Arch Linux

ep2011

Member

Registered: 2008-02-28

Posts: 66

Ram usage - why so high?

I do not understand why arch is using so much ram... Right now it is using 230mb with just pypanel, openbox, pidgin, scim, conky and feh running (no firefox).  Many other threads show people having this amount (or less) or ram using kde or gnome! Why when using openbox is it so high?

My autostart.sh:

#!/bin/sh
eval `cat $HOME/.fehbg` &
(sleep 3 && pypanel) &
(sleep 4 && pidgin) &
(sleep 3 && conky) &

my daemons from /etc/rc.conf:

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs crond alsa hal cups slim)

I don't really know what the daemons are except for cups, hal, and slim. The rest I added with guides and during installation with the beginner guide. Help would be greatly appreciated.

Last edited by ep2011 (2008-03-07 23:57:16)

venox

Member

From: Curitiba, Brazil

Registered: 2003-08-23

Posts: 137

Website

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

Maybe you're loading way too much modules on your boot process.
Try disabling MOD_AUTOLOAD on your /etc/rc.conf and only load the modules that you really need.
Also, you can try configuring your initrd via mkinitcpio:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Con … mkinitcpio

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website | git repo

eerok

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-03-20

Posts: 171

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

It makes a big difference whether you're counting cached memory as well -- with OB, Pypanel, Pidgin, Thunar, Firefox, and Sakura open, I'm at 116,880 but including cached I'm at 245,164 ...

Last edited by eerok (2008-03-08 00:14:52)

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noobus in perpetuus

freakcode

Member

From: São Paulo - Brazil

Registered: 2007-11-03

Posts: 410

Website

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

RAM usage isn't high until you start using Swap. Linux optimizes RAM usage so it caches last used data to avoid slow reads from disk.

When you use the 'free -m' command, you get:

[freakcode@atena ~]$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          2025        628       1397          0          0        394
-/+ buffers/cache:        233       1792
Swap:          486          0        486

On this example, I have 2gb RAM, and 628mb RAM used. But then you see the second line, real usage is only 233mb, so 395mb are just cached data (and will remain there until Linux needs to alocate more memory).

More info about Linux buffer cache (this should really be sticky, or be on the Arch Wiki... someone?):
http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_admin/buffer-cache.html

ep2011

Member

Registered: 2008-02-28

Posts: 66

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

My cached memory right now is 808, my real memory is 278. 278 is still pretty high for openbox with only firefox, xterm, pidgin, feh and scim open...

I'll try using that link venox, thanks.

Anymore tips?

Last edited by ep2011 (2008-03-08 00:30:59)

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

See what exmap (in AUR) shows.

freakcode

Member

From: São Paulo - Brazil

Registered: 2007-11-03

Posts: 410

Website

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

My cached memory right now is 808, my real memory is 278. 278 is still pretty high for openbox with only firefox, xterm, pidgin, feh and scim open...

I'll try using that link venox, thanks.

Anymore tips?

For comparsion, that free -m I reported was while using: awesome wm, epiphany, pidgin, quodlibet, some terminals and ruby instances. I don't think it's so high, Firefox (Epiphany in my case) is a big culprit. Also, depends how much you have those apps open / uptime.

venox

Member

From: Curitiba, Brazil

Registered: 2003-08-23

Posts: 137

Website

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

MODULES=(r8169 snd-hda-intel snd-seq snd-pcm-oss psmouse ehci-hcd uhci-hcd usb-storage sg bttv fuse i2c-i801 eeprom lm90 w83627ehf coretemp button usbhid evdev)
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs @crond @alsa @sensors @sshd @lighttpd @mpd @mpdscribble)

And just after booting the system (without X) I get just ~30 MB in use here. Try booting without slim. slim used to consume a few MBs from my RAM.

Right now I have 270 MB (real) in use: xmonad, urxvt sessions, firefox3b3, pidgin and epdfview, basically.

---

website | git repo

ep2011

Member

Registered: 2008-02-28

Posts: 66

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

MODULES=(r8169 snd-hda-intel snd-seq snd-pcm-oss psmouse ehci-hcd uhci-hcd usb-storage sg bttv fuse i2c-i801 eeprom lm90 w83627ehf coretemp button usbhid evdev)
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs @crond @alsa @sensors @sshd @lighttpd @mpd @mpdscribble)

And just after booting the system (without X) I get just ~30 MB in use here. Try booting without slim. slim used to consume a few MBs from my RAM.

Right now I have 270 MB (real) in use: xmonad, urxvt sessions, firefox3b3, pidgin and epdfview, basically.

Thanks for the tips, very helpful

SiC

Member

From: Liverpool, England

Registered: 2008-01-10

Posts: 430

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

After booting up to runlevel 3, I am using about 25mb on my laptop (what i have with me here).  Using slim and X11 it jumps to around 200mb, and I'm running fluxbox with no additional apps loading.  Its got 4gb of swapspace available, but i've never actually used it, ram usage seems to sit at about 1.9gb including cache etc. Don't think you have any problems really.

wuischke

Member

From: Suisse Romande

Registered: 2007-01-06

Posts: 630

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

ep2011: Do you use an integrated graphics card (i.e. uses system ram)? This will increase your RAM usage, too.

ep2011

Member

Registered: 2008-02-28

Posts: 66

Re: Ram usage - why so high?

ep2011: Do you use an integrated graphics card (i.e. uses system ram)? This will increase your RAM usage, too.

Oh... I forgot about my graphics card (or lack of physical card)... Yeah I'm pretty sure this machine using an integrated graphics card... That must be it.