I've installed Puppy to a CF card in an adapter using the built-in installation routine - and I suddenly have lots of available memory showing in the toolbar compared with when I was running off a smaller USB stick. I'm concerned that I'm no longer running in RAM, and might be paging to the CF card. Can someone reassure me that Puppy doesn't default to running "not fully in RAM" if it thinks you've done a hard disc install.
I don't want to trash my CF card, but actually everything about Puppy is so beautifully worked out that I can't believe this is a problem.
BTW - as you all know already, Puppy is unbelievebly fantastic!. I have it set up on a silent PC (Epia ML6000, silent PSU, CF instead of hard disc) and I finally get to keep my PC on all day without annoying the family!
Does Pup always run in RAM?
as far as i know, the memory applet on the JWM toolbar is showing the amount of free space in the Puppy save file ... not the free space in ramI suddenly have lots of available memory showing in the toolbar
if you type:
df -h | grep rw
it will tell you the free space you have in the save file ... it will probably be the same value shown by the toolbar applet
of course, if you run Puppy completely in ram, with no save file, it will be showing the free space in the "save file" which will actually be ram
by the way, if you want to know how much free ram you have, the answer should usually be "very little"
the kernel's memory manager should try to make as much use of your ram as possible, using the free space for buffers and for caching if for nothing else ... there is no point in having ram if it is not being used
you can see how much free ram you have by typing free
the kernel's memory manager should try to make as much use of your ram as possible, using the free space for buffers and for caching if for nothing else ... there is no point in having ram if it is not being used
you can see how much free ram you have by typing free
Hi G2
Nothing to grep Re your suggestion
Did give pause to wonder about alternatives 'tho
less /proc/sys/vm/lowmem_reserve_ratio > returns value - but uncertain how to interpret !
(Grepping is denied - likely as cannot grep self)
AFAICS it gives values in MB ?
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/fa. ... 408d84c546
Any thoughts ?
Nothing to grep Re your suggestion
Did give pause to wonder about alternatives 'tho
less /proc/sys/vm/lowmem_reserve_ratio > returns value - but uncertain how to interpret !
(Grepping is denied - likely as cannot grep self)
AFAICS it gives values in MB ?
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/fa. ... 408d84c546
Any thoughts ?
if you run from a cd or a frugal install, unless you are running only in ram with no save file, Puppy will probably have a save file mounted on /initrd/pup_rw ... the taskbar applet would show how much space is in the save file, mounted on /initrd/pup_rw
if you are running in ram with no save file, or if you are running as mulitsession cd/dvd, it will be different ... the amount of space you have to store files is dependent on how much ram there is ... probably virtual ram, if you have a swap file or partition
if you have a full, normal install, the amount of space you have to save files will be the free space left in the partition ... i think that is what the applet will display in that case
if you right click the memory applet, you can click "Help, What Does This Mean?" for an explanation of what is being displayed
as for lowmem_reserve_ratio, i think it keeps a little ram free in case something like an interrupt routine or driver needs it ... better than having the system crashing because there is no space left
on my machine, it seems to keep about 5 megs in reserve ... i don't have problems with the system crashing, so it seems to be adequate ... there doesn't seem to be much documentation if anyone wants to try tweaking the settings
the kernel usually keeps a small percentage of the hard drive space free, so configuration data and logs etc etc can be saved ... but that does not apply to root ... if you run as root (and Puppy does, so far anyway), it does not keep any reserve space on the hard drive ... so it's possible to fill the save file so that there is no free space to save configuration data ... this could cause the os to crash, so far, i haven't had much of a problem if it happens, i just delete something and continue what i was doing
if you are running in ram with no save file, or if you are running as mulitsession cd/dvd, it will be different ... the amount of space you have to store files is dependent on how much ram there is ... probably virtual ram, if you have a swap file or partition
if you have a full, normal install, the amount of space you have to save files will be the free space left in the partition ... i think that is what the applet will display in that case
if you right click the memory applet, you can click "Help, What Does This Mean?" for an explanation of what is being displayed
as for lowmem_reserve_ratio, i think it keeps a little ram free in case something like an interrupt routine or driver needs it ... better than having the system crashing because there is no space left
on my machine, it seems to keep about 5 megs in reserve ... i don't have problems with the system crashing, so it seems to be adequate ... there doesn't seem to be much documentation if anyone wants to try tweaking the settings
the kernel usually keeps a small percentage of the hard drive space free, so configuration data and logs etc etc can be saved ... but that does not apply to root ... if you run as root (and Puppy does, so far anyway), it does not keep any reserve space on the hard drive ... so it's possible to fill the save file so that there is no free space to save configuration data ... this could cause the os to crash, so far, i haven't had much of a problem if it happens, i just delete something and continue what i was doing
Thank you for taking the time to explain all above info (Esp Re PUPPY)
Asides: Found this - Can already hear my wheels just a spinnin' & aslippin'... as if I
Gnu where I wuz going ?
( ab alloc apptrace autoload bash)
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ie=IS ... arch&meta=
Asides: Found this - Can already hear my wheels just a spinnin' & aslippin'... as if I
Gnu where I wuz going ?
I ~ have no solution - but sure admire the problems
( ab alloc apptrace autoload bash)
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ie=IS ... arch&meta=
RAM usage
I think I understand what freememapplet does now - thanks.
Here's my rc.d/PUPSTATE:
PUPMODE=13
PDEV1='hda1'
DEV1FS='msdos'
PUPSFS='pup_211.sfs'
PUPSAVE='msdos,hda1,/pup_save.3fs'
PMEDIA='ideflash'
SATADRIVES=''
Mount and df are less easy for a newbie to understand....
sh-3.00# mount
/dev/root on /initrd type ext2 (rw,nogrpid)
/dev/hda1 on /initrd/mnt/dev_ro1 type msdos (rw,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437)
/dev/loop0 on /initrd/pup_ro2 type squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop1 on /initrd/pup_ro1 type ext3 (rw,noatime,data=ordered)
tmpfs on /initrd/pup_rw type tmpfs (rw)
none on / type unionfs (rw,dirs=/initrd/pup_rw=rw:/initrd/pup_ro1=ro:/initrd/pup_ro2=ro,debug=0,delete=whiteout)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw)
none on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
sh-3.00# df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 2869 2590 279 90% /initrd
/dev/hda1 499672 491480 8192 98% /initrd/mnt/dev_ro1
/dev/loop0 77504 77504 0 100% /initrd/pup_ro2
/dev/loop1 397554 49517 327511 13% /initrd/pup_ro1
tmpfs 111768 1736 110032 2% /initrd/pup_rw
none 586824 128756 437540 23% /
df -|grep rw does indeed give the same answer as the toolbar,
and free tells me taht about 75% of my RAM is in use.
SO can anyone tell me if any of that answers my question about the CF card - how many pupmodes are there, and which one is 13?!
THanks so far, BTW
Here's my rc.d/PUPSTATE:
PUPMODE=13
PDEV1='hda1'
DEV1FS='msdos'
PUPSFS='pup_211.sfs'
PUPSAVE='msdos,hda1,/pup_save.3fs'
PMEDIA='ideflash'
SATADRIVES=''
Mount and df are less easy for a newbie to understand....
sh-3.00# mount
/dev/root on /initrd type ext2 (rw,nogrpid)
/dev/hda1 on /initrd/mnt/dev_ro1 type msdos (rw,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437)
/dev/loop0 on /initrd/pup_ro2 type squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop1 on /initrd/pup_ro1 type ext3 (rw,noatime,data=ordered)
tmpfs on /initrd/pup_rw type tmpfs (rw)
none on / type unionfs (rw,dirs=/initrd/pup_rw=rw:/initrd/pup_ro1=ro:/initrd/pup_ro2=ro,debug=0,delete=whiteout)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw)
none on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)
sh-3.00# df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 2869 2590 279 90% /initrd
/dev/hda1 499672 491480 8192 98% /initrd/mnt/dev_ro1
/dev/loop0 77504 77504 0 100% /initrd/pup_ro2
/dev/loop1 397554 49517 327511 13% /initrd/pup_ro1
tmpfs 111768 1736 110032 2% /initrd/pup_rw
none 586824 128756 437540 23% /
df -|grep rw does indeed give the same answer as the toolbar,
and free tells me taht about 75% of my RAM is in use.
SO can anyone tell me if any of that answers my question about the CF card - how many pupmodes are there, and which one is 13?!
THanks so far, BTW
Below explains Pup modes:how many pupmodes are there, and which one is 13?
http://www.puppyos.com/development/howpuppyworks.html
Code: Select all
man df (& man mount)Cheer up, takes time but several Puppy forums have many useful friendly guidelines for us all.
HTH
