Reducing RAM Usage

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-12 17:38:45

I have seen many screenshots and posts about how little RAM GNU/Linux uses. But even when I install it with only the base system, my setup uses 400 MB of RAM. I have seen other setups use 90, 70, or even 30 MB of RAM with an X session. How is that possible? I want to impress my classmates with how much better GNU/Linux is. Most people in my school think GNU/Linux can't run anything and is useless. I want to show them a customized (riced) GNU/Linux setup and demonstrate how little resources it uses, even though it is so beautiful. I will use Openbox and GTK apps.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-01-12 17:55:50

Memory usage in Linux is a complex subject and the way the `free` command reports changed relativelty recently so the totals will be higher than have been seen in the past:

https://www.reddit.com/r/debian/comment … es_unused/

How are you measuring memory usage?

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-12 17:58:09

free -h

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-12 18:12:49

I have read everything in the Reddit post. Is there really no way? Does building their kernel or others help?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-01-12 18:38:21

There is nothing to be done. Just because the free command has changed the way it reports used memory does not mean the system is using more memory, although it almost certainly will over time as software development leads to new features and more bloat.

jonno2002 · 2025-01-12 18:40:08

yip memory usage is all over the place on linux, i made a package so i can have both versions of free installed, the older is called free_old.
here is an example, my media pc which uses lxde (openbox) has currently been up 21 days and htop reports 322mb used and free reports:

$ free_old -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.7Gi       283Mi       770Mi        41Mi       6.6Gi       7.1Gi
Swap:          4.0Gi        88Mi       3.9Gi
$ free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           7.7Gi       622Mi       769Mi        41Mi       6.6Gi       7.1Gi
Swap:          4.0Gi        88Mi       3.9Gi

that pc basically sits idle and plays media when needed.

my laptop which uses bspwm has been up the same 21days and htop reports 518mb used and free reports:

$ free -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            15Gi       898Mi       5.7Gi        70Mi       8.8Gi        14Gi
Swap:          8.0Gi       1.0Mi       8.0Gi
$ free_old -h
               total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:            15Gi       446Mi       5.7Gi        71Mi       8.8Gi        14Gi
Swap:          8.0Gi       1.0Mi       8.0Gi

thats both machines idle with only pacserve running in the background as its a common task on all my machines, i closed all the extra stuff i had open on my laptop for the comparison.

from memory my laptop uses about ~250mb on bootup and grows from there over time, no idea about media pc on bootup sorry.

its all relative really and every machine/system is different

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-01-12 18:44:08

Have either of you checked /proc/meminfo? That is the cannonical source of memory usage information under Linux. The free command is just an abstraction with opinions.

EDIT: I need to fix spell checking in my browser.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2025-01-12 18:44:33)

seth · 2025-01-12 20:52:34

/proc/meminfo? That is the cannonical source of memory usage information under Linux

This^128

You can make RAM usage look like whatever you want and if you wanted to make it look like it's not using any RAM (just faking outputs aside, people tend to lie on the internet and I doubt r/* is much better than instagram) you'd lose every tmpfs, things like zram/zswap, drop all file caches, disable hugepages and of course under no circumstaces allow for GART/GTT - iow. make the system as slow as possible. Maybe also justs allocate VRAM as RAM to hide stuff there.

There's a virtue in not running out of memory.
There's no virtue in not using it.

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-13 07:28:43

Well, @seth, I believe in maximizing my RAM usage rather than minimizing it. My approach is to run my machine entirely on RAM to ensure lightning-fast load times because time is a precious resource. When showcasing my desktop to classmates, I feel it's essential to demonstrate the resource usage, even if most of them only focus on RAM. It's common to see students buying phones with 16GB of RAM, thinking that makes them high-end devices. I've encountered classmates with powerful setups, like an i9 processor and 64GB of RAM, built solely for gaming, yet they often overlook the importance of a good GPU and other critical software components.

While I appreciate RAM, my ideal setup would be a system with 16GB of RAM paired with a high-performance GPU and CPU. Ultimately, my goal is to ensure that processes run efficiently and swiftly. However, when seeking validation from others, I must consider their perceptions. If I reveal that my system uses nearly 11GB of RAM while idle, it might lead to misunderstandings. To optimize performance, I consistently utilize RAM caching across all applications, which helps protect my hard drive from wear. This year alone, I've replaced my SSD twice due to the extensive read and write operations I perform, which is why I rely on a RAM disk. I intentionally avoid using swap space or page files, as they can slow down my system and compromise my hard drive's longevity.

Throughout my journey, I've never sought to reduce RAM usage; instead, I've focused on finding innovative ways to increase it. I've even experimented with installing games directly in RAM. When encoding videos, I do so in RAM to test my settings, only committing to permanent storage once I achieve optimal results. I got my first PC at the age of 4, and now, at 14, it's hard to believe a decade has passed. My initial experience was marred by malware, but that led me to discover GNU, and I’ve never looked back. There were times when my hardware faced compatibility issues with GNU's kernel, but instead of reverting to malware, I took the initiative to develop modules for their kernel. My passion for GNU is unwavering, and it will always be a cornerstone of my computing philosophy.

seth · 2025-01-13 09:27:04

Hey ChatGPT, you missed that the desire to maximize RAM usage and minizing it at the same time is an incoherent position.
Also it's absolutely not ok to suggest to kids, or trolls, that seeking external validation ("from others") is somehow a legitimate motive for anything and not the source of most psychological issues.

If you had instead realized that the goal could be to minimize the theoretical maximum you might have pointed out that limiting the theoretical maximum can be achieved by specialization, ie. reducing the system to what's strictly necessary for the task at hand, and cited customized kernels, statically linked binary executables and stripping of unnecessry data like i18n, l11n and documentation as potential vactors.

You also need to work on hiding your linguistic patterns.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-01-13 09:52:03

@OP: there's really no need to hide behind an LLM, I would rather hear your own opinion unfiltered, even if it is lacking somewhat in respect of grammar :-)

If you want to impress your friends try https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ps_mem — that will show lower totals than free and also give a breakdown of memory usage for each application.

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-13 09:59:02

Not ChatGPT. I use a dictionary extension that always gives me a red line. Besides, I write stories and poems in my free time. I have even won awards in my school and submitted many to magazines. I use dictionary extension it because I use an online text editor for my assignments.

[It corrected cahtgpt to ChatGPT]

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-01-13 10:00:19

Sorry OP, I didn't mean to offend.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2025-01-13 10:00:39)

jl2 · 2025-01-13 10:15:39

I have seen many screenshots and posts about how little RAM GNU/Linux uses. But even when I install it with only the base system, my setup uses 400 MB of RAM. I have seen other setups use 90, 70, or even 30 MB of RAM with an X session. How is that possible?

400Mb is already quite little for todays standards. If you want to go below try a lighter DE/WM and disable unnecessary background processes. Also get rid of any browser like FF chrome etc. go with pale moon or something like that. And get rid of the wallpaper, take a single color.

This year alone, I've replaced my SSD twice due to the extensive read and write operations I perform

WTF are you doing? SSDs should hold up 8 years if you write 30Gb per day, and this data is around 10 years old so it's more nowadays. perhaps not buy the cheapest no-name china SSD.

I want to impress my classmates with how much better GNU/Linux is.

pls stop you'll make yourself unpopular by boasting with that. And you don't need to make your OS use less that 400Mb, Windows uses like 4G hard deck minimum.
If your friends use some ancient OS like DOS thats desinged to run on <1MB of RAM, then just tell em to go shut up with their TUIs.

I bet you are still in school (like me). Do you guys also need microshit onenote?

Last edited by jl2 (2025-01-13 10:17:54)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-01-13 10:19:34

^ Not sure if the wallpaper will make any difference :-)

OpenBSD shows ~50MiB used at the graphical desktop, if you really want a lightweight operating system.

jl2 · 2025-01-13 10:24:29

^ Not sure if the wallpaper will make any difference :-)

My wallpaper daemon (I think swaybg) uses at least 6MB, depending on the daemon. hyprland's uses 30MB.
Also the old windows couldn't load a full image into ram, so it was either a repeating small image or just color.

OpenBSD shows ~50MiB used at the graphical desktop, if you really want a lightweight operating system.

@HoaS you use BSD? on what HW?

Last edited by jl2 (2025-01-13 10:24:58)

seth · 2025-01-13 10:38:25

jl2 wrote:

This year alone, I've replaced my SSD twice due to the extensive read and write operations I perform
WTF are you doing? SSDs should hold up 8 years if you write 30Gb per day, and this data is around 10 years old so it's more nowadays. perhaps not buy the cheapest no-name china SSD.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Improv … ads/writes
Obviously that's the opposite of RAM usage reduction.

To show off your skills to install http://tinycorelinux.net/ - install http://tinycorelinux.net/

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-01-13 10:40:28

jl2 wrote:

@HoaS you use BSD? on what HW?

ThinkPads are good, that's what the devs use. Just make sure you get one with an Intel wireless card.

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-13 10:43:30

@jl2 Average 2TB, minimum: 200GB, maximum: 15TB write. I have anxiety about media quality. I love old movies and shows. I fix them before I watch. I almost always use YUV444/YUV422 to address problems. Hand-drawn media needs special treatment because the Blu-ray versions are poorly upscaled from DVD with bad deinterlacing. Live-action films are almost always shot in analog raw media, so they are generally fine.

Yes, we are all given Microsoft school accounts and OneDrive storage to submit assignments. Only @outlook.com and @hotmail.com addresses are whitelisted. We can't use our personal domains. All usernames and passwords are provided by the school. [I hate my school]

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-13 10:44:35

@Head_on_a_Stick I love to, but I love GNU more.

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-13 10:47:46

@seth It's not about skill; it's about recommendation. I think Arch is good for beginners to use because it's lightweight and doesn't require compilation. It will be like a painting exhibition.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-01-13 10:53:49

scarletjacquetta wrote:

I love GNU

The GNU project is somewhat famous for bloating out it's software as much as possible, they could even be regarded as inspiration for the systemd developers in that respect.

If you want a Linux system that uses less memory then swap out all the GNU utilities for lighter alternatives, which includes glibc. Try a musl libc based distribution with non-GNU tools and compare the memory usage there, you will find it significantly lower.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2025-01-13 10:54:08)

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-13 10:54:14

@seth + I can make GNU/Linux under 32 MB if I want. It's not a big deal. GNU is all about that. It's not for me; it's for my mates. But I can't suggest to my classmates to get the source and compile it with their preferred flags. Arch has a good community, so they can ask for help. I will first impress them and then recommend it.

I want to spread the light of free software [DRAMATIC].

Last edited by scarletjacquetta (2025-01-13 10:57:45)

scarletjacquetta · 2025-01-13 10:58:39

@Head_on_a_Stick Agree. GNU/Emacs is bloat.

jl2 · 2025-01-13 11:42:34

scarletjacquetta wrote:

@jl2 Average 2TB, minimum: 200GB, maximum: 15TB write. I have anxiety about media quality. I love old movies and shows. I fix them before I watch. I almost always use YUV444/YUV422 to address problems. Hand-drawn media needs special treatment because the Blu-ray versions are poorly upscaled from DVD with bad deinterlacing. Live-action films are almost always shot in analog raw media, so they are generally fine.

I sure hope you use some kind of RAID with 2TB/day.
Ever considered processing media with 128G of ram? It's the most you'll get with a decent PC

Yes, we are all given Microsoft school accounts and OneDrive storage to submit assignments. Only @outlook.com and @hotmail.com addresses are whitelisted. We can't use our personal domains. All usernames and passwords are provided by the school. [I hate my school]

Well that's even worse than here. they generally don't give a shit as long as you can use teams and onenote (but some teachers are nice and hate onenote too and also upload the whole PDFs).

@HoaS I think my HW is too new for BSD, gotta 7800xt. haven't tested though, IIRC rule of thumb is 5yo HW.

Last edited by jl2 (2025-01-13 11:44:31)

Arch Linux

#1 2025-01-12 17:38:45

Reducing RAM Usage

#2 2025-01-12 17:55:50

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