Linux for your taste (sorry Naw :D) (27 Viewers)

What OS do you use?

  • Windows

  • Linux

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Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
Because swap is very useful when you run out of memory. If you have 8GB and you're using 2GB, forget about swap. But if run a lot of heavy apps you're gonna need it. You can keep an eye on that yourself.

In `top`:

Code:
  PID USER      PR  NI  [B]VIRT[/B]  [i]RES[/i]  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
 7687 alex      15   0  [B]187m[/B]  [I]79m[/I]  19m S    2  7.9  12:22.94 swiftfox-bin
 7578 alex      15   0  [B]343m[/B] [I]114m[/I] 9428 S    1 11.3   6:03.27 java
 7380 root      15   0  [B]304m[/B] [I]238m[/I]  14m S    3 23.6  10:40.51 X
Virtual memory is the total memory an application is allocated by the kernel. Resident memory is the part of the Virtual memory that is currently in RAM. The rest is in swap. The application doesn't know this (hence the name 'virtual').

The three processes I have running use a total of 834mb, so if I had 512mb of RAM and no swap, I couldn't be in this state. But only 431mb of this is actually loaded into memory.
 

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
In that example, they are listed. swiftfox, X and java. Although java is misleading, it's not actually one application, it's the vm running several applications.
 

JCK

Biased
JCK
May 11, 2004
125,388
I have swiftfox, X and Java running and I have only 512 MB, where do I get a list like that?

Or what java are you talking about? I have Azureus running.
 

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
$ top

That's because the kernel will allocate memory based on how much is available to it. If I had 512, X wouldn't be getting this much memory. To an extent, it's up to the applications to negotiate for memory from the OS, especially the part of memory that deals with how much data they can process.

Over here the java virtual machine is running azureus and two other java applications. But because java apps aren't native to linux, they don't show up as separate processes, just one 'java' process.
 

JCK

Biased
JCK
May 11, 2004
125,388
Code:
 3959 root      15   0  234m  36m 5968 S  6.0  7.5   3:54.15 Xorg
 5019 jack      15   0  184m  76m  25m S  2.7 15.7   7:04.15 swiftfox-bin
 4507 jack      15   0 34388  18m  13m S  1.0  3.7   0:16.15 kicker
 4503 jack      15   0 29652  13m  10m S  0.7  2.8   0:09.67 kwin
 6002 jack      15   0 40976  22m  17m S  0.7  4.5   0:04.74 k3b
 6060 jack      15   0 33944  17m  13m S  0.7  3.5   0:03.80 konsole
 6079 jack      16   0  2248 1140  844 R  0.7  0.2   0:00.25 top
 

Zambrotta

Senior Member
Nov 16, 2001
2,421
I've been using linux on the university's computers and enjoy it quite a lot. Still I don't use my computer for more advanced things than browsing the internet, watch movies and play a game every now and then. Is it really worthwhile changing only for that. And making a dualboot is that really smart?
 

V

Senior Member
Jun 8, 2005
20,110
  • V

    V

and has anyone here used this distro called Dynebolic? i just tried it a few days ago. woudlnt mind writing a short review if you guys would liek to know!
sure, go ahead, i promise to read it. :p
I've been using linux on the university's computers and enjoy it quite a lot. Still I don't use my computer for more advanced things than browsing the internet, watch movies and play a game every now and then. Is it really worthwhile changing only for that. And making a dualboot is that really smart?
so what you're saying is you're using linux at school but windows at home? if the playing games part is really important linux might not be the best choice. but you can always dual-boot, that's what i do.
 

gray

Senior Member
Moderator
Apr 22, 2003
30,260
I've been using linux on the university's computers and enjoy it quite a lot. Still I don't use my computer for more advanced things than browsing the internet, watch movies and play a game every now and then. Is it really worthwhile changing only for that. And making a dualboot is that really smart?
Well, if you're not a fan of viruses, spyware, needing to reformat your computer every so often no matter how well you manage it, and all the other rubbish you have to put up with, I'd say it's definitely worth it.

It's kind of like asking whether it's worth taking a much nicer car than what you have now for free, with the only downside being that you have to learn stick shift. You'd do it right?

If you play games, you'll probably want to dual boot, but I quit playing games so the only software I use Windows to run is Photoshop and Guitar Pro.
 

Rami

The Linuxologist
Dec 24, 2004
8,065
IMO the simpler the use the simpler the transition. You would most probably have to give up gaming though, depends on what games you playing.

Is it worth the transition? It completely depends on you! If you are willing to learn something new, not afraid of change, and up for a challenge, then yes it is worth it. If not, then no, unless you know someone else that could configure your Linux to fit your computing needs.

So in any case its worth it, how you go about it is what differs.
 

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