Existing users, 
To launch an app that's not in your user folder, you don't type a period as the first character in the pathname--the period tells Terminal to look in your user folder for the item. I don't know why the author's readme file is showing the pathname to enter as ./memtest, unless he's used to keeping it in his user folder.
Simplest way to run Memtest:
Move the Memtest folder to the root level of the startup drive (its "main window"), restart the Mac into single user mode (Command-S) so you can free up as much RAM for Memtest to test as possible, then enter
/memtest/memtest all x -l
...where x is is the number of passes you want, and -l writes the results to a log file in the Memtest folder--good to do in case the Mac crashes, etc. during the test, preventing you from looking at the results displayed onscreen. You can name the Memtest folder anything you want, so to simplify the pathname, you can rename it from "Memtest 4.05M" to just "Memtest", as I did in the example above. You could probably also just move the Memtest executable file to the startup drive's root level, and leave out the first /memtest in the line above, since the author says nothing about Memtest needing to be inside its original folder with all its surrounding files. I've successfully run it this way, but I don't know if this prevents it from doing everything it's supposed to--anybody else know?
To quit from Memtest before it's done testing, enter Command-Period if you run Memtest while the Mac is running in normal GUI mode, or Control-C if you're running Memtest in single user mode.
Since the first memory test for the Mac, released with the 128K Mac (I think it was an Apple app) used an elephant's head for its icon (I still have a copy), maybe the author would consider re-using that icon for this? I fondly remember using it nearly every day for some years, since my company started out in 1985 as one of the original Fat Mac upgraders, clipping 64K RAM chips off the logic board and replacing them with 256K chips for a grand total of 512 megabytes. Whoo hoo!
Memtest
command-line memory testing utility
Version: 4.22
How to run Memtest
Feedback Type: Usage Tip
Contributed by: John Sawyer Tuesday, January 18 2005 @ 01:36 AM PST
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Less than a month
Recommend Product: YES
Comments
How to run Memtest - Carola Clavo
Found lots of failures. This days I am having some kernel panics. How can I interpretate the test results? Thank youMonday, May 16 2005 @ 07:12 AM PDT
How to run Memtest - Jerry Kindall
Starting a command with "." does not mean the executable is in the user's home directory, it means it's in the current directory. As the instructions clearly state, you can run memtest by changing to whatever directory memtest is in, then entering ./memtest to tell it that memtest is in the current directory.Sunday, May 29 2005 @ 06:59 PM PDT
How to run Memtest - friskythecat
Thanks for all the suggestions regarding packaging memtest as .app, adding an application icon, making memtest double-clickable in the finder, etc. These are all good suggestions for a Mac application and I'm considering all of them for future releases.However, first and foremost in my mind is the functionality of the program. It does its best work in single-user mode where it can test all of the memory Apple makes available (which is slightly less than the amount that's reported as free, for those who were interested). In single-user mode, memtest existing as a double-clickable application with bundled icons, etc. gives the user no real benefit but creates considerably more work for me. So far, I've preferred to devote the limited amount of free time I have to work on the program to fixing minor bugs and adding real value to memtest. For example. I'm currently working on adding automatic DIMM slot identification for failing tests. I think everyone would agree that my time is much better spent adding that feature than adding an icon and GUI niceties. These will come in time but for now, making memtest the definitive memory testing application for the Mac (and getting Apple to acknowledge it) is my primary goal.
Thanks for all your feedback, both positive and negative.
Tony
Reply to This
Wednesday, January 26 2005 @ 09:05 PM PST