Arch Linux

Johnnio

Member

From: Glasgow, Scotland

Registered: 2007-08-26

Posts: 10

X is eating up A LOT of RAM

I have 1GB of RAM on my laptop and in total when my system is idle Arch Linux is using up 600mb roughly (with Firefox it's using 700mb). Now, half of that 700mb is being used by X (it's using about 400mb). All I'm really using is the programs and libraries you install in the beginners manual (and I'm also using XFCE) and all that is really running is Firefox and a terminal.

The whole reason I didn't use Vista was because it was eating up all my memory but Linux is doing the same!

Help would be appreciated, thanks!

Last edited by Johnnio (2008-05-26 18:00:51)

moljac024

Member

From: Serbia

Registered: 2008-01-29

Posts: 2,676

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

are you sure X is using up 400 mb of memory ??

could you run htop and post a screenshot ?

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czar

Member

Registered: 2008-03-08

Posts: 115

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

is it actually using the memory or is it just cache?
free -m will give you a read out

if its cache then this space is as good as free. When its needed its taken. The point is that applications will be able to quickly access data again instead of re reading from the hdd. After all unused ram is wasted ram.

Johnnio

Member

From: Glasgow, Scotland

Registered: 2007-08-26

Posts: 10

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

It's using it as cache. I'm still relatively new to Linux so I didn't know X did that. I just got worried seeing 700mb of RAM in use.. lol. Thanks.

finferflu

Forum Fellow

From: Manchester, UK

Registered: 2007-06-21

Posts: 1,899

Website

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

I don't think this is the whole problem, but what version of Firefox are you using?

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Johnnio

Member

From: Glasgow, Scotland

Registered: 2007-08-26

Posts: 10

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

I'm using Firefox 3.0 rc1 (SpookyET's version from the AUR because supposedly it was better).

czar

Member

Registered: 2008-03-08

Posts: 115

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

I don't think this is the whole problem, but what version of Firefox are you using?

If its mostly cache couldn't it just be cached from programs hes had open already?

finferflu

Forum Fellow

From: Manchester, UK

Registered: 2007-06-21

Posts: 1,899

Website

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

Well I don't know, for example I have around 1GB of cached memory, but the system is quite responsive:

> free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          1511       1437         73          0         68       1051
-/+ buffers/cache:        317       1193
Swap:          258          0        258

In fact, when I use htop, it shows around 300MB as actual used RAM.

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Have you Syued today?
Free music for free people! | Earthlings

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Xherziu

Member

Registered: 2008-04-16

Posts: 58

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

I got a similar problem.  I ran htop and it says I have 800MB's used out of my 2G.  I couldn't read htop very well but the Swp line I'm guessing is swap which says 0/258MB. 

I opened up my system monitor and took a look at processes.  Everything is fine except Nautilus which is using around 500MB's of memory!

I have two file browsers open, one has 1,500 files in it... I'm guessing this is what is causing it? hehe...

When I open that folder it usually takes half a minute to load which is understandable considering it has 1.5k files in it.  I guess I am being picky but is there a way to fix the load time?  Also, should nautilus be using that much RAM?

Johnnio

Member

From: Glasgow, Scotland

Registered: 2007-08-26

Posts: 10

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

Thank you for the help. I've just been thinking Arch Linux is quite slow in terms of opening up applications (yes, my network is properly configured and host name etc), but it's not bad since it only happens when I open it up for the first time upon boot.

czar

Member

Registered: 2008-03-08

Posts: 115

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

i don't think he said his system wasn't responsive.

I got a similar problem.  I ran htop and it says I have 800MB's used out of my 2G.  I couldn't read htop very well but the Swp line I'm guessing is swap which says 0/258MB. 

I opened up my system monitor and took a look at processes.  Everything is fine except Nautilus which is using around 500MB's of memory!

I have two file browsers open, one has 1,500 files in it... I'm guessing this is what is causing it? hehe...

When I open that folder it usually takes half a minute to load which is understandable considering it has 1.5k files in it.  I guess I am being picky but is there a way to fix the load time?  Also, should nautilus be using that much RAM?

When the swap is at 0 it is a good thing because your system has not run out of memory. Again, it doesn't matter how much ram your utilizing in total, it matters how much of it is just cache. cache is making the best use of your ram without holding it from applications which may need it. 

Thank you for the help. I've just been thinking Arch Linux is quite slow in terms of opening up applications (yes, my network is properly configured and host name etc), but it's not bad since it only happens when I open it up for the first time upon boot.

Arch loads apps the same as another other distro, maybe faster for me because there is much less overhead compared to many others. Its fast after the first time because it is cached.

Xherziu

Member

Registered: 2008-04-16

Posts: 58

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

I put the swap line there to tell you guys the problem is not my ram.  Should Nautilus really be using 500MB?  How do I decrease the 30 second load time for opening a folder?

I have the same folder with exact amount of files on WinXP and it takes max 5 seconds to load the folder and its contents.

czar

Member

Registered: 2008-03-08

Posts: 115

Re: X is eating up A LOT of RAM

I put the swap line there to tell you guys the problem is not my ram.  Should Nautilus really be using 500MB?  How do I decrease the 30 second load time for opening a folder?

I have the same folder with exact amount of files on WinXP and it takes max 5 seconds to load the folder and its contents.

Hi, i just installed kdemod for the first time and when i was going through the control panel i noticed that in "kde performance", "Minimize memory usage" was set to "for file browsing only" by default. Perhaps there is a similar setting in gnome?