Swap space

rrr-jr · 07-17-2003, 01:04 PM

I have a question

What happens with a linux if it has too little swap space??
I havent had lots of space on my hard disk when i installed linux so i didn't made a swap partition as required (2 times the RAM memory).
And after like 30 min after i enter linux my memory gets full and linux graphical interface (X) starts to work really slow!
Does that have to do with the swap space??

My PC configuration is:
Pentium III 1,13Ghz
512 Mb RAM
16 Mb Video card ATI Radeon Mobility
30Gb harddisk

ranger12002 · 07-17-2003, 01:06 PM

swap space acts as memory...when linux runs out of memory to use it goes to your swap space to act as more memory your swap space basically turns into memory if that makes any sense

rrr-jr · 07-17-2003, 01:08 PM

So I must make a bigger swap partition ?

ranger12002 · 07-17-2003, 01:09 PM

how big is your swap partition right now?

rrr-jr · 07-17-2003, 01:10 PM

100Mb

ranger12002 · 07-17-2003, 01:16 PM

try a 300 or 400...i have a 3gb swap but i only did that cause i have a 40gb hard drive and only will ever use about 5gb of space

rrr-jr · 07-17-2003, 01:19 PM

But for 512 Mb Ram only 300-400 Mb swap are enough ???

ranger12002 · 07-17-2003, 01:20 PM

it should be fine if you have alot of space that you wont ever use make it like 1gb

rrr-jr · 07-17-2003, 01:23 PM

ok thank you for your answers
cya

ranger12002 · 07-17-2003, 01:31 PM

if that doesnt help let me know and ill try to figure out any other things that might cause it

rrr-jr · 07-17-2003, 01:58 PM

ok ill anounce u then
by the way why cant i send personal messages to other users
i registered to the forum today

ranger12002 · 07-17-2003, 02:00 PM

not sure you might want to talk to a moderator about that

rrr-jr · 07-17-2003, 02:05 PM

ok ill try talking to him
cya

stickman · 07-17-2003, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rrr-jr
But for 512 Mb Ram only 300-400 Mb swap are enough ???

That really depends on how you are using your system. Are you doing anything related to large databases, video editing, or something computationally intensive? I find that 1.5*RAM should do the trick in most cases. There's nothing like watching a graphic artist freek because his system locked up in the middle of an image render. You might want to watch your system a bit to see how frequently and how much it swaps.

rrr-jr · 07-17-2003, 03:23 PM

well i just use my linux to connect to the net , to watch movies,play games etc. I don't use as a graphical workstation.