LMDE file sys

[BobCo]

did i do this LMDE install right?
system monitor can't find my swap.wondering if i set lmde up correctly.
any help would be greatly appreciated

[xenopeek]

Moved to LMDE forum.

You can open a terminal and type:

Code: Select all

free

The last line will show you three numbers for swap; total swap, used swap and free swap. If total swap is not zero, you have swap configured fine.

[Snapcase]

Though there's a lot of strong debate about the topic, Swap memory is not really needed in current OSs. Have you ever seen the Swap partition used at all by any OS? No? There you go. It can be disabled at all and won't affect performance at all unless your computer is really lacking RAM or you run it out for whatever reason, which is hardly ever the case. Also, HDs are so slow compared with RAM. If you ever need to use the Swap memory it will be damn slow and will slow down performance anyway. So better don't ever get to the point of needing it and you'll be fine whether having the Swap enabled or disabled. Needing to use the Swap partition is never a good thing.

[cwsnyder]

Though there's a lot of strong debate about the topic, Swap memory is not really needed in current OSs. Have you ever seen the Swap partition used at all by any OS? No? There you go. It can be disabled at all and won't affect performance at all unless your computer is really lacking RAM or you run it out for whatever reason, which is hardly ever the case. Also, HDs are so slow compared with RAM. If you ever need to use the Swap memory it will be damn slow and will slow down performance anyway. So better don't ever get to the point of needing it and you'll be fine whether having the Swap enabled or disabled. Needing to use the Swap partition is never a good thing.

Needing swap is not a function of the OS, it is a function of the total system memory and the way the system is used. If you 'sleep' or 'hibernate', you had better have a swap set up. If you have less than 2G RAM, you had better either: 1)have swap set up, 2)Make sure that you don't use more than one application which is a memory hog and don't open more than about 4 tabs in an application, or 3) be ready for 'unexplained' system crashes.

If you 'need' swap and don't want to take the performance hit, set up your swap in RAM.

[kurotsugi]

Though there's a lot of strong debate about the topic, Swap memory is not really needed in current OSs. Have you ever seen the Swap partition used at all by any OS? No? There you go. It can be disabled at all and won't affect performance at all unless your computer is really lacking RAM or you run it out for whatever reason, which is hardly ever the case. Also, HDs are so slow compared with RAM. If you ever need to use the Swap memory it will be damn slow and will slow down performance anyway. So better don't ever get to the point of needing it and you'll be fine whether having the Swap enabled or disabled. Needing to use the Swap partition is never a good thing.

even if someone have huge ram, they'll need swap since some kernel require swap for suspend and hibernate. I agree that using too much swap will make the system slower but completely disable it isn't best solution for everyone. I guess you forgot that enable swap partition doesn't always make the system run slower. a simple sysctl tweak could make a computer with swap partition run faster than the one without swap partition. in case if you want to make your system less using swap you always can use this command

Code: Select all

sudo sysctl -w vm.swappiness=10

you can also set it to zero if you don't want to use swap at all without loosing the suspend/hibernate functionality.

[xenopeek]

to make that swappiness permanent: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/998

[kurotsugi]

let's get back into the topic. we need more information about your system. please run these command and give us the result.

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l
cat /etc/fstab

[Snapcase]

If you 'need' swap and don't want to take the performance hit, set up your swap in RAM.

even if someone have huge ram, they'll need swap since some kernel require swap for suspend and hibernate. I agree that using too much swap will make the system slower but completely disable it isn't best solution for everyone.

Yes. That's what I do. I set the Swap into RAM, But I never let computers to suspend or hybernate. I've never have those functions enabled. Haven't seen the benefits of them yet. Sure they're useful for someone anyway.