[sugar] Frame/Activity Management Memory economics

[Frederick Grose]

From
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Talk:Designs/Activity_Management#Memory_economics:
Memory economics

The memory ring was a *very* effective instructor for memory economics not
present in the new design proposal. Perhaps the Frame segment to be occupied
by running activities could be used for this purpose by greying the Frame
background for each activity with the proportion of memory usage consumed by
the overlaid icon. Minimal segment dividers may also help complete the
picture. --FGrose <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:FGrose> 15:02, 5 April
2008 (EDT)

The intent is described in the HIG, Key design principles,
Performance<http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines/Design_Fundamentals/Key_Design_Principles#Performance>:


...
Since there is no swap space on the laptop, only a limited number of
activities can run concurrently; the Sugar UI exposes these details directly
to the children. The Home screen features an activity ring that contains
icons representing each instance of an open activity. The size of the ring
segment that a given activity occupies represents its overall memory usage;
when the ring fills up, no additional activities may be launched until some
resources have been freed. ...

and also from the Zoom metaphor,
Home<http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines/The_Laptop_Experience/Zoom_Metaphor#Home>:


... The activity ring surrounds the character, indicating all of the
currently open activities. Furthermore, the section of the ring that a given
activity occupies directly represents the amount of memory that the
particular activity requires to run, providing immediate visual feedback
about memory constraints and exposing a means for resource management that
doesn't require knowledge of the underlying architecture. ...
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