free ram

[kostas]

i have a GB RAM in my computer and a GB of a swap partition.

as i leave Linux on for days, the RAM fills up and the swap is not being used at all. is there a way to free up RAM? here's a screenshot of what i mean:

 

[horndude]

type "free" in a terminal and whats it show, better yet type "top"

Something may have a memory leak, linux will fix it when you run any apps after leaving it alone for a few days.That 1GB swap partition is a waste, 128 to 256mb is plenty unless your going to run an awful lot of heavy duty apps.

 

[TheMajor]

RAM is faster so I wouln't mind

 

[Marvel]

Does Linux have a heap walker? Are there memory applications to locate memory Queue problems?? Just curious.

 

[kostas]

never mind. that screenshot includes the cached and buffered RAM. i actually have 800Megs free. thanks anyway

as for the 1 Gig swap partition, i do have the extra space so i don't mind playing it safe...

 

[horndude]

dude, like I said above that 1GB swap is a waste.Ive had many many linux boxes, so far anything over 256mb ram hasnt been necessary and the swap still barely gets used.I wouldnt give up an extra 1GB of disk space no matter what, hell thats enough to store a movie.

Now if your running a server with a T-3 connection and lots of activity, sure might make sense to have a decent sized swap or lots of RAM.

One of the advantages of linux is thats its resource efficient and does an excellent job of memory management and allocation, in short, it aint windows.Even with using a bloated GUI like KDE, 256mb RAM is plenty.