RedHat 9 is a memory whore. Need some processes turned off?

RHLinuxGUY · 10-03-2004, 07:19 PM

I have installed RedHat 9 on a computer that is my familys, it is a K6-2 400Mhz, and 192 megs of ram. But It seems to be eating 192 megs of ram all the damn time. Even with black box, or other small light wight window managers, what proccess can I turn off, and what files could I edit to do so?

trickykid · 10-03-2004, 07:55 PM

Using up RAM is normal and a good thing. Is it slowing your system down? You are running a 400mhz cpu though, what you installed would be like throwing on Windows XP and expecting it to run fast. Is it fast or slow? Don't worry about the RAM though, that's normal. Why have 192 megs of RAM if your never going to utilize and use it like it should be. Worry when your system starts swapping its swap space, etc.

Also search, very common subject and question, probably asked at least on a weekly basis.

kidicarus · 10-03-2004, 09:47 PM

Recompile the kernel and include only the modules that you need for your hardware, and turn off some of the system services you don't need that start at boot-time (run ntsysv), and make sure Xfree86 isn't taking up too much resources, probably installing x.org and then your desktop manager from source, that is what I have done on this 7.3 machine on a similar setup (although it never really ran slow in the first place).

RHLinuxGUY · 10-04-2004, 12:16 AM

Well that memory hogging up is good to know. I think I will recompile my kernel, (just the stock kernel, 2.6 if messed up on RH9) and turn off some services. But its wired, cuz lets say Im on GAIM talking to somone, ill be typing. Then itll kinda FREEZE, but ill keep typing. And when it comes back to normal, it starts to input everything I typed. This is just an example.

twilli227 · 10-04-2004, 09:30 AM

Run "top" in a terminal window and see if there are any other programs runing. You can kill the process that is slowing down your comp. If that helps and you don't need or use that program, then get rid of it, or turn it off.

misc · 10-05-2004, 06:47 AM

Run free in a console and pay attention to the buffers/cache fields. They show how much of your free RAM is used temporarily for buffering/disk caches. If an application needs more RAM, buffers/cache sizes are decreased. It's good when none of your RAM is unused.

RHLinuxGUY · 10-09-2004, 03:48 PM

Ya but, its always using Virtual memory, which makes the whole computer sluggish. It works great sometimes, and sometimes its slow as rewinding a video casete. I realy dont feel like recompiling the kernel. But if you realy realy think so. Should I just compile a 2.6 kernel? I have never successfully installed a new kernel. There was always errors that I could never work out. Thats why im kinda "eh" abou the kernel recompile. Thanx in advance.

misc · 10-09-2004, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RHLinuxGUY
Ya but, its always using Virtual memory, which makes the whole computer sluggish.

I think you don't understand the concept of virtual memory in modern processors and operating systems.