Hi Folks -
OK, we're not quite to the goal yet, but I've got some data:
The system: MacPro 3.0GHz 2xDual Xeon. 10GB Ram.
1) First, I loaded Fusion, which is a beta release of a virtual machine simulation platform for Mac. Commercial release this summer. Supports 64-bit OS's, like XP x64. X64 loaded easily, without a hitch, as did Syncrosoft, Teleport, and VI.
2) Downloaded a trial version of XP x64 from Microsoft (fully functional, they give you an ISO and a 120 day activation key).
Results:
1) You can create 2 virtual machines, each with its own separate 4.5GB, AND ITS OWN VIENNA KEY (you can't even share them on virtual machines,
it seems). Each machine has its own bridged IP on the gigabit LAN.
VI Standalone loads and reports 4,096 MB free
2) I loaded FX-Teleport slaves on each virtual machine. It works!
The master (in Forte, on my main DAW) recognizes the virtual slaves as independent machines, each with its own IP.
VI plug-ins load in Teleport and report 4,096 MB free.
Unfortunately, this setup is EATING processing power for LUNCH. Probabably because those processors are
* Running Mac OSX
* Running TWO virtual XP x64 machines (OS's)
before you even get to VI.
So, I thought, well the ideal thing would be if you could create 1 virtual machine with say, 9 GB and access it all in Teleport. (If this worked, then I could just go with a real XP x64 boot on the Mac.)
Someone previously posted on the FX-Teleport forum saying that Teleport had some quirk where in XP x64, each plug-in opened in its own s32-bit pace and reported 4GB free.
So, I created a virtual machine with 7 GB to see if I could break the 32-bit barrier.
When you start out, with multiple instances of VI, they report 4,096 GB. And as I loaded a 600MB preset on one, the other continued to report 4,096MB free! Wait, then again, the instance into which the 600 MB was loaded ALSO reported 4,096. Probably VI has trouble counting its memory...
Bottom line: The Server application that ties the instances together maxes out at 3.9GB. I had 6 instances all stable, together holding 3.92GB of VI samples. Some dropout issues, but I did not tweak latency. Interestingly the 2.57 GB that VI instances now reported free was very close to the OS's report of 2.63 GB. Maybe they report 4,096 until the memory avail drops below?
On trying to load the next 550 MB Preset, the VI first just balked and stopped after 22 MB.
When I ran it again, it tried, and hung the system while trickling up to 4019 MB into the 'Server' application.
So: I had hoped that perhaps, you could take advantage of some loophole miracle and get at as much memory as a 64 bit system could serve up. If this were the case, I was going to load a pure XP x64 partition on the Mac Pro and use as much RAM as my heart desired. But alas, this is not to be. Or is it?
However, I have not given up:
Christian: If I could just get two separate installations of VI running on the 64-bit XP system, each of which pointed to its own server application, I could probably get 8GB or so loaded.
Similarly, if this strategy worked ad infinitum, then the Dell PowerEdge server, which holds 64 GB of RAM, and up to 4 dual-core Xeons, could probably load the whole library in a single convenient (if expensive) rack module.
What do you all think?
Best regards,
Eric
