How much RAM does DSL take?Forum: Other Help Topics Topic: How much RAM does DSL take? started by: Genecks Posted by Genecks on Dec. 23 2007,04:27
Alright, this is two parts:1. How much RAM does DSL take if it's running Live from an external medium? 2. How much RAM does DSL take if it's being completely loaded into RAM? How about for DSL-N? Posted by curaga on Dec. 23 2007,08:20
Check the wiki for minimum requirements..Live - 16mb text mode, 32mb for X Toram - at least 128mb Posted by Genecks on Dec. 23 2007,12:02
Second part:How does the "toram" option change when a person remasters DSL? DSL-N is simply like a DSL remaster, right? What worries me is that I've done a toram, and It said about 14MB of RAM were being used. How's that work again? If the distro is 50+ MB, and it loads completely into RAM, how is it compressing? What happened to the ~50MB that was previously there? Does it recognize the hardware and toss what isn't needed? If I remember right, that was one of the /dev problems from back in the day: Tons of drivers that took up space, but not all were needed. So, is that what DSL is doing? Tossing away what it doesn't need after the toram install, thus decreasing the final amount the OS needs in order to be used while in RAM? Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 23 2007,12:12
If I understand correctly, toram writes the entire operating system into ram. You can remove the CD after the boot is finished.Running liveCD, you need to leave the CD in the drive, and it will use less ram. Posted by Genecks on Dec. 23 2007,12:15
This does not seem sound, though.It needs 128 MB to load into RAM, yet it's only taking about 15MB at a time while it's fully in RAM. OS = ~50MB TOTAL RAM = ~128MB USED RAM = ~15MB Do you see the mathematical ratio here that I think is surreal? 50:15 What is the logic, computer science, and determinism behind all of this that allows it to transfer into 15MB? Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 23 2007,12:23
Are you getting that usage number from the desktop display? or from executing free?If I've noticed things correctly, the desktop display is only showing the OS usage; as if the OS were HD installed. free seems to read the system completely. I haven't asked, so please understand that what I'm stating is conjecture. Posted by curaga on Dec. 23 2007,14:19
The desktop meter doesn't show full usage, because DSL in toram mode copies all files to a tmpfs mount in ram. Tmpfs lives in caches, and the desktop meter doesn't show cache or buffer usage, just what your apps use. Posted by curaga on Dec. 23 2007,14:23
Toram mode works with a technical minimum of 76mb (3mb for kernel + 5mb for initrd + 2mb for init/other always-running processes + 50mb data + 16mb ram for text mode usage), but this would not leave much ram to your apps, or be enough for X. It starts to really be usable at 128mb.
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