price to pay, too. The larger the pagepool, the more storage space you consume (obviously, cause that's where it's stored), and you lose a small amount of RAM to track what's in the pagepool and where it is. And, of course, if you actually have to page something in, that's not nearly as fast as it already being in RAM.
So, if you find yourself running out of RAM, can increasing pagepool help? Definitely maybe. If you have lots of code sections, increasing pagepool might help. Once you've increased pagepool to a certain point, it won't help at all and will only hurt. That point is dependent on the nature of the software you run, and therefore will vary from user to user.
Will increasing/decreasing pagepool speed up your device? Definitely maybe. It all depends on why it's slow in the first place. Generally, you will only notice pagepool effects when swapping tasks. How often that occurs and whether you think it's better/worse depends on the nature of the software you run, and therefor will vary from user to user.
Will increasing/decreasing pagepool make my device more stable? Increasing pagepool should make your device feel more stable (mainly because programs are being swapped instead of forcibly closed). The only time decreasing pagepool helps stability is when you have really piss poor drivers (which, since we're stealing bits and pieces from other devices, may in fact be the case with any give kitchen/ROM).