Linux DON'T know how to release RAM?
 

Hi,
I have been using linux as my primary OS for 3 months already, playing with Mandrake 9.1, SuSE 8.2 and Redhat 9. There seems to be a big issue about linux - the RAM never got released after use, except a new program tries to grab some RAM.

Since I'm using software suspend to disk, the unreclaimed memory makes the hibernation much longer.

Does anyone know how to free the RAM manually? or is there some program to do it?

Thanks,
Raymond

An article: Tips for Optimizing Linux Memory

Thanks, fancypiper. Your reference gave me an overview on the memory mechanism.

Another question - how to free up the buffer and cache before hibernation, so the process takes less time?

Thanks