Updated: 3/11/97
There has been a lot of dicussion over the past year about the stability of the MacOS. Numerous pundits have pointed out the the MacOS is antiquated, lacks memory protection, and is prone to system crashes. And I will be the first one to admit that my computers have been plagued by system crashes (at times over 2-3 times a day). But for the last six months, I have been running a couple of remarkably stable systems.
I currently run two systems 24 hours a day. The first is a Quadra 840/AV running System 7.5.3 with 32megs RAM. This computer is networked via ethernet to my other computers and is connected to the outside world via a geoport adaptor. The primary function of this machine is to answer the phone, receive faxes, scan documents with via PaperPort Vx, and run Quicken. This machine runs for months on end without a problem. Since it has a limited function, it is a fairly spartan system without many system extensions. It basically uses the extensions it needs to perform its duties and no others.
My workhorse is a PM 8500/120 running System 7.5.5 with 80megs RAM. This system has two 1Gig internal hard drives plus an internal Jazz drive. At any given time, this system is running up to 20 applications. The system is connected to a local ethernet network and maintains a continuous connection to the Internet either by a 33.6 external modem or a Ricochet wireless modem. This system serves as both my development and test system. In addition, it is my primary computer for text processing, graphics generation, Internet access, and games.
The following applications are always running, Userland Frontier, Quid Pro Quo, Claris Emailer, WebCamToo, Rev, and Apple Internet Mail Server. Anarchie, BBedit, Netscape Navigator, WebWatcher, and FileMaker Pro are usually running. ClarisWorks, Canvas 3.5, and Resolve are the most common of the occasional applications.
Since this is my primary computer, the following system extentions are used, Now Menus, SuperBoomerang, Conflict Catcher, Timbuktu, MacTools TrashBack, RamDoubler, and SpeedDoubler, as well as many of the Apple extensions. The Internet connection uses OpenTransport 1.1.2 and OT/PPP 1.0f1c9.
This system is remarkably stable. It can crash about once a day if I don't remember to quit Netscape Navigator occasionally. I currently provide Navigator with 10 megs of RAM. The program eats this up as the day goes on, which could ultimately cause a crash. The system may also crash if the is a problem with the Internet connection.
A drop in the Internet connection is a tramatic experience. I have several programs relying on a continuous connection. In addition, since my usual connection has a dynamic IP address, dropping the line cause a great deal of activity that may crash the system if the connection cannot be made reliably.
Those two factors, Netscape Navigator and occasional Internet connection crashes are the primary cause of system crashes. Even with these two potential problems, this system wil run for days. I could probably go for weeks if I didn't run Navigator.
I don't know really why this particular system is as stable as it is. Having a lot of RAM probably helps. But even with that, the current system configuration is more stable than previous systems. For a while, when I was beta testing OpenTransport, I could be assured of several crashes per day.
For now, I am counting my blessings, continuing to work, and not really worrying about system stability.