Some misc questions

ejdmoo · n00b Joined: 17 Jun 2002 Posts: 32 Location: USA

Sorry about the bad subject, but that's what this post is . :roll:

1. What really is the right size for a swap space? I have 256mb of ram on my linux box, and I made a 512mb swap space. Is that enough? Or too much? Just checking.

2. How long does it take to merge KDE? I'm going on 12 hours! It says "have a nice nap" or something, but I went to bed and woke up and it wasn't done!

3. Is it better to have "drivers" for hardware (ie NICs) as a module or comiled into the kernel? I mean, I know for a fact that I'm never ever gonna replace my NIC, so why would I want it as a module? Efficiency?

Hrmm...I think that's all for now. Just to let you know, I searched on a lot of other topics, and these were things I couldn't find.
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Those are my two cents

delta407 · Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2002 6:30 pm Post subject:

1. 512 MB ought to be enough, depending on what you're doing. You can check your swap usage using top or "grep SwapFree /proc/meminfo"

2. Depends on your hardware, but 12 hours isn't too bad. There was a big long thread on this, but I can't seem to find it right now.

3. Compiling drivers into the kernel isn't bad at all. In some cases (at least earlier in the 2.4 series) compiled-in drivers gave a speed increase over modules. They're left as modules by big commercial distros because it reduces RAM consumption if you don't actually have that card, but since you do, you might as well compile it in.

delta407 · Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2002 6:31 pm Post subject:

2. Ah, here we go.

ejdmoo · n00b Joined: 17 Jun 2002 Posts: 32 Location: USA

Wow...thanks for the reply. Stupid me, it's a PII 400 (or is it 450...)mhz. 256mb ram, an 8 gig hdd. All perfect for a linux box.

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Those are my two cents

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

1) The best answer I have heard is this. If you have a crash, and your memory is dumped, you need to have (if you want)
a swapspace as large as the most amount of RAM you will consume, + some extra. We had 4GB or RAM in a server and
were debating the merits of a 4GB+ swapspace. If we never used more than 2GB of RAM, we would not need a 4GB
swapspace. However, we used a fairly heavy database, so it was in our best interest to have the 4GB+ swap.

2) I've heard it takes a long time, obviously depends on your CPU/RAM.

3) I think some NIC's have to be loaded in the kernel and NOT as a module. I'm not sure it matters a whole lot if your NIC
doesn't care. Modules seem to be used mainly to keep the kernel size small, I think it adds some overheaad, but not
positive.

I'm sure someone can correct me and or add to this.
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Quis separabit? Quo animo?

delta407 · Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2002 6:37 pm Post subject:

ejdmoo · n00b Joined: 17 Jun 2002 Posts: 32 Location: USA

Can somebody do me a favor and gimme the output of emerge --pretend kde? I'm on kdeedu right now and I wanna know what I have left to go!
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Those are my two cents

delta407 · Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2002 8:15 pm Post subject:

It would vary depending on USE variables, how recent the Portage tree is rsync'ed, etc. Switch to a different virtual console (Alt-F_) and run it yourself.

Guest · Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2002 8:26 pm Post subject: KDE compile time..

I have a Pentium 2 - 400 and it took me the better part of a weekend to emerge KDE 3.0. I want to say it was at least 24 hours. This is why I'm avoiding the simple upgrade to 3.0.1 or whatever the latest KDE is. I normally only use KDE once in a great while. Fluxbox is much faster and smaller. It's also very configurable. If you are interested check out: fluxbox.sf.net Don't get me wrong. I like KDE, but Fluxbox is my favorite.

masseya · Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2002 8:28 pm Post subject:

That last post was me. I forgot to login. Please contact me if you have any other questions. My info should be on here.
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if i never try anything, i never learn anything..
if i never take a risk, i stay where i am..