Is there any command to clear my swap? I tend to start filling it after long (2-3 week) desktop sessions. Currently I just give it the ol 3 finger salute, but was wondering if there's a better way...

If you don't want to do that, close and then restart X. Doing that usually clears out the swap for me. I have 256MB RAM and 256MB swap.

Thanks. As soon as you posted that, I remembered it...lol

Works great.

Kind of reminds me of the question people new to linux ask regarding ram usage. After running into so many problems in windows with programs not giving up ram, they always think they are running out or ram when the system shows it filling up with cache and buffers. Then you have to explain how linux is much better at memory management etc.

If the swap is filled with data that is not being used anymore, won't that just be replaced with fresh data as soon as the system needs it?

Or does the kernel have a worse time managing swap than it does ram?

In my case, I get massive slowdowns the more the swap fills up, so clearing the swap every once in awhile helps.

What can I say? old/slow/underpowered h/w. (1.3G Celeron, 256mb ram, shared video)...lol

I feel your pain - but I'm much richer in the ram department.
Makes all the difference.

Athlon 1100
640 MB ram

Suits my needs.

My server is a slowpoke - slot 1 celeron 366 OC'd to 412 with 256MB ram.
But it's just serving files.

Must be a Dell ...