[wyrm]

Most skins don't check for low memory.

@ned Scott, and not too many skins require script.xbmc.debug.log either. Design decision on my part for both of these things. I really DON'T like how my iPod Touch just drops back to the icons screen when an app crashes, leaving me to wonder what the hell happened. So I provide a warning where I can on a situation that could possibly be a problem and make it easy for the user to provide meaningful data for me (or a dev) to diagnose the problem.

Most modern operating systems will allow processes to consume mem. they will free it when required so don't worry about trying to keep N-MBs free. The OS will take care of itself. The low mem warning is an XBox-isum.

@davilla, yep modern OS do look after low memory situations, so unlike the XBox the low memory situation is not a sign of impending doom. But in most cases it is a sign of impending hard disk thrashing (and resulting slow down of the system).

But is it a false warning?

@FriendlyG, really depends on your point of view. It's a warning only. On an XBox it a sign of a crash about to happen, on a Mac with Mountain Lion its probably not a big deal. For most other platforms it probably somewhere between these two points (but probably closer to Mountain Lion side than XBox). Point for you to remember. If you see a problem in a number of different skins, its probably a XBMC problem, if it only occurs in one skin, its probably a skin problem. Keep this in mind when you are deciding where to post your questions.

As such despite it being a "XBox-isum" I think I will keep this in the skin and include a hidden setting to turn off the warning (that way I can keep this in the skin and the user set flag will survive between skin versions). Will be part of v1.2.2 of skin.

Wyrm (xTV-SAF)

[davilla]

It's a useless warning that indicates something that you can do nothing about and have no control over. Might as well pop a warning when CPU approaches 80 percent

[wyrm]

It's a useless warning that indicates something that you can do nothing about and have no control over. Might as well pop a warning when CPU approaches 80 percent

davilla,

with the greatest respect I have to disagree. Maybe the case for Mountain Lion, but on Win 7 or Linux ... if you are running XBMC and a web browser, and a word processor, and assorted other crap and you exceed available physical memory you will start to swap (system slows down). Solution is to close down some of the programs that are not really required. So warning does provide some useful info. Finally having said that, FriendlyG is the first user I have hear of that has even seen this warning (outside of XBox users that is), so your point about it being a XBoxism is certainly valid.

Again remember my skin is aimed at unsophisticated (!Stupid, unsophisticated) users, not power users such as yourself and Ned

Wyrm (xTV-SAF)

[Ned Scott]

Oh, I didn't mean to criticize the decision, I was just trying to explain why most people don't see the issue (since most skins don't preform the check). I can certainly see the reasons to use it for the original xbox, or even ATV2/iOS.

Also, while I spend most of my time in the default skin, I rather like xtv-SAF :)

[wyrm]

Oh, I didn't mean to criticize the decision, I was just trying to explain why most people don't see the issue (since most skins don't preform the check). I can certainly see the reasons to use it for the original xbox, or even ATV2/iOS.

Also, while I spend most of my time in the default skin, I rather like xtv-SAF

Ned and davilla,

And just for the record I did not take it as a criticism. As far as this skin is concerned the XBox is no more, but the ATV2 and other lightweight systems are still very much a target for the skin thus the reason I think this is still useful.

Now I understand and see why keeping previous programs in memory is a good idea, but I'm not sure about the idea of reporting the memory is in use. Surely as soon as a program requests some of that "free" memory it will be given it, so why not report it as free?

Finally, thanks Ned. Nice to hear that others like some of the things I'm trying to do. I have tried other skins (which I really appreciate the effort involved) but the family usually complain that they don't like the changes to the AppleTV, so it ends up back on my skin.

Wyrm (xTV-SAF)

[FriendlyG]

I'm glad I have provoked a robust discussion!

Wyrm, I thank you for your skin - unsophisticated as I may be - it is the closest match to Front Row, something that the family have been comfortable with for years until I got a new mini with Mountain Lion.

I also thank you for the low memory warning, whether it is relevant or not on a modern OS. The fact is, this warning appears, despite the fact that only two apps have been opened since startup, within an hour or so. Leaving aside whether the memory is really free, I would think this might point to a memory issue either in XBMC or in EyeTV (or some background process), as it's not as if I am opening and closing lots of apps causing them to be temporarily kept in "inactive" memory. Valuable information. I have disabled the warning for the moment, but now I know where to start looking if I do hit performance/stability issues.