Memory Question

[pittfan]

Hi:

I would like to know if this in normal linux behavor.
I am very new to the world of linux and am not sure if what I am seing is correct of if it is a problem.

Below is a copy of a top command. Is in normal to have this little "Free" memory and alot of memory in the buffer and cache. I see this a me have 500+ meg of memory and only 4 meg free.

9:03am up 45 days, 23:58, 2 users, load average: 0.05, 0.16, 0.17
112 processes: 111 sleeping, 1 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
CPU states: 0.0% user, 1.1% system, 0.0% nice, 98.8% idle
Mem: 517340K av, 483096K used, 4244K free, 273304K shrd, 158924K buff
Swap: 104380K av, 0K used, 104380K free 153544K cached

Thanks for any help you can give,
David

[trommaster]

what does the 'free' command show?

[pittfan]

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 517340 473276 44064 287528 125424 109672
-/+ buffers/cache: 238180 279160
Swap: 104380 0 104380

[Aaron_Adams]

What programs were/are the culprits of the memory hogs? One way to avoid this problem is to set your memory ulimit. This will only allow a program to alot a maximum about of memory for itself, thus keeping more open for other processes. It might be worth looking into. '$ ulimit --help 'should set you on your way

[Spot]

Hi:

I would like to know if this in normal linux behavor.
I am very new to the world of linux and am not sure if what I am seing is correct of if it is a problem.

Below is a copy of a top command. Is in normal to have this little "Free" memory and alot of memory in the buffer and cache. I see this a me have 500+ meg of memory and only 4 meg free.

9:03am up 45 days, 23:58, 2 users, load average: 0.05, 0.16, 0.17
112 processes: 111 sleeping, 1 running, 0 zombie, 0 stopped
CPU states: 0.0% user, 1.1% system, 0.0% nice, 98.8% idle
Mem: 517340K av, 483096K used, 4244K free, 273304K shrd, 158924K buff
Swap: 104380K av, 0K used, 104380K free 153544K cached

Thanks for any help you can give,
David

You actually have waaaaaaay more than 4 megs free.
One problem is that KDE doesn't get a long well with top, and tends to make it lie. The memory is there and free, but the way KDE caches/buffers it is a bit hokey to the top output.
Are you noticing anything that's particularly slow?
Have you optimized your system's services to make sure you're not running anything unnecessary, and using up unneeded resources in the process? 112 processes seems a bit high - esp with you being fairly new to linux.