I managed to install, if you want to call it that, Lazarus onto a RAM drive. The performance boost is incredible. It is literally like reading/writing from/to a super fast SSD drive. Except an SSD drive can only HOPE to one day catch up to raw ram speed.
My "Build All" time is 11 seconds (only tested small ide yet). Lazarus opens in the blink of an eye. Everything is just so much more responsive. My hard drive no longer makes a sound when compiling. Very nice "upgraded" feel indeed.
Actually it is very simple to do. In linux it is as simple as a call to the "mount" command, in windows (where I am testing) there is no system "mount" command so you must use a small utility to add the mount functionality. I am using "imdisk", the free utility. Works fine. There are several RAM drive utilities available.
Once you have your drive visible, simply copy your /fpc , /fpcsrc, and your /lazarus directories to the RAMdrive. NOTE: to save size you can safely prune out a lot of the directories. In /fpc/bin you only need one directory not all. Same with the /fpcsrc/compiler. Delete the targets you won't normally use.
If you have a machine with 6gb+ plus ram installed you can easily handle this. With care, 4gb might even be manageable. Needs about 1.5 gb spare room.
What is strange is I cannot locate a link to"imdrive". Try searching "ramdrive" Imdisk is quite easy. Once installed you can right click any file in the file manager and there is a menu item "mount as imdisk" which opens a form to get you the rest of the way. It then promps you to "format" the drive then away you go with Lazarus on your new faster than SSD hardrive.
Recent
