Messages in this thread | ![/](/images/icornerl.gif) | | Subject | Re: 2.4 and 2GB swap partition limit | Date | Sat, 28 Apr 2001 09:47:20 +0200 (MEST) | From | (Rogier Wolff) |
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LA Walsh wrote: > Rogier Wolff wrote: > > > > > On Linux any swap adds to the memory pool, so 1xRAM would be > > > > equivalent to 2xRAM with the old old OS's. > > > > > > no more true AFAIK > > > > I've always been trying to convice people that 2x RAM remains a good > > rule-of-thumb. > > --- > Ug. I like to view swap as "low grade memory" -- i.e. I really > should spend 99.9% of my time in RAM -- if I spill, then it means > I'm running too much/too big for my computer and should get more RAM -- > meanwhile, I suffer with performance degradation to remind me I'm really > exceeding my machine's physical memory capacity.
Agreed. However, with current growing memory sizes, people are suggesting: "I ran with 32Mb RAM and 64Mb swap until a year ago, so 128Mb ram should allow me to run swapless". I disagree.
The price-difference between RAM and disk is such (*) that if you follow the guideline of swap=2xRAM, you're still spending 20 to 50 times as much on the RAM as you are on the disk space for swap.
Even if the swap is going to be idle 99.9% of the time, the investment allows you to say "gosh what is the machien slow today. It might be swapping" instead of "Why the heck has the machine crashed (#) all of a sudden."
Rogier.
(*) And remains like that!
(#) Even if we have a good OOM killer, you might find the machine in a non-workable state.
-- ** R.E.Wolff@BitWizard.nl ** http://www.BitWizard.nl/ ** +31-15-2137555 ** *-- BitWizard writes Linux device drivers for any device you may have! --* * There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots. * There are also old, bald pilots. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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